How many tigers were there and how many are left?

In the past, the tiger's range extended in a wide strip across Asia from the Ussuri Territory and the Korean Peninsula through Southeast China, Indochina and Hindustan to the Aral Sea region and Transcaucasia, capturing in triplets a number of Indonesian islands. Rare long-distance visits of individual individuals reached Black Sea coast, Turkey, Central Siberia and Yakutia (Fig. 1). The vast area of ​​this habitat was home to numerous tiger populations. There were especially many animals in India and the countries of Indochina. There is no doubt that at the beginning of the 19th century. The tiger population reached 200 thousand individuals. In 1930, there were at least 100 thousand tigers in Asia, but by the beginning of the 60s there were only 15 thousand left, and by 1972 this number had decreased three times. India... There are 100 thousand here. royal tigers was at the beginning of the 19th century, about 60 thousand became a century later, 30 thousand - in the 40s of our century, and less than 2 thousand remained by the beginning of the 70s. Isn’t this an example of man’s uncontrollably greedy passions! Isn't this evidence that they haven't been transferred yet? human society"hunters" like fighters American bison. Tigers began to be exterminated especially quickly and mercilessly in South Asian countries in the 50s due to the brightly flared fashion for the skins of exotic cats. And here is the result: in 1972. left in India

1827 tigers... Over the previous 50 years, more than 90% of the world's tigers were exterminated - by traps, guns, poisons... And the area of ​​this predator's habitat decreased just as catastrophically.

Only thanks to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and natural resources and the Indian government measures to reduce the number of royal tiger

was suspended, and then it began to increase noticeably. In 1977, the animal population on the Indian subcontinent was estimated at 2,278 individuals, in 1978 - approximately 2,400, in 1980 - more than 3,000, of which over 700 live in nature reserves and reserves. By the mid-80s, there were even more royal tigers, in 1984 - 3.5 thousand individuals.

The Indian tiger populates forests most densely in the foothills of the Himalayas, in the upper reaches of the Ganges and its left-bank tributaries, and in the delta (Fig. 2). There are 456 tigers in Madhya Pradesh, 262 in Utar Pradesh, 204 in West Bengal, 167 in Assam, 160 in Maharashtra, 102 in Mysore, 142 in Orissa, 80 in Nagaland, 60 in Kerala, 60 in Rajasthan. - 76, Bihar - 85, Arunahal Pradesh - 69 tigers. In the states neighboring India, the following were counted: in Bangladesh 300, Nepal 80 and Bhutan 40 tigers; According to new data, the tiger population in Bangladesh and Nepal has increased to 600-650 individuals.

It can be assumed that in the countries of Southeast Asia at the beginning of this century there were hardly fewer tigers than in India, but in Malaysia alone already in the middle of the century there were approximately 3 thousand of them. Their number in this region was declining just as rapidly and by in the same ways as in India: people shot tigers, and they crushed people - this is how the extermination of these animals began on a large scale state task. In Southern China alone, up to 1,000 tigers were killed per year. By the beginning of the 70s, populations of the predator had declined catastrophically here too.

In the former Manchuria at the beginning of this century there were also a lot of tigers, and up to 100 of them were shot there per year, 50-60 individuals were killed back in the 40-50s. Now there are no more than 50-60 tigers left in the northeastern provinces of China. In Korea, in the second half of the last century, at least 150 tigers were killed annually, and by the 70s of the 20th century. Only a few dozen of them survived there.

Currently, the largest number of tigers live in India and the countries of Indochina - slightly more than 6 thousand. The Sumatran subspecies numbers, according to some sources, about 400-500 individuals, and according to others - about 1000. The Bali tiger, apparently, finally disappeared from the face of the Earth by 60s. Uncontrolled hunting of the Javan tiger brought it to the brink of extinction 30-40 years ago. In the early 70s, there were still 10-12 tigers left in Java, and it was not too late to take decisive and effective measures to save this subspecies, but they were not taken. By the beginning of the 80s, only 4-5 individuals remained there, and all of them fled from people in the most remote eastern part of the island, relatively poor in deer and wild boars, which were hunted not only by tigers, but also by leopards and numerous feral dogs. There are serious concerns that these last of the Javanese have already disappeared, because since 1981, Indonesian zoologists have stopped receiving reports from the population about encounters with them.

The tiger was exterminated in a particularly barbaric manner during the war in the 60s and 70s in Vietnam, when forests were destroyed by poisons.

Information on the number of tigers in the countries of Southeast Asia is incomplete: in Burma in 1962 there were 1,620 predators, in Malaya in 1972 - about 600, in Thailand, apparently, there are several hundred.

There is no specific information about the past distribution and population of the Amur tiger in our country, but by analyzing modern and previous scientific and popular works, archival documents and comparing environmental factors, it is possible to get an idea of ​​this.

The distribution of the Amur tiger in the middle of the 19th century, when the Ussuri region was just beginning to be settled and studied by its first researchers, had not been accurately described by anyone. No serious attention was paid to this in the first half of our century. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the boundary of the former range of this tiger subspecies.

Researcher R.K. Maak reported in 1861 that the northern border of the tiger’s distribution crossed the Amur slightly below the mouth of the river. Gorin. N. M. Przhevalsky wrote a decade later that the tiger is found throughout the Ussuri region and goes north to latitude 52°. During his travels along this region, down the Amur, tigers were noted “beyond the mouth of the Goryn ... (Gorin - S.K.), and up - above the mouth of the Kumara. Entries of this animal into Southern Transbaikalia and, as they say, onto the island were noted Sakhalin". At the same time, it became known that the tiger was found much more often in the southern part of the Ussuri Territory, especially in the Lake basin. Khanki, in the upper reaches of the Ussuri and in the areas of the sea coast from Posietado Bay to Olga Bay. There were many of these animals in the river basins of the western slopes of Sikhrte-Alin: Bolshaya Ussurka, Bikina, Khora, Neptus Mukhenom - right up to the middle part of Anyui. On the eastern, coastal slopes of this naturally remarkable region, they were common north to the mouth of the river. Samargi.

Unfortunately, in the printed works of previous years devoted to the tiger, the factors determining the northern limits of the distribution of this animal are often ignored.

In some places the boundaries of its range were shown, but they were shown roughly, schematically, and it was not explained what exactly the authors meant by range.

The most precise definition of range is interpreted as a territory more or less permanently inhabited by a certain species of animal, in which individuals of this species are able to completely complete their reproductive cycle. This concept of range excludes another, more common, but not precise - area limited by a line drawn through the extreme meeting points of the animal. Not accurate because individual individuals are capable of periodically moving far beyond the actual species range. The tiger, for example, was discovered near Yakutsk - almost 1000 km from the places ecologically corresponding to it. It is logical to state such distant, unusual and sometimes very difficult to explain visits of stray animals as exits outside the range, and to show them on maps with separate symbols, which is what we are doing.

