Amur tiger - Panthera tigris altaica

The Amur tiger is the only subspecies of Panthera tigris still found in the Eurasian region covered by the Large Herbivore Network. The male Amur tiger (Panthera tigris ssp. altaica) is believed to be the largest cat in the world, but up to now scientists that capture tigers for research have failed to catch an Amur tiger in the wild that is heavier than the largest male Indian tigers caught for research in Nepal.

The Amur tiger, or Siberian tiger, is typically 5–10 cm taller at the shoulders than the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris ssp. tigris), which is about 107–110 cm tall. Males measure 270–330 cm long and weigh 180–306 kg, while females measure 240–275 cm long and weigh 100–167 kg.

Amur tiger

The habitat of the Amur tiger is a unique forested area in the Russian Far East states of Primorski and Khabarovski Krais. In the summer the forests are dense with varied vegetation which is both deciduous and coniferous but in the winter these forests are cold and snow bound. Much of the terrain is mountainous and rugged but is now crossed by roads, human settlements and more recently logging roads.

The Amur tiger is mostly confined to low mountains, having been displaced by humans from lower areas. Its most common habitats are mountain river valleys and pads overgrown with pine and oak, as well as mountains teeming with deciduous shrubs or in oak or nut-tree groves. It travels through dense spruce forests, and is attracted to rocky areas and forests abundant with wild boar, wapiti and moose.

As the top predator of its ecosystem, the Amur tiger needs large prey to survive, and its main prey species are ungulates – wild boar, sika deer and red deer. In the summer tigers may prey on smaller animals such as badgers, and raccoon dogs. Bears comprise about 3% of the tiger’s diet in the Russian Far East. There are rare cases on record of adult brown bears being killed and eaten by Amur tigers. Brown bear cubs are killed more often (indicating that male tigers can drive away the defending mother bear) and the smaller Himalayan black bear also appears on the Amur tiger’s menu. The Amur tiger has also been known to take domestic animals, including dogs, from villages when hard pushed to find food. They can eat up to 50 kg of meat in just one meal.

Each adult tiger requires a huge territory — up to 40 by 40 km for an adult male, whilst the female home range is usually smaller. Compared to other tiger subspecies, Amur tigers need much larger areas of habitat to survive due to the relative lack of prey, so that any particular area of habitat will have a less dense population than a similar size of habitat in one of the tiger ranges of India or Thailand. For this reason a very large area of healthy habitat is needed to sustain a population of Amur tigers that is viable for the future.

Amur tigers are thought to be able to live up to 25 years in their natural habitat, but most will die significantly younger and the median age in any given population is unlikely to exceed 7 years.

Amur tigers reach sexual maturity at four years of age. They mate at any time of the year. A female signals her receptiveness by leaving urine deposits and scratch marks on trees. Gestation lasts from 3 to 3½ months. Litter size is normally two to four cubs but there can be as many as six. The cubs are born in a sheltered den and are left alone when the female leaves to hunt for food.

Cubs are generally divided equally between genders at birth. However, by adulthood there are usually two to four females for every male. The female cubs remain with their mothers longer, and later they establish territories close to their original ranges. Males, on the other hand, travel unaccompanied and range farther earlier in their lives, thus making them more vulnerable to poachers and other tigers.

The Amur tiger is classified by the IUCN as Endangered. The number of Amur Tigers in China is estimated at 18–22, and it is not known if any still survive in North Korea. The Amur Tiger now occurs primarily in Russia, where it has made a spectacular comeback since the 1930s, when the population fell as low as 20–30 animals. According to a comprehensive 2005 population census, there are 331–393 adult-subadult Amur tigers in the Russian Far East, with fewer than 100 likely to be sub-adults >20 to <36 months of age.

However, after having been stable for more than a decade due to intensive conservation efforts, partial surveys conducted in subsequent winters indicate that the Russian tiger population is declining. Moreover, a broad genetic sampling of 95 wild Russian tigers found markedly low genetic diversity, with the effective population size (Ne) extraordinarily low in comparison to the census population size (N). This means that from a genetic point of view, the population is behaving as if it were just 27–35 individuals. This reflects the recent population bottleneck of the 1940s, and concords with the low documented cub survivorship to independence in the Russian Far East. Further exacerbating the problem is that more than 90% of the population occurs in the Sikhote Alin mountain region, and there is little genetic exchange (movement of tigers) across the development corridor which separates this sub-population from the much smaller subpopulation found in southwest Primorye province.

