Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) - the largest tiger in the world. And the only one of the tigers who has mastered life in the snow. No other country in the world has such an asset. Without exaggeration, this is one of the most perfect predators among all the others. Unlike the lion, which forms prides (families) and lives through collective hunts, the tiger is a pronounced loner, and therefore requires the highest skill in hunting.
The tiger crowns the top of the unique food pyramid ecological system with the name Ussuri taiga. Therefore, the state of the tiger population is an indicator of the state of the entire Far Eastern nature.
The Amur tiger conservation project was one of the first serious steps WWF in Russia. Accounting data from 2004/2005 showed that with common effort State and public environmental organizations have achieved stabilization of the tiger population at a level of more than 450 individuals.
And here is the interview with a WWF employee(questions are divided into groups to better perceive the information):
Tiger Population Status
How does Amur tiger monitoring work? How do you distinguish one tiger from another so as not to record the same tiger twice?
Tigers are not seen during counting. Experts are counting their tracks. In order to distinguish one trace from another, a measurement system has been developed and tested in practice. So the accountant is not allowed into the taiga without a tape measure. By correctly measuring the footprint, you can understand whether it is a male or female or a young animal. Then the counting officer determines the freshness of the track and its direction... In a word, in order not to count the same tiger twice, you need to learn a lot. In tiger affairs, tracking is recognized as a science.
Are there more tigers in India than in Russia? Why do you say that the situation with tigers in Russia is better?
According to the most recent data (International Tiger Forum in Kathmandu, 2009), there are 1,400 tigers left in India today. But at the same time, the number of tigers in India six years ago was more than twice as high! That is, the population is simply melting before our eyes. And Russia is the only tiger range country where numbers have increased significantly since the middle of the last century, and have been relatively stable over the past 10 years. At the same time, Russia today “owns” the largest tiger population in a single range (about 11% of the world population).
How many tigers are there in the world? Where is the situation worst and where is it best?
The global tiger conservation situation can be described as catastrophic. Over the past 100 years, the number of this species has decreased by 25 times - from 100 thousand to 4 thousand. At the same time, the number continues to decline. So, in India, where he lives greatest number tigers, their numbers in 1995-2005. decreased from 3.5 thousand to 1.4 thousand. In a number of regions, tigers disappeared completely - Transcaucasia (1930s), middle Asia(1960s), Fr. Bali and o. Java (Indonesia, 1960-1980s). Currently, tigers are preserved in 14 countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, North Korea (not confirmed), Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand.
WWF has always said that tiger numbers have stabilized. But I recently read in the media that it is being greatly reduced in last years! This is true?
Yes and no. An analysis of long-term monitoring results shows that in the last four years there has been a steady trend toward a decrease in the number of traces found at survey sites. WWF shares the alarm caused by these results. However, many journalists “stepped up their pitch.” And specific figures appeared that did not correspond to reality. Someone wrote about the reduction by half, and in one of the media there was a phrase “only 36 animals were detected”... Today WWF has completely taken upon itself the burden of financing the next monitoring. In mid-December 2009, monitoring participants had already reached white path, and our experts will monitor the progress of field work at the survey sites.
How many Siberian tigers are left? Is this a lot or a little? How many tigers can live in Russia?
The last frontal census of the Amur tiger took place with the participation of WWF in 2005. He showed that we have about 500 Amur tigers. This is neither more nor less. This is exactly as much as the still uncut areas of the Ussuri taiga can accommodate. WWF plans for the next ten to twelve years to resettle the tiger within its historical area, i.e. return to the places where he once lived, but was then exterminated. Thus, we expect that the number of tigers will increase to 750. However, this is only possible due to an intensive increase in the number of ungulates.
Main enemy tiger poacher
How do poachers kill tigers? With a gun or setting traps?
We don’t really want to publish something on the WWF website detailed instructions about effective methods of hunting the Amur tiger. Let's just say that various traps claim significantly more tiger lives than attempts to find a tiger in the taiga and sneak up on it with a gun. IN Lately Cases of shooting at tigers gaping on the side of the road from a car window have become more frequent.
Why do poachers need a tiger?
The hope is to sell tiger parts to Chinese smugglers. The hope is to sell the tiger skin to rich bigwigs. But the most dangerous thing is simply thoughtlessly shooting at a randomly encountered tiger, not “for what reason,” but “just because.”
Who is currently fighting poachers in the Far East?
This is one of the most painful and pressing issues! Here are simple and understandable numbers for you.
IN 2002 year, more than 1400 people.
IN 2009 year total number inspectors were halved - to 760 people, and their funding was reduced by more than half.
Currently, responsibility for tiger conservation has been transferred to the constituent entities of the Federation. On the territory of nature reserves and national parks, tigers are protected by their security services; in non-reserve areas - by the Directorate for the Protection, Control and Regulation of the Use of Wildlife Objects of the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories. WWF provides assistance to all these government agencies.
Is it true that in China the death penalty for killing a tiger? So no one kills him there?
It is not that simple. Deep in China, the severity of the punishment is at work. But in the strip bordering Russia, the poor and hungry local Chinese population is installing tens of thousands of poaching snares. And the noose is blind. She indiscriminately strangles both deer and tiger.
Who is helping the wounded tiger now and how? Who is treating him? What about orphan tiger cubs? Is it possible to release them later?
The Tiger Special Inspectorate is responsible for this. Every winter, five or six orphaned tiger cubs end up in trouble. They are caught and transferred to the Utes Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. This is not a government agency. It does not receive any funding for such work. Therefore, the costs of treatment and rehabilitation of tiger cubs are borne by charity organisations. If rehabilitation is carried out according to all the rules, the tiger can be returned to the wild. During the existence of the Tiger Special Inspectorate, two adult cured tigers and four orphaned tiger cubs, raised without a mother, were released into the taiga. W WF has been insisting on the creation of a STATE rehabilitation center for many years. And recently such a decision was finally made.
Tiger Lunch
Can a tiger fish?
Not only fish, but also crayfish.
Domestic cats eat grass, some like vegetables and fruits. You cannot feed a cat meat alone. Tell me, does a tiger eat anything else besides meat?
The tiger knows medicinal herbs well and uses them when necessary.
Why does WWF say that we need to save the cedar tree in order to save the tiger? Does a tiger really eat pine nuts?
Cedar is the breadfruit tree of the Ussuri taiga. The number of wild boars directly depends on the harvest of pine nuts. And the wild boar is the basis of the tiger's food supply.
How much does a tiger eat in a year?