It is known that the distribution of a particular animal is usually determined by some environmental factors that limit its life activity. For example, a black (white-breasted) dart bear cannot live north of the growth limits of tall forests with cedar and oak, the fruits of which are the basis of its nutrition, and therefore its existence. The range of red deer does not extend beyond the border of the territory with the average maximum winter snow depth of 60 cm. Southern border The range of the “northerners” - reindeer or sable is determined by the border of territories with summer heat, which they are physiologically able to endure. What factors determine the tiger's range and the limits of its movement to the north?

In our country lies the extreme north-eastern edge of the tiger species range, confined to a region with the most difficult living conditions for it, especially in snowy, very cold winters, when frosts reach 40-45°C, the average monthly temperature in December, January and February drops to - 20-24°C, the duration of snow cover is 4.5-5.5 months. its depth is 40-60 cm, and in other years even up to 1 m or more. The cold is sharply intensified by almost constant piercing winds from Siberia.

Difficulties in the habitat of this southern predator are also associated with the spring crust. During the warm period of the year, the Amur tiger lives in climatic conditions, also characteristic of Southeast Asia: summers are hot, rainy, and even in clear weather the air humidity is very high (80-98%).

The Amur tiger, with its long dense fur and a subcutaneous layer of fat up to 4-6 cm, is not very afraid of cold weather - it can lie or stand motionless in the snow for a long time. Females hardly insulate their ancestral dens in winter, and tiger cubs die from frost very rarely, usually only in the absence of the mother for a long time, if some unforeseen unfavorable circumstances arise. Deep snow is much more difficult for a tiger, but it can survive it too, using trails, forest roads, ice on springs and rivers, sticking to less snowy river valleys and the southern slopes of mountains. The tiger depends on deep snow rather indirectly: it determines the distribution and well-being of wild boar and wapiti - the basis of this predator’s diet.

The distribution of the Amur tiger to the north is limited by a combination of two main factors: the depth of the snow cover and the population density of its main victims - wild boar in the first place and red deer in the second place. The boundary of the range of the Ussuri wild boar closely coincides with the penetration to the north of the growing zone of Korean cedar and Mongolian oak. In this zone, the wild boar does not live permanently only along the Amur, up to 60 km below the mouth of Gorin. In Fig. Figure 3 shows that the boundaries of the wild boar and cedar ranges in general outline They touch quite closely on Sikhote-Alin and in the left-bank part of the Amur region west to the Lesser Khingan. To the northwest and west of the river basin. In the Argali region, where cedar disappears, the wild boar's habitat is already in contact with the border of oak growth.

The wild boar is the main prey of the Amur tiger, and the distribution of the predator to the north is determined not so much by the depth of the snow cover as by the sufficient density of the wild boar population.

The border of the range of red deer in the left bank part of the Amur region lies significantly north of the wild boar's distribution limits. In the Amur region. he lives almost to the Stanovoy Ridge, and along the river. Olekma even penetrates into Southern Yakutia. The red deer is the second most important species in the diet of the Amur tiger, but during the years of a sharp reduction in the number of wild boars, for some time it also becomes the main object of hunting for the predator.

It is known that in South and Southeast Asia, the main food source for the Bengal, Chinese, Sumatran and other subspecies of tigers is deer. The question arises: why does the Amur tiger not constantly live in those areas where there are no wild boars, but there are red deer? There are two reasons here. Firstly, in these areas the population densities of red deer, with rare exceptions, are low, 100-150 individuals per 1000 km 2; this does not provide the tiger with sufficient and regular food, and the energy spent on searching for them is not compensated for by rare and difficult prey. Secondly, with a snow cover of more than 40-50 cm, it becomes even more difficult for a tiger to catch a red deer than along a black trail or in areas with little snow. However, in more southern regions, heavy snow even makes it easier for the tiger to hunt wild boars: he constantly follows them along their trenches in the snow and preys as needed.

A comparison of all these circumstances leads us to the conclusion that in the past the northern border of the range of the Amur tiger passed near the same border of the wild boar, and, consequently, the Korean pine. Only to the west of the Lesser Khingan did he have the opportunity to permanently live on the Zeya-Bureya Plain with vast areas of oak-hazel forests and little snowy winters, where wild boar, wapiti, and especially roe deer were previously numerous.

With the intensive deforestation, plowing of land and the intensification of hunting, the number of these ungulates on the Zeya-Bureya Plain steadily declined, and along with this, the number of tigers also fell. Already at the beginning of our century, he became rare there and, apparently, did not live permanently. In 1912, for example, 55 tigers were shot in Primorye, and in the Amur region. only 2, and after the 30s, the tiger was recorded there only in visits - first regular, and then rare; in the 70s in the Amur region. this beast no longer appeared.

To the east of the Lesser Khingan, the range of Korean pine has remained virtually unchanged over the last century. To date, the border of the wild boar's range here has also not undergone noticeable changes, although in the 30-40s it shifted to the south. This gives grounds to judge the restored (former) range of the tiger in the Ussuri region (see Fig. 3). North of this border, tigers have been spotted many times over the past 100-120 years. However, they practically did not go beyond the Stanovoy Ridge: only six visits were recorded, which are difficult to explain (perhaps these tigers persistently followed the herds of nomadic reindeer, having lost innate orientation reflexes, since the visits were noted during the years of a sharp reduction in the number of wild boar and wapiti).

In the left-bank part of the Amur region, tigers go beyond their range to the latitude of the Stanovoy Range. were observed much more often - at least 40 times, and right up to the sources of the Zeya and the upper reaches of the Uda, located 500-600 km from their permanent habitats. However, for a period of 100-120 years, they should also be called rare temporary visits, usually ending in the death of predators from hunger, cold or from the bullets of hunters.

The tiger's range did not extend into the territory of Transbaikalia in historically foreseeable times, but the predator appeared in this region not so rarely, although it did not live there permanently. The literature records the shooting of 10 tigers in Transbaikalia, mainly in the area between the Shilka and Argun rivers. There have been several reports of tigers entering the southeastern part this region in the 50-60s of our century; especially many (8 individuals) appeared there in 1953, but some of these animals were shot, while others went beyond the Amgun, to the adjacent provinces of China, to the river basin. Nunjiang, where they lived for a long time and, perhaps, survived until recently. From Amguni to this area is about 300 km. It must be said that in the area between the Arguni and Shilka rivers, in particular on the Gazimur and Uryumkan ridges, a leopard is occasionally spotted, the border of its range being much further south than that of the tiger.