Poaching of Tigers as well as their wild prey species is considered to be driving the decline, although heavy snows in the winter of 2009 could have biased the data. The extent of decline cannot be stated with certainty but there is a consensus that there is a clear downward trend.

The global tiger population is estimated to range from 3,000–5,000. Population estimates for the Russian Federation, where only the Amur tiger is found, are thought to be more accurate and reliable than those for most other countries.

Russian Federation

In 2005 a comprehensive winter snow tracking census estimated 331–393 adult/sub-adult Tigers; 977 fieldworkers covered 1,537 transect routes totalling 26,031 km. Using a similar methodology, 330–371 adult tigers were estimated in 1996. The more recent number probably reflects more intensive survey effort. However, after having been stable for over a decade, recent surveys which covered about 15–20% of Tiger habitat in Russia may indicate a significant declining trend.

• Russia

Tigers once ranged widely across Asia, from Turkey in the west to the eastern coast of Russia. Over the past 100 years tigers have disappeared from southwest and central Asia, from two Indonesian islands (Java and Bali) and from large areas of Southeast and Eastern Asia. Tigers have lost 93% of their historic range.

The extinct Turanian tiger / Caspian tiger

Tigers are currently found in thirteen Asian range states: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Viet Nam. They may still persist in North Korea, although there has been no recent confirmed evidence. The Russian Far Eastern bioregion, inhabited by the Amur tiger (ssp. altaica), is the only one that falls directly within the Large Herbivore Network region of interest.

Over the past decade, conservationists have developed priority areas for tiger conservation, called Tiger Conservation Landscapes (TCLs). TCLs are defined as areas where there is sufficient habitat to conserve at least five tigers, and tigers have been confirmed to occur in the past decade. A total of 76 TCLs were delineated, with a total area of 1,184,911 km². TCLS vary in size, with the largest covering 269,983 km² in the Russian Far East.

However, tiger range is actually smaller than the total area of TCLs, because most TCLs contain area of non-tiger habitat where tigers cannot live (average 55% non-habitat, ranging from 20–70% of a TCL). However, tigers also occur outside the TCLs.

The Russian Far East bioregion (which includes small areas of northeastern China and North Korea) has just two TCLs, but includes the world's largest (269,983 km²). Total TCL area 271,297 km². The average percent of TCL protected is only 9.9%.

Tiger range has been shrinking not only historically, but also more recently. Comparison of current TCL area with a previous estimate a decade ago finds that Tiger range has shrunk by 41% in the past ten years. This discrepancy is due in part to technical reasons including a better state of knowledge and improved tiger detection methodologies consider Tiger poaching and habitat loss to be important causes of this recent decline.

The main threats to the survival of the Amur tiger are poaching, habitat loss, and illegal hunting of ungulates, which are tigers’ main prey. Because they increase access for poachers, roads are another important threat to the Siberian tiger. Intrinsic factors such as inbreeding depression and disease are also potential threats to this big cat, but are less understood.

Poaching

Research conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Russia has demonstrated that human-caused mortality accounts for 75-85% of all Amur tiger deaths. Current estimates indicate that 20-30 tigers are poached in the Russian Far East each year, although actual numbers may be higher. Population modeling data suggests that poaching rates exceeding 15% of the adult female population could have dangerous repercussions, especially as tigers have fairly low population growth rates compared to other big cats. Analysis of mortality data in Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve indicates that poaching rates may be at least this high in a significant area of Russian tiger range.

Tigers are most commonly poached for their fur and for their body parts, such as bones, that are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The opening of the border between China and Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union has now made it possible to easily transport goods to Chinese markets and beyond.

Although tigers are a protected species in Russia, enforcement agencies have very limited ability to catch and convict poachers, and, even when this happens, fines are relatively small and disincentives insufficient. Poaching problems are further exacerbated by low incomes in many rural areas of the Russian Far East – sale of a tiger skin and bones represents a substantial source of income for poor people in remote villages.