According to experts, one tiger needs to eat at least fifty adult ungulates per year.
What animals does a tiger eat?
Actually, a tiger eats everything that is smaller than it. From the Manchurian hare, which is the size of a glove, to the Himalayan bear, which can weigh as much as a tiger. However, the basis of its diet consists of ungulates: wild boar, wapiti, sika deer and roe deer.
Good question. Hunters usually ask us this question. But many years of research have shown that the tiger is the “softest” predator, which is simply not able to seriously reduce the number of ungulates. Where hunters have seriously begun to raise game numbers to a new level with the help of various biotechnical measures, tiger numbers also begin to increase. However, soon the number of tigers living in this “supermarket” becomes stable, and the ungulates continue to increase. But where the tiger disappeared, a wolf instantly comes. The wolf, unlike the tiger, knows how and can seriously undermine the number of ungulates.
Tiger and man
Do tigers differentiate between good and evil people, poachers and forest rangers? Or maybe we all look the same to them?
There are reliable cases where a wounded tiger for a long time and purposefully pursued the very person who shot at him. So we are not all the same to him...
In places where tigers live, they attack domestic animals, livestock, and even people. What is being done to protect people from the tiger?
Responsibility for resolving all conflict situations between humans and tigers is assigned to the state body - the Tiger Special Inspectorate. Initially, the animal is scared away. If this does not work, they are caught and transported to areas remote from people. Only in case of direct mortal danger Shooting is allowed for human life.
What to do if you meet a tiger in the forest? Should I run away or, on the contrary, freeze and stand still?
Do not run away under any circumstances. Otherwise, the tiger will react to you like your kitten to a paper wrapper on a string. It is recommended to slowly, without turning your back to the animal, clear the way for it and move away. The human voice is very helpful. But only if it is a calm and confident human voice. If you are not sure that a pig squeal will not pour out of you, it is better not to open your mouth.
Is it possible to tame a tiger if you start from childhood so that it becomes friends with a person? Or is he too wild animal, which cannot be completely trusted, but only trained and kept in a cage?
A cat is also a cat in the taiga. After all, admit it, even your domestic pussy is sure that she is the mistress of the house, and you are simply in her service. What can we say about a cat weighing nearly two hundred kilograms? We do not recommend experimenting.
Tiger House
WWF doesn't want to breed tigers in other regions of Russia - for example, in Kamchatka or in the Moscow region?
The Amur tiger is the only tiger subspecies that has learned to live in the snow. And yet he remains a southerner - the height of the snow cover is the most important limiting factor for the tiger. The tiger is historically tied to a very specific climatic region- the south of the Far East. And any attempts to settle it, for example, in deep-snow Kamchatka, are doomed to failure. But that's not even the main thing. In the past, during the times of socialism, there were many attempts to acclimatize various animals (raccoon dog in Europe, American mink in the Far East, etc.) where they had never lived. Time has shown that all these experiments only harmed the local nature. Today such “improvisations” are prohibited.
Are there any excursions to nature reserves where you can see the Amur tiger in wildlife?
See a wild Amur tiger in the wild Ussuri taiga- this is crazy luck even for those who study them from morning to evening. And the animal is extremely secretive, and the taiga is completely impenetrable. So if you are miraculously lucky, you might see it. But not a single nature reserve guarantees you such a meeting. To film a few minutes of a tiger in the Lazovsky Nature Reserve, the Korean television company had to live in the taiga for two and a half years...
Do tigers live only in nature reserves? Can a tiger live near the city?
Unfortunately, protected areas occupy only 20% of the tiger's range. The remaining eighty percent are areas where hunting and logging are permitted. Tiger tracks are regularly found in the dacha suburbs of Vladivostok, Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk. In a word, today the tiger has populated ALL the territory where there is at least some forest left. But at the same time, according to radio tracking data of tagged tigers, competition for the right to get an “apartment” in the reserve is deadly tough.
How much space does one tiger need?
A female usually needs 20 square kilometers of deep taiga. The male requires much more - up to 100 square kilometers. Usually, the individual plot of one male accommodates the plots of two or three females with tiger cubs. If there is a lot of food, that is, ungulates, then up to four females can live in the same territory.
How long is a tiger's tail and other general questions about tigers
What is the difference between Amur, Ussuri and Siberian tigers?
They are no different. The official name of our tiger is the Amur tiger. However, for foreigners, everything that lies on the eastern side of the Urals is Siberia. Therefore in American scientific literature our Amur tiger is listed as Sibirian Tiger. The term " Ussurian tiger” was introduced at their own peril and risk by Channel 2 correspondents when they were preparing a report on Vladimir Putin’s participation in a project to study Amur tigers in the Ussuri Nature Reserve. But the beast is actually the same. And he doesn’t even know about this linguistic leapfrog with its name.
What is the difference in character between a tiger and a leopard?
All cats are very similar in their behavior. Tiger and leopard are no exception. However, the leopard is more flexible; it manages to live very close to a person, never catching his eye. The tiger can't do that. To be happy, he needs the deep, deserted taiga.
What is the relationship between a female and a male tiger after the birth of a cub?
A tiger meets with a female for only two to three days. And, having done his male work, he leaves her until the moment when his children grow up and are ready to start an independent life, that is, for about two years. The father does not participate in any way in feeding and raising the offspring. So all worries about children fall on the fragile shoulders of the female.
What is the length of the tail of the largest and smallest tigers?
The largest - Amur tigers - have a tail length of up to 115 cm. The smallest - Sumatran - 60-90 cm.
How many teeth does a tiger have?
Like all cats in the world, the tiger has 30 teeth.
What is the life expectancy of a tiger?
IN ideal conditions At the zoo, Amur tigers easily live up to twenty years. In real wild taiga life, not every tiger manages to live to see ten. The life of females, as a rule, is shorter than that of males, because they have to spend incredible strength and vital energy not on themselves, but on raising their offspring.
Does a tiger have the same number of stripes throughout its life or does it change with age? Tigers in different countries Are they different from each other in appearance?
The pattern of stripes on a tiger not only does not change, it serves as a reliable individual sign, like fingerprints on a person. No two tigers have the same stripe configuration. This is the basis of the photo accounting method.
The number and configuration of black stripes on the skin vary in different geographical areas and serves as one of the grounds for distinguishing subspecies of the tiger. The number of which reaches 100.
Ours, the Amur tiger, is distinguished by thick, long (compared to other subspecies) and fluffy fur, with a duller red background and fewer stripes than other subspecies. The Indochinese tiger, for example, has a darker overall coloration, while the Sumatran tiger is considered the brightest.