It should be noted once again that some tigers tend to wander both within their range and outside it, and occasionally over unusually long distances. There is no doubt that in the XIX-XX centuries. The tiger has visited Yakutia more than once. R.K. wrote about the appearance of this predator there; Maak, A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, geographers S. Ivanov and P. Sevsky, ornithologist V. D. Yakhontov. Yakut old-timers also talk about this. But even if we assume that the number of tiger visits north of the Stanovoy Range exceeded the number recorded by 10-20 times, they should still be considered distant, rare and unusual, although they give rise to sensational conversations and printed materials designed for effect.

Due to the active persecution of the Amur tiger at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. its numbers have declined catastrophically. Surviving individuals - only 30! - were preserved in the most remote mountain forests of cedar formations, remote from roads and settlements, literally in spots: in the center of Primorye - in the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve in the 30-40s, in the southern part of Sikhote-Alin, on the Khor-Bikinsky watershed and in mountains of Lesser Khingan.

It is characteristic that in those years tigers quite actively “excursed” through the Kura, Urmi, Arkhara, Burei and Zeya basins and very rarely appeared outside their refuges in Sikhote-Alin, where predators were especially intensely persecuted.

Stabilization and then rapid growth of the Amur tiger population began in the 40s due to the sharp departure of experienced hunters from hunting and the mobilization of the male population during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War and the ban on hunting this animal since 1947. From the second half of the 40s, the tiger’s habitat area began to expand. By the end of the 60s, he populated most of the Southern and Middle Sikhote-Alin, advanced along the eastern macroslope of this highland to the river. Coppi and along the western route to the river. Gura; wandering individuals reached the upper reaches of Tumnin, Gorin, Amguni, Zeya, Selemdzha and Uda (Fig. 4). Their number had already reached 122-148, and after another 10-12 years it increased to 180-190 individuals. True, the Lesser Khingan tiger habitat has disappeared and individual visits to the Urmi, Kura, Burei basins and the Amur region have ceased. (Fig. 5). Currently, the main population of the Amur tiger is in the mountain cedar-broad-leaved and oak forests Sikhote-Alin.

The reader may have a question: before, no one had determined the number of the Amur tiger, but now - quite specific figures. Where are they from?

In 1965-1972 I worked as the head of the party of the East Siberian hunting expedition, which examined taiga hunting farms in Sikhote-Alin. And the circumstances were so fortunate that the work was carried out in the most tiger areas: exactly one year at a time in the Khora basin, on Bikin, along the southeastern slopes of Sikhote-Alin, Bolshaya Ussurka, the upper reaches of the Ussuri, the western slopes of Central Sikhote-Alin, and the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan. There were four to six game wardens under my command. Over the course of a year of work in one area or another, we managed to thoroughly interview all hunters, primarily hunters of the old generation, about encounters with a tiger, and, with the help of experienced guides, carried out detailed field work in the taiga to count the number of game animals over several thousand square kilometers. We examined about a quarter of the entire taiga territory directly, walked many hundreds of kilometers, sailed on boats, flew in helicopters. The collected field materials were carefully studied, analyzed, compared, and ultimately received reasonable information on many aspects of taiga fisheries and, first of all, on the distribution, number and use of animals.

Over 6 years of work I had the opportunity to study wild life on an area of ​​76 thousand km 2 and all within the tiger range in Sikhote-Alin. More than half of the area's territory was included in this area, but the rest was learned from employees of other parties of the same expedition, who worked with us side by side. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in 6 years the tiger’s habitat fell into our palms - we were able to get to know it so closely.

The tiger, of course, we took into account and studied not so much by instructions, but by attraction: this cat has always aroused interest and attracted the attention of people. All tiger tracks were carefully studied, measured, and recorded. We were constantly informed about them by commercial hunters and game wardens of industrial farms, foresters and workers of remote weather stations. And gradually a clear picture emerged: where and how tigers live, how many there are. And it turned out that there were much more of these predators in the taiga forests of the Far East than the hunting departments thought and zoologists wrote.

Soon after our research, zoologists from one of the academic research institutes began identifying the range and number of tigers, and after 2 years of field work they confirmed our materials and figures.

The attentive reader will certainly have another question: is it possible to determine their total population from the footprints of past tigers? Of course it is possible. And here's how it's done.

There is a close relationship between the size of the track, the length of the step and the body length of the tiger, or, mathematically speaking, quite high degree correlations. Based on the size and shape of clear imprints of a tiger's tracks on mud, wet sand, snow, etc., with sufficient skill and attention, one can determine its approximate age and gender. It is important to remember that the sole of the front, more powerful paw is noticeably larger than the hind paw - the difference in the length and width of their print in an adult animal is usually 0.5-1 cm. When walking, a tiger often places its hind paw in its front paw, which is why the combined footprint can be up to 1 cm longer or wider than the print of the front paw.

Experienced specialists, when determining the identity of a tiger track, analyze a lot of data: the size and shape of the paw prints, the width of the heel (plantar pad) of the front and hind paws, the pattern of the toes (in the female, the middle two are somewhat thinner than in the male, and they are less advanced), the ratio the length and width of the footprint (in the male it is noticeably rounder), the depth of the prints, the texture of the sole, the length of the step and overstep, the distance between the line of the right and left paws, etc. Experienced Bengal tiger hunters D. Corbett, K. Singh, K. Anderson and others, who had up to 1000 or more shot tigers on their account, unmistakably determined both the sex and age of the animals by the print of the footprint and the length of the step. In India and in our country, a methodology for individual registration of tigers using the same data has been developed. It gives fairly reliable results when fingerprints are redrawn on glass, photographed, even filled with plaster, and then all the collected material is compared and evaluated in laboratory conditions. In this case, it is necessary to determine which paw the print belongs to - right, left, front or back, what is the ratio of its length to width, and the shape of the prints. With certain skills, this can be done on the ground. For example, the right and left paws differ in the size of the toes: the smallest is on the outside, and the largest (second) is on the inside. In the hind paws, the ratio of the length of the heel print to their width is noticeably greater than in the front paws, because the hind paws are relatively elongated, the big toes are pushed forward. If a line is drawn through the back points of the outer toes, it will cut off the top of the heel much larger in the print of the front paws than in the hind paws. Researchers, knowing all this in detail, measure the prints of strictly defined tiger paws.

Counting tigers based on the size of their footprints is a delicate matter. The tracks of different tigers are often so close in size, the paw prints of the same animal are so variable depending on the substrate (soil, snow), gait and the thoroughness of their measurement, and it is so difficult to distinguish the tracks of the front and hind paws in the snow that the uninitiated these subtleties a zoologist, game warden or hunter can count the same tiger twice. In the first years of field census Amur tigers After clarification of the materials of the census work, even experienced game managers and field workers, I had to reduce the total number of tigers in a given counting area by 1.5-2 times, since traces of clearly the same individuals were taken for different ones.