It is also common for hunters to poach tigers to eliminate competition for ungulates and for locals to kill tigers in retaliation for depredations on domestic animals such as dogs and cows.

Habitat Loss

In Russia, human population growth does not threaten habitat as it does in many other tiger-range countries. However, activities such as logging, grazing, various development projects and uncontrolled fires are all resulting in direct habitat loss in the Russian Far East. Habitat is increasingly being divided into isolated patches, particularly at the southern edge of Amur tiger range.

Logging takes place in most of Amur tiger habitat. Although existing guidelines for timber harvest are actually quite sufficient, significant illegal logging and over-harvesting still occur. Selective logging, rather than clear cutting, is most common in tiger habitat, and does not seriously impact the quality of the habitat, if access to the extensive road system is controlled (thereby limiting poaching).

Fires are another important form of habitat loss. Many local residents consider fires to be the main cause of loss of forest habitat in parts of Primorsky Krai, and Amur tigers avoid areas that have burned, as they provide neither adequate cover for hunting, nor the habitat needed for prey.

Illegal Hunting of Ungulates

Illegal hunting of ungulates such as deer and wild boar significantly reduce prey availability for tigers. While official estimates continue to report stable numbers of ungulates, many hunters and wildlife biologists believe that abundance of ungulates in the Russian Far East has decreased considerably over past 15 years. Ungulate numbers are often 2-3 times higher inside protected areas, which are nonetheless impacted by poaching, but to a lesser extent.

Low ungulate numbers also foster a competition between hunters and tigers. When ungulates numbers are low, it is easy to blame tigers, even when the root cause of population declines is over-harvesting by humans. When there is little prey available in the forest, tigers sometimes enter villages and prey on domestic animals, including dogs and livestock, which escalates tiger-human conflict.

Roads

The number of roads in Amur tiger habitat is increasing steadily as logging activities and development push into even the most remote regions. Besides allowing greater access for poachers, roads increase tiger mortality from vehicle collision, and increase the probability of accidental encounters between tigers and people, leading to tigers being shot out of fear or opportunity. Roads also provide poachers greater access to ungulate habitat, which reduces tiger prey abundance.

From 1992 to 2000 the WCS studied the fates of radio-collared Siberian tigers living in areas with no roads, secondary roads and primary roads. The findings illustrate the negative impacts of roads:

• 100% survival rate for adult tigers living in areas with no roads
• 89% survival rate for adult tigers living in areas with secondary roads
• 55% survival rate for adult tigers living in areas with primary roads

• Save The Tiger Fund
  On the occasion of this "Year of the Tiger" and "Year of the Biodiversity," there is widespread consensus that continuation of the current level of threats to tigers will certainly lead to their extinction in the very near future. Saving tigers for the generations to come will take no less than a high level of commitment from the range countries and international community assembling in St. Petersburg.
• 21st Century Tiger
  21st Century Tiger is a wild tiger conservation partnership between the Zoological Society of London and Global Tiger Patrol and one of the top six tiger funding agencies globally, contributing over £1.4 million to almost 100 tiger projects in eight countries worldwide.
• The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
  The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a non-governmental, science-based conservation organization that works in over 50 countries around the world. Founded in 1896 as the New York Zoological Society, its mission is to conserve wildlife and ecosystems by generating and applying innovative scientific and field-based solutions to critical problems.
• The ALTA Amur Leopard Conservation
  The ALTA Amur Leopard Conservation website provides information about the Amur leopard and about leopard conservation projects implemented by the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA). ALTA has decided to dedicate this website to the Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) because it receives, in general, much less attention than its famous cousin, the Amur tiger!
• Panthera
  Panthera has brought together the world’s leading wild cat experts to direct and implement effective conservation strategies for the world’s largest and most endangered cats: tigers, lions, jaguars and snow leopards. Our approach to wild cat conservation is rooted in science and based upon decades of first hand field experience.
• Tigris Foundation
  Almost all projects supported by Tigris Foundation are implemented by our ALTA partners Phoenix Fund and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Phoenix and WCS have offices in the Russian Far East and China. They provide the local framework for implementing ALTA projects, working closely with many Russian and Chinese agencies. A staff member of Tigris Foundation is based in Vladivostok and is closely involved in project design and strategy development.

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