Can tigers purr?
Actually, science says that big cats deprived of the ability to purr like domestic cats, that is, to vibrate both when exhaling and inhaling. But, you will laugh without knowing it scientific research their hard cartilage, which supposedly interferes with vibration, Amur tigers in good mood they still purr.
Can tigers climb trees?
It is believed that adult Amur tigers are unable to climb trees. However, there are reliable cases where a tiger easily and naturally climbed to the tops of huge fir trees or into the crowns of old oak trees. If he really needs it, he can do it. Keep this in mind.
Take care and love tigers and all other animals
The material was taken from the World Wildlife Fund website
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The number of rare predators in the wild has increased from 3,200 to 3,890 individuals. Such data was published on April 11 by WWF and the intergovernmental organization Global Tiger Forum.
According to the latest data, the largest number of tigers live in India - 2226 individuals, Russia (see details below), Indonesia - 371, Malaysia - 250, Nepal - 198, Thailand - 189. Other countries of the “tiger” range include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Laos and Myanmar.
The increase in the number of tigers is explained by a number of reasons. Firstly, the actual increase in the number of predators associated with increased protection of the species and its habitats. An increase in the number of tigers has been noted in Russia, India, Nepal and Bhutan. Secondly, in five countries in 2013-2015. censuses of predators were carried out, which made it possible to clarify the data on their number.
"For the first time in last decades The number of tigers is not decreasing, but increasing. This gives us hope and shows that when authorities, local people and conservationists work together, we can save rare species and their habitats,”- emphasized Marco Lambertini, CEO WWF International Secretariat.
Nevertheless, environmentalists continue to talk about the need to strengthen tiger protection: over the past 100 years, the number of predators in the wild has decreased by 97% (from 100 to 3.5 thousand animals). There is an active illegal trade in derivatives (body parts) of tigers. According to estimates by the TRAFFIC organization, law enforcement agencies of different countries in 2000-2014. recorded more than 1,500 illegal trade transactions involving tiger derivatives.
According to WWF, the situation is now particularly alarming in Southeast Asia. If governments in this region do not take action, tigers in this area may disappear from the wild.
In Russia, the total number of Amur tigers, according to 2015 census data, ranges from 523 to 540 individuals. Of these, there are about 430 adult predators. In 1996, the population consisted of approximately 415-476 individuals.
“We are proud that our country is making a significant contribution to increasing tiger numbers. Such success became possible, among other things, thanks to more than 20 years of focused work by the Ministry of Natural Resources, WWF and other organizations in the Russian Far East.”, noted the director of WWF Russia Igor Chestin.
Data on the number of the predator was presented on the eve of the opening of the III Intergovernmental Conference on tiger conservation. The meeting will take place from April 12 to 14 in Delhi, India.
The previous estimate of the number of the rare animal in the world was prepared for the 2010 Tiger Summit, which was held in St. Petersburg. At the same time, the main goal was formulated - to double the number of tigers to 6,000 by 2022.
Russian Siberia and northern China in the taiga forests gave shelter to the largest cat on earth - the Amur tiger. This predator is simply huge - its weight reaches 400 kilograms, its length from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail is up to four meters, and its height reaches up to one meter. There are up to 400 individuals left in the wild, and approximately the same number in zoos. In Russia, measures are being taken to preserve this species; it is the real pride of the taiga forests, a real symbol of the Far East. He is depicted on the flag and coat of arms of the Primorsky Territory. In China, this species is protected with very strict laws - a poacher who kills a tiger faces the death penalty.
Peculiarities
There are only a few tigers left in the world, but the Amur species is the smallest in number and is under special protection due to a sharp decline in the population.
This species is the northernmost, adapted for living in cold winters and for moving on snow, therefore it has the thickest and longest fur, which can retain heat well.
Among the six species of tigers, the Amur tiger is the largest, while the Ussuri tiger is the largest cat on Earth.
The tail is a record holder among tigers and can reach a length of more than a meter.
Amur tiger - official name tiger, but sometimes the non-scientific, but very common names Ussuri or Siberian are used in relation to this cat.
This is an endangered species listed in the Red Book.
Record-breaking tigers reach a weight of 400 kilograms, and usually the animal reaches a weight of 200 kilograms.
Tigresses are good mothers. They carry children for five months. Four or five blind and toothless tiger cubs will be born. It feeds for up to six months, then teaches it to hunt for up to a year. For another year, tigers hunt on their own, but live near their mother.
Hunting
Amur tiger - Interesting Facts about hunting. Tiger has no natural enemies(except for humans), he even hunts bears.
It goes hunting on its own at approximately one year of age.
Life expectancy in the wild is up to 12 years.
When hunting, it jumps up to seven meters in length.
On average, one individual eats two dozen kilograms of meat, but if it allows hunting trophy, then he can eat to spare, consuming up to 80 kilograms of meat.
Only about ten percent of attacks on prey result in food being obtained. And this despite the fact that he attacks from an ambush, hiding from the victim. The tiger must constantly hunt, and at the same time it spends a lot of energy on the hunt itself. This cat is having a hard time with his hunting grounds constantly shrinking due to human activity.
The Amur species of tigers very rarely attacks people, while other, more heat-loving tigers attack much more often.
He is very strong, he can pull a horse carcass for half a kilometer without any problems. When hunting, it reaches speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour, but over short distances it can accelerate to 80 kilometers per hour. Of the predators, only the cheetah can run faster. For a successful attack, they must sneak up to at least 25 meters.
Loves to hunt ungulates. To feed himself, he needs about 50 deer, wild boars, roe deer, and wapiti per year. IN extreme cases attacks livestock.
Walking around its hunting grounds, a tiger travels up to 40 kilometers a day. Before a successful hunt, the animal can cover up to 600 kilometers in a few days. Animals need more than one hundred square kilometers for food, but often hunting territories occupy a large area.
Males defend their territory from competitors and, if necessary, get into a fight. But females with cubs are not touched, so tigresses can enter the tiger’s territory to hunt. But the territories of two females never overlap.
To the family Felidae already 35 million years. Wild representatives The cat family is absent only in Australia and Antarctica. There are 36-35 species in total, grouped into 4 genera.
The largest and the smallest
The largest wild cat is the tiger: its weight reaches 270 kilograms, but this is not the limit. Hunters have killed tigers weighing 320 kg. Lions in the wild rarely weigh more than 200 kg, their weight category is 125-250 kg. The experience of zoos and circuses convinces us: if a lion fights with a tiger, the first remains defeated. If the animals are not separated in time, the tiger will kill the lion.