In a large adult male, the footprint of the front paw is 14-16 cm wide and 13-15 cm long, the width of the heel is from 11 -13 to 13-14 cm. The footprints of adult females are smaller, usually 12-14x11 -13, with a heel of 8- 10, up to 11 cm. But here we must remember that the size of the tracks of young males can be the same as those of adult females. On the line of tracks, the print of the hind paw is usually located slightly ahead of the front paw, the distance between their similar points being a step. It varies in different tigers at different gaits, and this is also taken into account. And not only this. You have to pay attention to all manifestations of the vital activity of the animal being taken into account, including metabolic products.

The tiger leaves excrement quite often, especially near its prey. Usually they have the form of a twisted black or brown rope with a diameter of 3-4 cm, consisting of hair compressed into a dark resinous mass, sometimes bone fragments, from which it is easy to determine the time of the prey eaten and its type. Based on the consistency of the stool, it is not difficult to more specifically determine the circumstances of the prey being eaten. A hungry predator first of all eats meat and fat from its prey, stripping them of its skin, and eats a lot, which is why the excrement is usually semi-liquid, abundant, and with a very pungent odor. The longer he eats, the more hair and bone fragments become in the excrement, the more tightly they are held together. Newly deposited feces have a strong unpleasant putrefactive odor, but over time it disappears, the remains of digested meat decompose, wash away and only dense ridges of hair remain. Then they are taken away by birds, mice and voles.

This information is necessary to know, especially when several tigers live in the survey area. When tracking the tracks of a predator, the remains of their victims are encountered; one predator has, for example, a cleaver, another has a wapiti, and a third has piglets. In the tangles of tracks usually observed on animal trails, tiger excrement is often very helpful in identifying who is who.

The tiger also leaves other traces of its life activity: in certain conspicuous places it makes urinary points, spraying urine mixed with secretions of the prianal gland on the trunks big trees, stumps, fallen trees, cramps, rocks, stones, scrapes the bark of trees with its claws, rubs its muzzle against the trees. During natural excrements, animals scrape the soil or snow with their hind paws, trying to rake up excrement and urine-drenched soil (snow). And all this is recorded and recorded by accountants.

We examined the issue of the territorial distribution of the Amur tiger in the past and present. It is much more difficult to find out its former numbers. Indeed, no one has yet asked the question: how many tigers were there in the Ussuri region in the middle of the last century, when its nature in general animal world in particular, they were in a state close to primitive. (It is appropriate to recall that various authors provide conjectural, perhaps purely empirical information about the number of Indian tigers for the beginning, middle and end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century, for the 30s and subsequent years - we have already talked about this.)

We can confidently say that in the middle of the last century there were much more Amur tigers than now, this is evidenced by descriptions of hunts for the formidable beast, frequent encounters of its tracks by travelers, information about the size of the shootings, etc.

I. Almazov, for example, in “Stories of a South Ussuri Hunter” (the book was published in 1890) talks about tigers and their antics in the upper reaches of the Ussuri. He writes that there were many of these predators, they roamed around settlements, sometimes they entered not only them, but also military garrisons, and even put them almost in a state of siege. ...People were afraid to walk the streets, they almost never went to visit alone, but rather in whole crowds, they carried knives, revolvers, some took messengers... He also says that in 1889, six tigers were killed near the garrison.

In many respects, these circumstances and facts are similar to those noted in India in the past, when the density of the tiger population there was tens of times greater than in the Ussuri region now.

The founder of antler reindeer husbandry in the south of Primorye, M.I. Yankovsky, wrote at the end of the last century that in the winter of 1880/81, nine tigers were killed on a small area of ​​the western coast of Peter the Great Bay. Judging by the published stories of his grandson V. Yankovsky, in other years no fewer, if not more, tigers were caught there. After such stories, there is a message that at the end of the 19th century. in the south of the Far East, up to 120-150 tigers were shot annually, there is no doubt or objection.

Indirect evidence of the large number of tigers in the past century was also the size of the groups of predators encountered. N. M. Przhevalsky says that in the vicinity of Vladivostok they saw six tigers in a “herd”, and L. G. Kaplanov cites the memories of an old tiger catcher about encounters with “herds” of tigers from seven to thirteen heads. In the 60-70s of our century, only one was reliably known, the meeting of four adult tigers in a group, and even those, perhaps, were from a brood on the verge of collapse.

With an annual kill of 120-150 animals, the number of the total tiger population, of course, fell - this fact is beyond doubt. In 1900-1914. There were already much fewer predators caught, from 50-60 to 83 heads per year, in the 20s this figure dropped to 25 or less, and during the 30s about 100-110 tigers were caught and killed (about 10 15 in 1931 -1935 and 5 - 8 in subsequent years).

Analyzing materials on the size of shooting tigers and catching them alive, as well as taking into account their fecundity, we can come to the tentative conclusion that the number of tigers in the Ussuri region in the current century has decreased by approximately half for each decade.

According to L.G. Kaplanov, by 1940 the Amur tiger population in the Ussuri region was determined to be 25-30 individuals. Let's take this number as starting point calculations. Going backwards in time, we can assume that in 1930 it numbered at least 50-60 individuals (remember that in the 30s, 5-15 tigers were killed and caught per year), in 1920 - 100-120 animals ( the average annual catch is about 25 animals per year), in 1910 - 200-240 tigers (from 50-60 to 83 per year were killed) and, finally, at the turn of the century, the population of the predator was apparently estimated at 350-400 individuals. In the last quarter of the XIX V. There were hardly less than 600-800 tigers here. In the middle of the same century and in earlier times, there were obviously the same number of them, because in the 60-80s these predators were killed less than at the end of the century, and the population coped with such losses - the fertility of animals increased and natural mortality decreased . The tiger population began to decrease around the 80s of the last century, when the activity of hunting for it increased sharply, and especially since the end of the century, when tiger cubs began to be captured for zoos.

The rate of decline in the tiger population in the last quarter of the 19th century. At first they were insignificant, but when shooting and trapping reached 15-20% of the total number of animals, populations began to steadily melt. In the first quarter of our century, from 20 to 30% of animals from their total population were hunted annually, and, of course, such losses for populations became irreparable... The tiger population declined especially sharply and steadily after the catastrophically snowy winter of 1914/15, when, due to heavy snow, almost all the wild boars died, and the number of red deer decreased several times.

Currently, as already mentioned, 180-190 tigers live in our country. At first glance, it may be difficult to agree that 80-100 years ago their population was 3.5-4 times larger than today. But the doubt is dispelled if, firstly, we take into account that the area of ​​the modern tiger range here has almost halved during the same time: there are no more tigers in the Amur region, they have disappeared in the mountains of the Lesser Khingan, in the Kura and Urmi basins , on the ridges of Dzhaki-Unakh-ta-Yakbyyana, Vandane, Khekhtsir and other places in the region, and secondly, the number of ungulates, which are the main victims of the tiger, also decreased by 2-4 times during this period.

Once upon a time, in the virgin, extremely rich in animal forests of the Ussuri region, still almost uninhabited and poorly visited by people, not logged, not burned and almost completely roadless, the tiger dominated. The well-being, density of its population and numbers were determined mainly by the size of the population of Ussuri wild boar, wapiti, sika deer, roe deer, and, to a lesser extent, bears, gorals and musk deer. Unfortunately, we do not have specific data on the number of these animals either for the last century or for the first half of the current one. Information about this appeared only in the 60-70s, but the fact is undeniable that 80-100 years ago there were significantly more ungulates than now. As Professor G.F. Bromley found out, there are now significantly less than 1 thousand sika deer in the south of Primorye; at the beginning of the 20th century. there were about 10 thousand of them, and in the middle of the 19th century. - up to 50-100 thousand. Gorals at the end of the last century there were up to 2 thousand, and after fifty years there were no more than 500 of them left.

The abundance of wild boar and wapiti can be judged from the descriptions of hunts by N.M. Przhevalsky, N.A. Baykov, V.K. Arsenyev, L.G. Kaplanov and other researchers. For example, in the snowy conditions of January, February and March 1915, hunters from just one small coastal village of Dzhigit killed about 1.5 thousand red deer. And huge herds of wild boars walked into the fields with ripened crops in the fall, as if on an attack, not paying attention to the screams, or the hellish ringing of metal, or shots. Hundred-headed herds of wild boars did not surprise anyone at the beginning of our century.

V.K. Arsenyev said that once in the forests of Southern Primorye he discovered a 24-kilometer abatement - an impenetrable wall of piled up forest, where he counted 74 camouflaged deep holes dug in specially constructed passages. All sorts of animals fell into these pits, but mostly ungulates. In the warehouse near the hunting hut, where the owner of the fence lived, there were about 700 kg of dried animal tendons, collected in less than six months. How many hundreds of animals in this area were destroyed in just six months, if so many tendons were collected from them!

Hunters of the old generation are known to have killed already in the 30s, when there were significantly fewer wild pigs, 80-100 animals per season and up to a dozen per day. And there were so many roe deer that one hunter shot more than a hundred of them during the 3 weeks of spring transitions. In the Amur region. up to 150 thousand roe deer were killed per year (now there are no more than 40 thousand of them there). N. M. Przhevalsky, describing his extremely successful taiga hunts in the book “Travel in the Ussuri region” (M., 1947, pp. 159-160), exclaimed: “What passionate hunter in Europe would not envy such an abundance of animals, such a wonderful a hunt for them that he never dreamed of..."

After a catastrophic reduction in the range and number of sika deer and goral, hunting for them was prohibited (starting in the 30s), and they ceased to play a significant role in the tiger’s diet. There are also significantly fewer wild boars, wapiti and roe deer than there were before. Hunters of some regional hunting societies and industrial farms now hunt as many of them per season as one Udege, Nanat or Russian hunter used to kill.

The size of the tiger's former range also could not prevent the placement of 600-800 individuals there. In places where ungulates are concentrated, the density of the tiger population even now reaches 6-8, and in some places up to 10 individuals per 1000 km 2, although on average it is close to 1.5 individuals per the same area.

The territory of the former tiger range in the Ussuri region was 280 thousand km 2 - twice as large as the current one. With a uniform distribution of predators on it, the average density did not exceed 3-3.5 individuals per 1000 km 2. In the southern half of the range, their density was, of course, 2-3 times greater than in the northern half, but that’s another question.

Modern average population densities of the Indian tiger are several times higher than those given for the Amur tiger, and this is not surprising, because for the existence of a predator it does not require such a vast territory as it has in our country. It would be that there is - this is ultimately the most important thing.

Unfortunately, we must admit the fact that the territory that has fallen out of the restored range of the Amur tiger will apparently never be populated by it again. This equally applies to the former size of this beast - it can no longer be achieved. The only thing that can be achieved in protecting it is to preserve the current habitat and population, but this task is also difficult: the process of economic development of the areas where the tiger lives is too abrupt and rapid.

The specific current distribution of the Amur tiger is presented as follows. Northern border its habitat - a zone of sustainable habitat - runs from the mouth of the river. Kabanya, on the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan, to the southwest to the sources of the Kema, where it passes to the western macroslope of the Sikhote-Alin. It is characteristic that on the sea coast north of the river. The wild boar tiger is found only temporarily, on passes over a distance of 200 km, up to and including the lower reaches of Samarga. Further north, 2-4 tigers live in the Botchi and Koppi river basins. This is explained by the fact that in these places cedar is better preserved, and therefore wild boar is also found.

From the upper reaches of Armu and Dalnyaya the range boundary goes to the mouth of Svetlovodnaya on Bikin, then rises north through the upper reaches of Katen, middle part Sukpaya, the mouth of the Chuya, and having reached the middle part of Anyui, it turns sharply to the south. Along the Amur and railway Khabarovsk - Vladivostok, along the western foothills of the Sikhote-Alin, the border descends to Peter the Great Bay. Isolated areas of tiger habitat are located along the state border of the USSR from Lake. Khanka to Posyet Bay (see Fig. 5).

The zone of regular temporary visits to the Middle and Northern Sikhote-Alin extends to the latitude of Sovetskaya Gavan on the eastern slope and to the mouth of Gorin on the western macroslope. In the mountains of Lesser Khingan along the watersheds of Bira and Bidzhan in 1950 - 1960. At least eight tigers lived. Here their constant crossings across the Amur in both directions were observed. From this focus, predators regularly entered the Arkhara basin and the zone of cedar-broad-leaved forests along the Kura and Urmi rivers. In the mid-60s, there were only one or two animals left here, and by the early 70s they had disappeared. Due to the extinction of this part of the range in the 70-80s, the tiger did not appear in the basins of the Tyrma, Kura and Urmi rivers. He was last seen in the upper reaches of the Uda (where he was shot) in 1968.

In the Amur region. Since 1970, tiger visits have not been recorded. In the Chita region, between the Shilka and Argun rivers, tigers sometimes, but less and less often, penetrate from the south. On the Gazimursky ridge, large individuals live for several months a year, after which they leave the river. Amgun. In the summer of 1967, a tigress was killed by poachers near the village of Voskresenki (near the mouth of Shilka).

Still remains controversial issue: Was there a tiger on Sakhalin? Nature researchers of the Ussuri region of the last century reported encounters of this predator there. There is probably no reason to doubt this, but it is undeniable that the tiger appeared on Sakhalin very rarely, penetrating from the mainland through the frozen Nevelskoy Strait.

Published in the magazine "Knowledge is Power" (1981, No. 2) interesting note M. Yakovlev that in 1948 in the mountains in the west of Sakhalin he observed a fierce fight between a tiger and a bear. This case is described convincingly and is trustworthy. But the appearance of a tiger in those places can be considered an exceptional phenomenon. Due to extremely snowy winters and the lack of wapiti and wild boar, he cannot live on Sakhalin.