The largest tiger
...Amur. The smallest is the Sunda, he used to live on the island of Bali and now continues to live in Sumatra.
The biggest teeth
Of all predatory animals, the tiger has the largest teeth; its jaws are so powerful that they allow it to bite through the spine of any land animal.
The smallest
...black-footed cat (Felis nigripes), which weighs exactly 270 times less. It is smaller than a domestic cat, lives in Africa, the largest cat weighs about 2 kg.
Miniature leopard
Marble cat lives in the same forests as the clouded leopard, has the same coloration and also has a long tail, but is almost half the size. She hunts for small arboreal animals, frogs and lizards.
Little cats
Cat sizes depend on climate
Wild cat populations depend on climate: small cats live in countries with warm climate, large ones - in cold conditions. The Sumatran tiger, the smallest of the species (it is 1 m shorter than its northern relative), lives in the warmest areas, the Amur tiger, the heaviest, lives in the coldest.
Sexual dimorphism
In many cat species, the male and female differ significantly in size. Male fish cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) 11-12 kg, female - 6-7 kg. Fish cats are medium-sized cats.
How many wild cats live in nature?
African lions
Twenty years ago there were 230,000 lions in Africa, but today there are only 23,000. Many of them are carriers of AIDS and bone tuberculosis. The reason for the catastrophic reduction in livestock is their destruction by humans. Lions attack livestock. In central Kenya, lion damage to livestock is estimated at $A500 per year. For every lion there is one cow or three sheep per year. This problem could be solved by organizing more effective night security, but the population prefers to solve it through poisonous baits and shooting animals.
Asiatic lions
There are now 300 Asiatic lions living in Asia, of which 1 is in the Girsky lion national park, PC. Gujarat, India on an area of 125,000 hectares.
Cheetahs were distributed throughout most of Africa, Central and Western Asia. Today there are less than 15,000 of them. The main enemy of cheetahs is wild dogs that live in areas adjacent to the Sahara region; in these areas there are less than 5,500 cheetahs left.
Striped skin
Tigers not only have striped fur, but also striped skin.
How many tigers are left
Back in 1930, approximately 100 thousand tigers lived on Earth, of which 40 thousand were in India. Today, only about 5,000 tigers remain in the world. More recently, there were 8 subspecies of tigers. The Caspian, Balinese, and Javan tigers have been completely destroyed. Today there are only five subspecies left: the Bengal tiger - about 4000 individuals (2000 in Indochina, the same in India), the Sumatran tiger - 600-700 individuals, the Indochinese tiger - less than 1500 individuals. More optimistic estimates double these figures. Thanks to measures taken the population of Amur tigers in the Russian Far East numbers 450-470 individuals, in the territory Khabarovsk Territory much smaller - 60-70 and no more than 20 individuals in China on the border with Russia. There are 50 tigers in Manchuria and Korea. In Java there are from 6 to 14 tigers.
How many snow leopards are there in Russia?
In total, about 2 thousand snow leopards live on the territory of the former USSR.
The rarest wild cats
Spreading Iriomothean cat (Felis iriomotensis) limited o. Iriomote, Ryukyu Islands, Japan. Their number does not exceed hundreds; several more individuals live in Japanese zoos.
Cats live and sleep in water
In Turkey, in Lake Van, there live cats whose whole life is connected with water. They not only live in water, but even sleep in it.
If it rains
The tiger endures rain and wanders around its territory in bad weather. And leopards hide if it drips from the sky.
Jaguar fur with a black spot in the rosette
Not everyone can tell a jaguar from a leopard. These animals are very similar, and their spots are similar in shape and color, only in the jaguar they are larger, and some rosettes have a small black spot in the center.
A tiger's hind legs are larger than its front legs
Tiger - very strong cat, with a powerful, muscular body that allows him to successfully cope with even a large victim. His hind legs longer than the front ones. Due to this, he easily jumps on his prey. His big claws and powerful, muscular shoulder girdle allows you to capture prey so that it has no chance of escape.
cat nose
A cat's nose leaves a print that can be used to identify it as belonging to a particular cat - it identifies it like a fingerprint identifies a person.
Drink a lot and swim
During lunch, tigers often settle down near water bodies, because... drink a lot while eating. And on hot days they spend many hours swimming in ponds. Tigers are good swimmers and do not hesitate to rush into the water for prey. Where the tiger is not disturbed, it can lie in the water. Tigers swim well: big rivers, even the Ganges, can be crossed without difficulty.
Water and Jaguar (Panthera onca) he is not afraid - he loves to swim, and swims well. That is why the inhabitants of rivers and lakes have to feed this predator: capybaras (capybaras), turtles, and fish come to it for lunch, and the jaguar hunts fish from the shore, throwing them out of the water with powerful blows of its paws. He even hunts smaller crocodiles.
Jaguar in a boat
The jaguar swims well and swims across the Amazon. There was such a case: a jaguar attacked people in a boat. They jumped into the water, and the jaguar got into the boat and swam, looking around.
Fishing cat
Fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)- a relatively large cat weighing 12 kg, lives on the coast of the Indian Ocean. He climbs trees reluctantly. But it swims great. They say he even dives for fish like an otter.
And here sand cat (Felis margarita) able to live without water. They say she doesn't drink water. This is a small wild cat weighing 3.4 kg.
Cats learned to dive and swim
On the island of Miladummadulu, located in Indian Ocean, cats, having exterminated all small living creatures, were forced to learn to swim and dive and now get their food in the ocean, deftly hunting fish.
The skin is also striped
Tigers not only have striped fur, but also striped skin.
Five-centimeter layer of fat
In winter, Amur tigers have a five-centimeter layer of fat under the skin on their bellies.
Puma lives widely
The living space of no cat is as spread out as that of the puma: from southern Alaska to the Machellan Strait. This was the case at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Now the puma has been exterminated almost everywhere. The smallest pumas (about 30 kg) live in tropical forests South America– they have short red-brown fur. The largest pumas (9110 kg) inhabit Rocky Mountains North America and are found on Tierra del Fuego.
They growl and don't growl
The roar of a lion (Panthera leo) can be heard 5 miles away. But the cheetah does not growl or meow - it barks, squeals and chirps, but it can purr. In a good mood, the leopard purrs, the clouded leopard and the puma too. But they can also growl.
Lion hunting area
...ranges from 8 to 150 square miles. This territory is guarded by male lions. Within one area, a flock of lions can live, consisting of six male lions, twelve adult lionesses and young lion cubs. Depending on the living conditions in a given territory and the number of other animals, a flock can occupy an area of up to 400 square km, however, where there is more than enough food, this territory can be much smaller.
The cougar lives in an area up to 100 miles in circumference. Even if she is not disturbed, she wanders within the area, never staying anywhere for long.
Black and smoky cats
Leopards (Pantera pardus) with black colored skin (black panthers) are especially common on the island of Java. Clouded leopards live there, as well as in the mountain forests of Nepal, Sikkim, all of southern China and Indochina. They are painted very beautifully: a black marble pattern on a bright yellow background. Clouded leopards are classified as a special genus because their anatomy combines the features of both large and small cats.
Children are spotted - adults are not
The puma's fur does not have any pattern, although its kittens are spotted. With the first molt, the spots disappear.
White and black leopards
Everyone knows about black panthers, but in the genus of leopards there are also albinos and so-called flavists: they have little black paint, their spots are faded, ocher, best case scenario chocolate. African leopards have small spots, while Asian leopards have larger spots. The background tone of the Caucasian and Central Asian ones is sandy-grayish, while that of the Far Eastern ones is reddish-yellow.
Lions' manesthere are black and light
Lions' manes are black and light, modest and wide - scientists distinguish 10-12 subspecies among lions based on their varied manes. The Barbary and Somali lions have a black mane; the Masai, Cape and Persian lions have dark brown manes, while others have yellow ones. The most magnificent mane was that of the Barbary lion, now exterminated.
Why do cats have short jaws?
Like all cats, the tiger has short jaws, due to this the gripping force and the depth of gnawing into the prey with its teeth increases many times.
Modern sabertooth
Skull clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) elongated, which distinguishes him from other cats. His fangs are larger than those of other cats in proportion to body size. Sometimes it is classified as a modern "saber-tooth".
The male is twice as heavy as the female
The male lion is much larger than the female and is 50 percent heavier in weight. He is easily recognized by his massive mane. The huge weight of the lion gives crushing force to its blow. He easily scatters females when he takes prey from them. Many males live by feeding exclusively on food obtained by females, and almost never try to get anything themselves.
Lion face
It's like a person's fingerprints. No two lions have the same muzzles (or even the same whiskers).
A bone with a claw at the end of the tail
The lion has a long, thin and very strong tail. The most remarkable thing about it is the brush, and in it there is a claw, or rather a thorn, the last vertebra breaking through the skin.
Cat color vision
There is reason to believe that cats have color vision - very rare in the animal world. In large predatory cats the pupil is round. And the small ones (clouded leopard) are ovoid.
Night vision of tigers six times better than humans Due to a mechanism that reflects light back to the retina, tigers' night vision is six times better than humans.
They look at the sun without blinking
Leo is called the king of beasts because he can look at the sun without blinking. Many other cats can do this too.
Lions vision
Five times better than a human, a lion can hear prey from a mile away.
Sense of smell is weak
Leopards have excellent eyesight and hearing, but a weak sense of smell.
When a tiger hunts, it approaches from the leeward side out of attention to the sense of smell of its victims; the tiger’s own sense of smell is no good. In India they say that the tiger is the smartest animal after the elephant. He seems to imitate the cry of a deer, luring him. But when he chases monkeys. He growls terribly, and they, frightened, weaken with fear and fall to the ground.
The fluffiest
The fur of the Pallas' cat (Otocolobus manul) is as thick and long as that of any other cat.
There are no wild cats in Australia and Oceania.
Lionesses are attracted to males with dark and luxuriant manes.
... more than lions with light and short hair. Dark mane color is usually observed in lions with high levels of the main male sex hormone testosterone in the blood. Under its influence, the development of male genital organs and secondary sexual characteristics is enhanced. Therefore, it is not surprising that lionesses prefer males with more dark mane, and other lions are afraid of them.
Fingers and claws
All cats retract their claws, with the exception of the cheetah, which moves by touching the ground with its claws. Interestingly, young cheetahs have claws for up to four months. Like all cats, they can retract into their fingers. With age they lose this ability. A tiger has five toes on its front paws and four on its hind paws. All fingers of a tiger have claws ranging from 80 to 100 mm long.
Walking in the snow
Various predators of our forests are differently adapted to winter deep snow. For example, a wolf is poorly adapted to running in the snow, which is explained by the small supporting surface of its paws. Weight load per 1 sq. cm is equal to 89-103 g. For a lynx, these figures are 34-39 g, for a wolverine – 20-35 g, for a tiger – 155 per 1 sq. cm.
Climber cat
Snow Leopard, or snow leopard (Uncia uncia) - a resident of the Altai, Pamir, Tien Shan, highland Mongolia, Tibet, Himalayas), lives at an altitude of 2-3 thousand m above sea level. In summer, following the mountain ungulates, the leopard rises even higher - up to six thousand meters. He watches for hours somewhere on a rock or under a rock for rams or goats.
The largest predator living in Madagascar
is the Fossa - an animal weighing from 5 to 10 kg, vaguely reminiscent of a cat.
The fastest of mammals
This cheetah Acinonyx jubatus, which develops a speed of 96 km (60 miles) per hour over short distances, there is data about 105-115 km per hour. And according to unofficial data, some hunters with stopwatches in their hands measured the running speed of the cheetah and said: 140 kilometers per hour. Of other wild cats, the lion reaches a speed of 75-80. The usual speed of a lion in the first minutes of the hunt is 50 kilometers per hour.
Longest-legged cat
also a cheetah. After South American maned wolf cheetah - the longest legged beast of prey. He gives the impression of a dog with a cat's head.
Tigers defeated lions
A tiger fights better because he has more experience in martial arts; a lion living in a pride is used to counting on his comrades. For this reason, lions were driven out of Asia not only by people, but also by tigers.
African lions sleep the most
Swiss zoologist P. Hodiger traveled for several years across countries and continents, finding out how much different animals sleep. It turned out that African lions sleep the most. When transistor transmitters were strapped to the necks of lions in Tanzania, it was discovered that one lion slept 20 hours a day. In three weeks, he walked, hunting and having fun, only 90 km.
Sleeping in the trees
Where there are a lot of elephants and rhinoceroses, so that these pachyderms do not disturb the peace, lions sleep in the trees, stretched out on the branches and hanging their paws down.
Jaguars know how to sleep in trees, hiding in the foliage so that you cannot notice them. True, they forget to remove their tail, and it hangs from the branch, warning other animals of danger.