In the provinces of China adjacent to the Soviet Far East, the Amur tiger in the first half of our century was common in mountain cedar-broadleaf and deciduous forests former Manchuria, extending approximately east of the city of Harbin and north of the Korean Peninsula. There were once especially many of these animals in the province of Girin, adjacent to the state border from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok. At a later time, by the 50s, the main tiger population in Manchuria was concentrated in the cedar-broad-leaved forests of the Lesser Khingan and the Nadan-Hada-Alin ridge.

By the end of the 50s, 200-250 Amur tigers lived in Manchuria, of which 50-60 animals were allegedly shot annually, and the medicinal factory in the city of Rugunsyan bought 20-30 tiger carcasses per year. Now in those places, tiger hunting is prohibited, and its number is very small - hardly more than 50 individuals. Even fewer of these predators remain in the north of the DPRK - no more than 40-50 animals, and the tiger has disappeared in most of the Korean Peninsula. Thus, total number Amur tigers living isolated in the extreme northeastern corner of the former species range, 270-300.

Despite the generally satisfactory state of the tiger population in the Soviet Far East and the growth of its numbers over the past 30-40 years, in general the situation with the tiger in our country has worsened over the past 100-150 years. At the beginning of the 18th century. he lived in the Caucasus, reaching the Black Sea coast, and perhaps went out into the Ciscaucasia - north of the main ridge. In Lenkoran it was an ordinary animal and was found in Colchis and Adjara. But everywhere he was intensively hunted for a long time, and the results showed. In Georgia, the last tiger was shot in 1922, and in Armenia in 1948.

In the subtropical forests of Lankaran and the Talysh Mountains, where tigers were quite numerous, in the middle of the last century they were killed from 10-15 to 20 per year, and by the end of the century there were very few of them left. And still the tigers were killed. They continued to do this in the 20th century, and they also shot wild boars, which he mainly ate. In 1932, the last tiger was killed. In the 50s and 60s, tigers from neighboring Iran still wandered into Azerbaijan, but they were quickly eliminated.

The fate of the Turanian tiger is sad. In Central Asia and Kazakhstan in the last century, it was numerous and lived almost everywhere, except in deserts. They began to intensively and purposefully pursue him with mid-19th V. For a killed tiger they paid a premium of 25-50 rubles, which was a lot at the exchange rate of that time - approximately the cost of a cow. The extermination of the tiger was encouraged even after the end of the civil war. Until the 30s, they paid 100 rubles for a killed animal. Any methods and methods of hunting tigers were allowed. They killed up to several dozen a year. And the results were immediate. Already at the end of the last century, the Turanian tiger was destroyed in Murghab and Tedjen, then it disappeared in other areas, in the following... In Turkmenistan, the last tiger that came from Iran was shot in 1954. By this time, the tiger had even disappeared from the reserve... Tigrovaya Balka, where it was once numerous. And so, in 1978, the journal Nature published an article by scientist R. L. Potapov under the gloomy title “The Disappearance of the Turanian Tiger.” The tiger of this subspecies disappeared not only here - on the northern edge of its vast range, but also, probably, in its original habitats - in Iran and Afghanistan. Recent biological expeditions were unable to find any traces of inhabitants of tugai and reed thickets in these countries.

The Turanian tiger could, of course, have been saved if strict protection had been taken up thirty years ago - even then the deplorable state of the population destroyed by people was obvious. In 1957, hunting for it was banned in Tajikistan, but it was already too late. In 1968-1972 Turanian tigers have been seen in last time. IN foreign countries This animal was not protected, even purposefully exterminated, and the last time it was seen was somewhere in the late 50s.

R.L. Potapov in his article (Priroda, 1978, No. 6, pp. 23-24) wrote: “The destruction of their main habitat - tugai thickets along with the fauna inhabiting them was especially destructive for these large predators ...

Tugai biocenoses are characterized by high productivity and, consequently, a very high density of animal population. But it was precisely this high productivity of the tugai forests, the fertility of their soils and water that began to attract people here. Fertile lands adjacent to water have always been in short supply in these places. The human advance on the tugai began a long time ago, but over the past half century it has been carried out with exceptional intensity. Impenetrable tugai thickets disappeared before our eyes, being replaced by even squares of cotton, rice, and tobacco plantations. Tugai forests were cut down and turned into pastures for livestock. The number of wild boars and deer, which constituted the main food of tigers, was rapidly declining, and the small patches of surviving thickets could no longer provide protection for the quiet breeding of offspring.

Small-sized reserves and wildlife sanctuaries did not save the situation, and as a result, by 1950, tigers disappeared from the tugai forests of the delta and upper reaches of the Amu Darya - last places in our country, where they were still breeding. Around the same time, tigers disappeared from Afghanistan and Northwestern China. The last negligible population remained in the Caspian floodplains of Iran.

However, the process of land development continued there too, and regular reports of tigers in the vast reed beds of the Iranian Caspian Sea became increasingly rare and ceased around the same time, in the early 50s. There, tigers were chased and baited with poisonous baits as livestock killers. The tiger was doomed here too. The last reliable report of his meeting dates back to 1958. But tigers clearly lived somewhere here even after 1958. Somewhere in the remote corners the dying light of the Caspian population still glimmered. But the turn has come for these corners. The last Turanian tigers had to leave their native reeds devastated by humans and move to dense forests on the slopes of the Talysh Mountains and the Elbrus Range, for which they were clearly not adapted to life.

Here they were still met from time to time by villagers, but these meetings became increasingly rare.

Having left their native places, single tigers began to wander, encountering people everywhere, the noise of working machinery, and having difficulty finding food for themselves. And the last outbreak of reports of sightings of tigers in Lenkoran and along the Amu Darya in 1963-1968, which inspired optimism among some zoologists, was in fact the dying signal of a dying population.”

The disappearance of the Turanian tiger should serve as a harsh lesson for us, showing the harmfulness of any delay in matters of nature conservation. The worst thing is that there are probably no more Turanian tigers in zoos around the world. And I keep hoping: suddenly at least two or three will show up turanian tiger somewhere in particularly remote areas inaccessible to humans; say, in the north of Iran. Or they can be found in some zoos. Then there will be hope to restore the subspecies, although this work will be very difficult. After all, at one time they saved more than one animal that was completely exterminated in nature, but, fortunately, was preserved in zoos.

Number of rare predators in wildlife increased from 3200 to 3890 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 growing. This gives us hope and shows that when the authorities, local residents and experts in the field of nature conservation join forces, 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 calculations by the TRAFFIC organization, law enforcement agencies 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.

Tiger (lat. Panthera tigris) - a predator of the class mammals, such as chordates, order Carnivora, cat family, panther genus, subfamilies big cats. It got its name from the ancient Persian word tigri, which means “sharp, fast,” and from the ancient Greek word “arrow.”