Sleeping in the trees
Where there are a lot of elephants and rhinoceroses, so that these pachyderms do not disturb the peace, lions sleep in the trees, stretched out on the branches and hanging their paws down.
Jaguars know how to sleep in trees, hiding in the foliage so that you cannot notice them. True, they forget to remove their tail, and it hangs from the branch, warning other animals of danger.
Tiger Power
Great is the strength of the tiger. He dragged a wild guar bull, which one tiger killed, along the ground for almost 12 meters. 13 people could not move the carcass of this bull. Another tiger killed a horse and dragged it along the ground for 500 m. There are rare cases, when young elephants, straying from the herd, tigers win in a difficult battle. A case is described in which two tigers attacked an adult elephant and killed it.
But when the tiger is hungry, he eats rodents, frogs and even berries.
Speed and jumping
The lioness can reach speeds of 35 miles per hour for short distances, with a jump length of up to 30 feet.
African leopards (Panthera pardus) can jump onto trees up to 5.5 meters high.
The puma (Puma concolor) jumps 5-6 m in height, and sometimes 14 m from a height downwards.
The agile lynx itself is a caracal
The caracal (Caracal caracal) can catch birds in flight. He will creep up to a flock sitting on the ground and jump high above it. The birds fly up screaming, and the beast claws them in the air. This is an average Asian cat weighing 18 kg. The fur of the caracal is uniform, red, and the cubs are spotted.
Lynx prowls for tens of kilometers
When there is a lot of prey, and the main prey is the northern lynx ( Lynx lynx) are hares, then the huntress remains in her usual place. If there are few hares, the lynx goes tens of kilometers away. If the lynx's attack is unsuccessful, then it pursues the prey for a day or two.
Servals don't like to climb
Servals (Leptailurus serval) can climb trees, but they do not like it. Only from wild dogs do they seek shelter above the ground: in the branches of acacia or baobab trees.
The most vocal
Roar lion heard at a distance of several miles, it is not a roar, but thunder from heaven. More often, however, lions roar half-heartedly, which is also impressive. However, the most amazing feature lion talk is ventriloquism. Lions are capable of making strange sounds that seem to come not through the throat, but from the belly. In this way, the old lion leads the hunt, giving ventriloquist instructions to his subordinates.
Doesn't growl
Jaguar– the only cat that doesn’t growl.
Purr and growl
Clouded leopards They can purr like small cats, but they can also growl.
Clean leopards
Leopards, like domestic cats, buries, and tiger and lion- No.
How do cheetahs live?
Cheetahs often unite in small groups. These are females with grown up young cheetahs, sometimes several adult males also hunt together. They also accept females into the “male” company. Sometimes this animal lives and gets food alone. But associations of female cheetahs alone were never seen anywhere.
Sometimes tigers unite
If, due to some circumstances, it becomes very difficult for one tiger to get food, then several tigers can unite to hunt. But tigresses usually settle separately and carefully mark their territory. Typically, the hunting grounds of females do not border each other, much less intersect. However, the domain of a male tiger may border or even include the domain of several females. Tigresses' marks help males find them if they are ready to mate. Maintaining and preserving the territory within its boundaries is essential for the survival of tigers. While the tiger is walking around its territory, it can learn about good places for hunting, breeding, etc.
If sometimes you happen to see several tigers together, it is most likely a tigress with her cubs, who remain with the mother until they are able to get their own food.
Internal structure subordinate
Within flocks, herds, etc. there is a complex internal structure subordination of individuals or groups according to “ranks”. Lions are the only cats that live in packs (prides). Several animals live in idleness: a male (usually one adult. But sometimes two or three), females, cubs, young lions. Sometimes the number of animals reaches 30, but more often there are about 18. The pride is led by an old lion - the head of the family. Prides consisting only of lionesses have also been observed.
Domain of the Lions
The pride's domain consists of tens of square kilometers of thickets and open spaces. People, as a rule, do not interfere with lions.
The tails of wild cats almost never rise above their backs.
How do bachelors live?
Exiled males sometimes form a pack where they have a better chance of surviving. A pride of bachelor males is short-lived. Driven by instincts, males go to prides where lionesses live, and there they try to fight for leadership. In the heat of battle, success favors the strongest and most agile, and the once friendly pack of males soon disintegrates.
How much do lions eat?
A pride of four lions kills a large antelope or zebra once a week. One lion kills about fifteen large animals with an average weight of one hundred and ten kilograms per year. He shares his prey with his packmates.
Eat meat from three weeks of age
Three-week-old cheetah “kittens” eat meat in addition to milk.
How do lions hunt?
While one of the lions scares, distracting attention. His comrades are lying in ambush. Crawling up on his belly in the grass. The bloody role is usually assigned by lionesses to young lions. The old lion leads the hunt. The lenient role of lions towards jackals is surprising: while the lioness eats from the middle, the jackals pull the end of the victim. But lions strangle hyenas when the opportunity arises, because hyenas attack decrepit lions.
Male lion cubs are trained to hunt late
Male lion cubs are taught to hunt later than lionesses; sometimes young lions begin to learn only in the fifth year of life. Therefore, it is important that males remain in their home pride for as long as possible, but they are usually kicked out when they are still young.
Leopards drag prey up a tree
There is one significant feature that distinguishes leopards from other big cats: their habit of dragging prey up trees. Thus, their food remains safe and does not go to predators that are warring and competing with leopards - lions and hyenas.
Doesn't hunt like a cat
The cheetah's hunting style is not that of a cat. First, he looks out for his victim from a high hill, having identified the victim, crawls up, and 20-100 meters before the target he rushes in pursuit. Immediately developing amazing acceleration. When it catches up, it strikes with its front alps, knocks down its prey and immediately bites into the throat. If the cheetah does not catch up with the game in the first hundred meters of the race, it no longer pursues it.
Hunting
Every fourth hunt is successful
Every fourth lion attack ends, as a rule, in the complete victory of the predators. When the hunters eagerly pounce on their prey, the male lion appears. It is possible that a pack of hyenas may be nearby. Usually lions, having dealt with a large killed animal, generously allow others to feast on the prey.
Wild cats kill their prey instantly by biting its spine. in the area of the cervical vertebrae. The chance of delivering such an accurate and effective bite is one in a million.
Strategy – pursuit
Tigers hunt alone. The tiger's hunting strategy boils down to chasing its prey into the most impenetrable thickets, where it has no chance of escape. That's when he pounces on her. When a tiger attacks, it attacks the prey from the side or from behind. The tiger strangles its prey by biting its throat. He wouldn't hurt a kid, but he hates dogs
If leopard If he's not hungry, he won't hurt even a kid. The leopard harbors enmity towards dogs and strangles them as soon as possible. There was a case when a leopard stole a dog right from under the table on the veranda in front of people.
Leopard vs monkeys
Leopards kill thousands of baboons every year, and with leopards wiped out completely, baboons have become a serious problem in many areas. They attack sheep and even people.
10 cm fangs
U leopard fangs are the size of a Finnish blade, 10 cm. And very sharp.
Leopard doesn't use trails
The leopard has no specific routes; it appears unexpectedly. When meeting with a trespasser, the leopard enters into a fight.
Lions are attacked by large crocodiles
Crocodiles attack lions on hot days when they come to drink water: they grab them and drag them into the water.
Tiger attacks people from behind
Tigers usually avoid contact with humans. However, in India, people who go to places where tigers live wear a mask depicting a person's face on the back of their heads. The fact is that tigers always attack their prey from behind. With such a mask, staying in the forest is relatively safe. The tiger does not pursue people wearing such masks: after all, it does not see the “back”, does not find it, and therefore does not attack.
How tigers talk
A tiger growls during a fight or lets out a victorious roar after a successful hunt. When meeting a person or rival, the tiger hisses or purrs threateningly. When attacked, he snorts like domestic cat. During love encounters, the tiger purrs gently, sometimes turning to meowing.
Living cat
A tiger shot in the heart continues to live for another 10-20 seconds. The tiger, struck by a fatal shot, remains on its feet for some time.
Tiger Telepathy
When tiger walks through the jungle, birds, deer and monkeys scream in alarm when they see him. Even a person, without yet seeing a tiger, without expecting its appearance, feels a special strange anxiety - perhaps this is telepathy. The raging emotions of the beast subconsciously excite a person.
Theft
Lions They hunt large animals: zebras, gazelles, wildebeests and do not hesitate to steal, taking prey from other predators, mainly hyenas and cheetahs.
Apart from the cheetah, all large cats eat not only fresh meat, but also carrion, often in old age.
Lion's Meal
The pride of lions' meal lasts 4 hours. The lion eats first, although the lionesses brought the prey. After the meal, the lion goes to water, and he drinks for 20 minutes. A lion in a zoo eats 15 pounds of meat daily; in the wild, lions eat twice a week.
Most tiger attacks are successful
The tiger's striped skin serves as good camouflage in forests and bushes, and thanks to the soft pads on its paws it moves almost silently. Most of his attacks are successful.
Live canned jaguar
Hunting turtles by the sea, the jaguar throws them belly up one after another. Turtles cannot roll over and crawl away, but they do not die or deteriorate. Then the jaguar comes and with its claws pulls out of the shell those who are tired of lying with their backs up and sticking their heads out.
Tiger's Meal
Tiger (Panthera tigris) On average, he eats 7-9 kg of meat per day. A tigress with cubs quickly makes short work of even a large animal. A female with 2 cubs has to kill one large animal every 5 or 6 days to feed herself. A tiger requires about 2.5-3 tons of meat per year, almost twice as much as a lion. Taking into account skins and guests total weight tiger victims amount to 4.5 tons. An Indian tiger eats a sambar deer in two days, and a buffalo in three to four days. Having had enough, it covers its prey with branches and settles down to rest nearby.
Polite companions
Later, when the cubs grow up, their father comes to visit the family. Sometimes this happens during lunch. J. Schaller once saw an adult tiger, two tigresses and four cubs, who were quite friendly, without quarrels, eating one bull. Another time, a tigress and four cubs were having lunch when an adult tiger appeared. He was hungry and greedily looked at the prey. However, he politely waited on the sidelines until the kids were full. And only then did he start having lunch himself.
Beware the porcupine
Tigers and leopards, when hungry, they attack porcupines. They do not always manage to dodge and grab the prickly one by the head; the porcupine's quills go deep into the muscles of the predator in case of an unsuccessful hunt. In the body of the tigers, fragments of needles as thick as a pencil and a quarter of a meter long—up to fifty pieces—were found.
The lion comes from the wind
No hunter approaches the game from the side from which the wind blows. And the lion does just that. Its task is to frighten the victim and distract its attention from the ambush.
Cannibals
Lions, tigers and other big cats can be man-eaters. Tigers appear to attack people more often than other cats, and the reasons for this behavior are still unclear. Perhaps it is provoked by the size of a person, corresponding to the size of the animals that tigers usually attack; In addition, an old or wounded tiger can easily attack a person. Only 3 percent of the entire tiger population may be man-eaters. More people have died in Africa from crocodiles than from lions.
Attracted by the frog's croaking
One day a tiger attacked a man carrying a bag of frogs. It is said that the tiger was attracted by the frog's croaking.
Lynx in enmity with wolves
In winter, wolves attack a lynx in a pack, drag it to the ground and kill it. If a lynx encounters a lone wolf, it will kill it.
Loving cats
The record holders for mating among mammals are lions and tigers. Tigers can mate up to 50 times a day for five or six days, with each act lasting from 5 to 15 minutes. However, they are inferior to Australian crickets (Ornebius aperta) - male crickets can copulate 50-58 times within 3-4 hours with the same female.
Gentle at any time
U leopards The male and female not only during the breeding season, but also at other times, live nearby and are very affectionate with each other: they love to play and frolic.
Milk is three times more nutritious than cow's milk
Leopard milk is fatty and three times more nutritious than cow's milk.
Lioness gives birth alone
When the time comes for breeding, the lion takes his girlfriend away from the pride. Then they return to the pride. After 100-108 days, the lioness leaves the pride to give birth. She makes her lair in the thick of thorny bushes or in a mountain crevice. After the birth of 3, rarely 5-6 lion cubs, she lives with him in solitude, and at the age of one and a half months she brings her offspring to the pride.
Close-blooded mating has led to serious degradation of South China tigers
High incidence of disease and "mental weakness" are threatening the existence and development of this critically endangered species, a sad situation, Chinese experts say. The South China tigers now living in China are the offspring of six “grandfathers” and “grandmothers” captured in the wild in 1956. As a result of close-blooded mating and a “carefree life,” tigers developed signs of degeneration such as an underdeveloped physique, physical weakness, decreased immunity and other ailments.