The tiger is the largest and heaviest member of the cat family. Some male tigers reach a length of 3 meters and weigh over 300 kg. Tigers are listed in the Red Book, and hunting these animals is prohibited.

Tiger: description and photographs

Tigers are distinguished by a flexible, muscular body and a round head with a convex forehead, expressive eyes and small but sensitive ears. Tigers see perfectly in the dark, and according to scientists, they can distinguish colors. Bengal and Amur tigers are the largest of their species. The size of these tigers can reach 2.5-2.9 meters in length (excluding the tail), and the weight of tigers of this species reaches 275-320 kg. The height of a tiger at the withers is 1.15 m. The average weight of an adult male is 180-250 kg.

According to official data, the record recorded weight of the big tiger(Bengali) was 388.7 kg.

Moreover, females are usually smaller than males in size.

Elastic white tiger whiskers grow in 4-5 rows, framing the tiger's muzzle. With sharp fangs up to 8 cm long, the tiger easily deals with its prey.

Special keratinized protrusions on the side of the movable tongue help to cut the carcass of a killed animal, and also serve auxiliary hygiene. Adult mammals have 30 teeth.

There are 5 toes on the front paws of a tiger, hind legs There are only 4 of them, each finger has retractable claws.

Tiger ears are small and round in shape. The animal's pupil is round, the iris is yellow.

Southern tiger species have a short and dense body hairline, northern brothers are more fluffy.

The color of the animals is predominantly rust with a red or brown tint; the chest and belly are much lighter, and sometimes even white.

The tiger owes its exceptional beauty to the dark brown or completely black stripes located throughout the body. The tiger's stripes have characteristic pointed ends, sometimes bifurcating, then joining again. Typically an animal has more than 100 stripes.

The long tail, covered with rings of stripes, is always black at the end. A tiger's stripes are uniquely positioned, like a human fingerprint, and serve as excellent camouflage for the animal.

The track of a male tiger is longer and more elongated than that of a female. The length of the male tiger's track is 15-16 cm, the width is 13-14 cm. The length of the female tiger's track reaches 14-15 cm, and the width is 11-13 cm.

The roar of a tiger can be heard at a distance of almost 3 kilometers.

Despite their considerable weight, tigers can reach speeds of up to 60 km/h regardless of the surrounding landscape.

The lifespan of an animal in captivity is approximately 15 years.

Who is stronger - a lion or a tiger?

This question worries and interests many. Unfortunately, there are very few recorded facts about battles between a lion and a tiger, so there is no reason to talk about the superiority of one representative of the animal world over another. It is only possible to compare a tiger and a lion according to their external parameters and lifestyle.

• So, as for the weight category, although a little, about 50-70 kg, the tiger is still heavier than the lion.
• In terms of jaw compression force when biting, both animals are in the same positions.
• The principle of killing the chosen victim is also identical - both the tiger and the tiger bite into the neck of their prey, piercing it with powerful fangs.
• But in terms of lifestyle, these two predators are radically different. The tiger is a born solitary hunter who prefers to get food in his own “land”, that is, in a marked territory. Feuds between relatives are almost impossible, since tigers rarely intersect with each other during the hunt. Lions live in pride clans, so males often fight not only for the right to hunt, but also for the “lady of the heart” during mating games. Often such fights end with serious wounds and even the death of one of the lions.
• It is impossible to say with certainty who is more resilient - a lion or his striped brother from the cat family. Both animals run quite quickly, covering considerable distances, but such a criterion as endurance can be justified by the age of these predators, living conditions, or their state of health.

There are facts when trained lions fought with the same circus tigers. Mostly the lion emerged victorious from the battle, but again, this conclusion subjective, no one kept statistics, so you shouldn’t use such information as a 100% statement of superiority.

Both animals, the lion and the tiger, are very strong, powerful and perfectly adapted to their natural environment.

Subspecies of tigers, names, descriptions and photos

The classification identifies 9 subspecies of the tiger, 3 of which, unfortunately, have already disappeared from the face of the earth. Today in nature live:

• Amur (Ussuri) tiger (lat. Panthera tigris altaica)

The largest and smallest representative of the species, distinguished by thick fur and a relatively small number of stripes. The color of the Amur tiger is orange with a white belly, the fur is thick. The body length of males reaches 2.7 – 3.8 meters. The weight of a male Amur tiger is 180-220 kg. The height of the Amur tiger at the withers is 90-106 cm.

Population Ussuri tigers, numbering approximately 500 individuals, inhabits the Amur region of Russia. A number of individuals are found in North Korea and northeast China. The Amur tiger is listed in the Red Book of Russia.

• Bengal tiger (lat. Panthera tigris tigris, Panthera tigris bengalensis)

Characterized by the largest numbers, representatives have a bright coat color from yellow to light orange. In nature, there are also white Bengal tigers that do not have stripes at all, but they are rather a mutated species. The length of the Bengal tiger reaches 270-310 cm, females are smaller and reach a length of 240-290 cm. The tiger's tail is 85-110 cm long. The height at the withers is 90-110 cm. The weight of the Bengal tiger is from 220 to 320 kg as a maximum.

According to various sources, the population of this tiger species includes from 2.5 to 5 thousand individuals, most of who live in Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and South Asia.

Albino white tiger

• Indochinese tiger (lat. Panthera tigris corbetti)

It is distinguished by a dull red color and numbers a little more than a thousand individuals. The stripes of this species are narrower and shorter. This type of tiger is smaller in size than others. The length of the male is 2.55-2.85 cm, the length of the female is 2.30-2.55 cm. The weight of a male Indochinese tiger reaches 150-195 kg, the weight of a female tiger is 100-130 kg.

The area where Indochinese tigers live is Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Southern China.

• Malayan tiger (lat. Panthera tigris jacksoni)

The third largest subspecies in the number of individuals, living in the Malaysian, southern region of the Malay Peninsula.

This is the smallest tiger among all species. The length of a male Malayan tiger is 237 cm, the length of females is up to 200 cm. The weight of a male Malayan tiger is 120 kg, the weight of females does not exceed 100 kg. In total, there are about 600-800 tigers of this species in nature.

• Sumatran tiger (lat. Panthera tigris sumatrae)

It is also considered the smallest representative of the species. The length of a male tiger is 220-25 cm, the length of females is 215-230 cm. The weight of male tigers is 100-140 kg, the weight of females is 75-110 kg.

About 500 representatives are found in nature reserves on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

• South China tiger (Chinese tiger) (lat. Panthera tigris amoyensis)

A small subspecies, no more than 20 of these tigers live in captivity in the south and center of China.

The body length of males and females is 2.2-2.6 meters, the weight of males does not exceed 177 kg, the weight of females reaches 100-118 kg.

Extinct species are Bali tiger, Caspian tiger And Javan tiger.