One female raises tiger cubs
Tigers pair up only for a short period of time. The tiger cubs are raised by one female. The litter contains two to four tiger cubs weighing from 800 to 1750 grams. They spend the first two months in a shelter that the mother finds before they are born. Then the babies begin to gradually switch to the prey brought by the tigress, but they suck mother’s milk for up to six months and spend the first three years of their lives with the tigress, completely dependent on her. That is why females can bear offspring only once every three to four years.
Pride females do not have cubs at the same time
Lions breed at any time of the year, however, females of one pack (pride) prefer to have cubs at the same time (to make it easier to protect them from other predators and male lions of another pride). They even feed them, without dividing them into friends and foes. If one female dies, the others take care of the deceased's cubs.
Cheetah moms
Mother cheetahs are so exhausted caring for their playful offspring that they sometimes fall asleep while sneaking around for prey.
Lions kill cubs
One of the mysteries of lion behavior was that for some reason the males killed their cubs. Now this mystery has been solved. The fact is that the attack of males is caused by their jealousy of young lion cubs. Male lions do not tolerate unnecessary rivals in their pack, so they strive to get rid of them. There is another explanation for such cruel and incomprehensible behavior. The male in this way encourages the female to give birth to new cubs. And they have a better chance of survival than previous cubs. And they will get more food.
Can eat babies
Father from leopard unimportant: on occasion he is not averse to eating the cubs. The female therefore builds a den in secret from him.
Meat for a rainy day
Leopard cubs weigh 20-80 kg and are unusually voracious. They hide the meat on a tall tree.
The father takes care of the cubs
Male- cheetah takes care of the female and offspring and brings them food. If a female cheetah dies, the father does not abandon the cubs.
Leopards are born in a hollow
The clouded leopard gives birth to its offspring in a hollow tree; there are 1-5 cubs in a litter, each weighing 150-280 grams.
Leopard from the vulture's nest
Often snow leopards They make a lair in vulture nests on low trees. There their offspring are born.
Pulls fur from belly
Mother leopard (Uncia uncia) insulates the lair by tearing the fur from its belly. The jungle cat (Felis chaus) also does this. Other cats don't.
Loss of genetic diversity
Cheetahs There are no more than 20,000 left in the wild; cheetah cubs living in nature reserves do not survive one year in 70% of cases, and in zoos, in the safest conditions, up to 30% of kittens die. The reason was the loss of genetic diversity of the species. Almost all living cheetahs are genetically almost identical. The most likely reason for this phenomenon is some ancient (10-12 thousand years ago) catastrophe, after which one or two pairs of these animals survived. Thus, all cheetahs are very close relatives who do not receive “fresh blood”, and therefore have the same set of characteristics, received from both their father and mother. They have completely lost the ability to adapt.
The jaguar is not related to the leopard
The American jaguar (Panthera onca) looks like a leopard. It has a length of up to 1.8 meters, excluding the tail, its weight ranges from 36 to 158 kg. Indeed, both animals are close relatives. It even turned out that females, a cross between a leopard and a jaguar, are capable of procreation.
Leopards love to ride from the mountains
Leopards love to play and roll in the snow. Having become playful, they slide off the cliff on their backs, and at the bottom they quickly turn over and fall into a snowdrift on all four paws.
Cougars are chasing butterflies
The puma loves to have fun: when frolicking, it jumps after butterflies, somersaults, and catches its tail if there is no one to play with. If she meets a person in the desert, she never attacks herself - she will run up, jumping and digging the ground with her paw, as if inviting the person to play.
Lifespan of a lion
...13 years old, the lion "Nero" is known, who lived for 29 years in a West German zoo. Average duration life of a tiger: 16-18 years. In zoos, tigers live on average twenty to twenty-five years. In general, tigers can live 40-50 years.
Cloning a Tasmanian tiger
Scientists at the Australian Museum managed to obtain genetic material from the Tasmanian tiger that disappeared more than half a century ago - the large predator who lived on this continent. The last individual of this animal died at the Gobart Zoo 66 years ago, but in May 1999, scientists accidentally discovered a test tube with a Tasmanian tiger embryo in one of the archives. Now researchers have to clone the animal, which requires finding a “surrogate” mother and implanting DNA cells into her. They claim that around 2010 they will be able to revive this animal.
The Amur tiger (official name, sometimes called the Ussuri or Far Eastern) is the most close-up view tiger in the world and the most northern. It lives in cedar forests along the banks of the Ussuri and Amur rivers.
How many Amur tigers are left?
Usually the question of how many Amur tigers are left arises because this species almost disappeared in the last century. In the 30s of the 20th century there were only 20-30 individuals. Only thanks to inclusion in the Red Book and a wide range of conservation measures, the Amur tiger population has been preserved (and only in Russia) and today, according to the World Wildlife Fund, it exceeds 500 individuals.
Poachers have a strong hand in the disappearance of the Amur tiger, but it is even more threatened by the cutting down of forests suitable for existence. In addition to the fact that one male needs about 100 square kilometers of taiga for a “quiet” life, cutting down pine forests deprives people of food wild boars, which serve as the basis of the diet of the Amur tiger. In fact, today the number of Amur tigers corresponds to the existing area of the coastal taiga suitable for their habitat.
Life facts of the Amur tiger
In wild nature average weight a male Amur tiger weighs from 180 to 200 kilograms, and the length of the body including the tail is from 2.7 to 3.8 meters (the length of the tail reaches 1.15 meters).
In one “sitting”, an Amur tiger can eat more than 40 kilograms of meat, and then “fast” for several days, but in a year an adult tiger eats at least 50 wild boars, wapiti, elk or sika deer. However, such “gluttony” of the Amur tiger regulates the population of ungulates, but does not reduce it.
If desired, the Amur tiger can successfully hunt fish.
The fur of the Amur tiger is much thicker, longer and lighter in color than that of other tigers. And the number of black stripes on the body is less.
The Amur tiger is able to distinguish colors and, like all cats, sees well in the dark. His main hunting time is at night, his main method is ambush, but out of 10 attack attempts, only one is successful.
When lunging at a victim, a tiger is capable of jumping from 10 to 20 meters, and its speed of movement in the snow reaches 50 kilometers per hour.
The Amur tiger does not climb trees, but, as life has shown, it can do it.
The Amur tiger is capable of attacking a person, but it does this extremely rarely and avoids meeting people in every possible way. It took a group of Korean zoologists two and a half years to film a few minutes of the Amur tiger in the wild. Individuals are counted only on the basis of tracks left by tigers.
IN natural environment habitat, the male Amur tiger lives up to 15 years, and the female – up to 10.
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