In addition to white tigers, species with a yellow color are sometimes born; such animals are called golden tigers. The fur of such tigers is lighter and the stripes are brown.

Tiger hybrids

Hybrids, born from crossing the big tabby cat and other representatives of the panther genus, began to appear in captivity as early as the 19th century.

• Liger

A hybrid of a lion and a female tiger, it is enormous in size and reaches three meters in length in adulthood.

• Tigrolev (tigon)

A hybrid of a tiger and a lioness, always smaller than its parents and endowed with the characteristics of both: paternal stripes and maternal spots. Males have a mane, but it is smaller than that of a liger.

Tigers and ligers are born exclusively in zoos. In the wild, tigers and lions do not interbreed.

Ussuri tigers live in Amur region in Russia, Khabarovsk and Primorsky territories, about 10% of the population is found in North Korea and northeast China. Bengal tigers live in Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and South Asia. The area where Indochinese tigers live is Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Southern China. The Malayan tiger lives in the southern part of the Malay Peninsula. Sumatran tigers are found in nature reserves on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Chinese tigers live in south-central China.

For their habitats, these striped predators choose the most different zones: rain forests tropics, shady jungles, semi-desert regions and savannas, bamboo thickets and steep rocky hills. The tiger is so able to adapt to conditions that it feels great both in hot climates and in the harsh northern taiga. Steep cliffs with numerous niches or secret caves, secluded reed or reed thickets near water bodies are the most favorite territories where the tiger makes his lair, hunts and raises restless and nimble offspring.

Tiger's lifestyle and habits

Possessing quite massive dimensions and enormous strength, tigers feel like absolute masters of the territory in which they live. Leaving his marks with urine everywhere, stripping the bark from trees along the perimeter of his property and loosening the soil with his claws, the male tiger clearly marks his “land”, not allowing other males there.

At the same time, tigers from the same “family” are quite friendly to each other and sometimes behave very funny during communication: they touch their muzzles, rub their striped sides, “snort” noisily and energetically, while exhaling air through their mouths or nose.

In nature, tigers are most often solitary animals, but in zoos with these cats everything looks a little different. After the birth of a pair of offspring, the tiger-father takes care of the babies no less reverently than the tigress-mother: he spends leisure time with them during games, licks them and gently trembles in the form of punishment for the scruff of the neck. Watching the tiger family is really interesting.

In the natural environment, tigers do not limit themselves to the time of day during the hunt - when they are hungry and prey has turned up, then they will make a fatal throw for the victim. By the way, the tiger is an excellent swimmer and will never refuse to eat fish,

The tiger is one of the largest species. He is able to survive in extreme conditions low temperatures and is not afraid of the chilling north wind. It has thicker fur than its southern counterparts, and on its belly it has a layer of fat five centimeters thick, which protects the animal from the cold.

The cat family has an elongated flexible body, a rounded head with very short ears, rather short legs and a long tail. The visual features of the Amur tiger are interesting. He sees colors well, unlike many other cats. And he sees better than a human, five times as much!

The Amur tiger is capable of running in the snow at speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour.

The tiger's body length is from 2.7-3.8 meters, weight is from 160 to 270 kilograms. Body color is orange, with a white belly. Amur tigers are somewhat lighter than other species. Their lifespan is about 15 years.

Males are usually alone, and the “personal” territory of each of them can be up to 800 square kilometers. Females sometimes gather in groups.

Tigers can also communicate with each other. They greet each other with special sounds reminiscent of a growl. As a sign of friendliness, they may touch each other or rub their muzzles and sides.

Number and distribution

The main thing is the territory of Russia. There is also a small population (about 50 individuals) in China. By the way, in the Celestial Empire the death penalty is provided as punishment for killing an Amur tiger.

In 2012, one of the oldest predators on the planet, the 21-year-old Amur tiger Lyuty, died in the Khabarovsk Territory. Once upon a time, Russian and American doctors jointly performed a unique operation on Lyuty to restore his jaw.

In Russia, the distribution range of the Amur tiger is in the Khabarovsk and Primorye Territories, along the Ussuri and Amur rivers. Most of these animals are found in the Lazovsky district of the Primorsky Territory, in the foothills of the Sikhote-Alin. The total number of wild Amur animals in Russia, according to research from 1996, is about 415 – 176 individuals (it is not possible to say more precisely how many individuals remain in Russia). About 450 more tigers are kept in various zoos around the world. The total number of Amur tigers is declining.

Of all the representatives of this family living on our planet. The largest representative of this species is the Amur tiger. It is also called the Ussuri or Far Eastern tiger.

Representative of the Amur tiger

Tiger Habitat

This subspecies currently lives only in Russia. In the recent past, it was also common in China. Despite the death penalty provided for poaching, the tiger there has been almost completely destroyed. There are up to a hundred individuals left in the northern part of China, bordering our territory.

In the habitats of the Amur tiger, it is considered the king of the taiga, because there is no predator that can compete with it. This subspecies of tiger is generally the most dangerous predator on the ground. The power and strength of this beast is amazing; the deer it kills, whose weight can be hundreds of kilograms, is capable of dragging more than a kilometer. In hungry years, even bears sometimes become the target of tigers.

The tiger is first and foremost a predator

Tigers are territorial animals. Each individual has its own individual territory, which it guards and regularly marks. The areas of males and females often overlap, which makes it easier to find a partner during the mating period. The territory controlled by one adult and strong male may overlap with the territories of several females at once. Fierce fights occur with alien males.

Animal lifestyle

Tigresses most often give birth to 2 cubs. They live with their mother for 2 years, after which they begin to hunt on their own. The first months of life, the cubs eat their mother's milk; from the age of 2 months, they begin to eat pieces of meat brought by the tigress from her prey. Over time, she begins to lead them to prey, teaching them to tear apart the victim on their own. Having matured and learned to get food, young tiger cubs live on the borders of adult tigers. After 4 years, they learn to live individually and begin searching for their own plot.

Mother with tiger cub

The tiger prefers to hunt in the daytime, but can go out in search of prey at night. Its main prey are wild boars, deer, and wapiti. He can also hunt musk deer, roe deer, and even hares. At one time he can eat a very large amount of meat. The tiger will eat roe deer and musk deer in one go; the animal hides the half-eaten carcass of a deer or large wild boar and eats it later.

The predator obtains prey mainly from ambush, but sometimes hunts by concealing the prey. To do this, he silently creeps up to her and at the last moment makes a swift throw. His sharp claws and long fangs complete the job, with which he kills and tears his prey into pieces.

White Amur tiger

Thanks to the efforts made by the leadership of the Russian Federation, the Amur tiger is excluded from the category of endangered animals. The possibility of relocating tigers to the territory of Yakutia is currently being considered. This the most beautiful predator saved from extinction.

Amur tiger makes friends with a goat