The Siberian tigers are the world’s largest wild cats and here some spectacular pictures of these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat.
Chill Out – Jorissen Alida
Momentary Downtime – Ashley Vincent
Save The Tiger – Marc Haegeman
Kyra
Privacy, Please….
Siberian Tiger
Siberian Tigers and Snow – Hayana
Amur Tiger
Beautiful Siberian Tigers
Siberian Tiger Portrait
Camera-Conscious
Water Sipping
Attack
Amur Tiger
Siberian Tiger – Julia
Supreme Cat – Sabry
Posing Tiger – Josef Gelernter
Cold – Hayana
Snow Majesty
Siberian Tiger
Disappearing Giant
Two of a kind
Juvenile Siberian Tiger – Sabry
Tiger Guard
Interesting and Fun Facts About Siberian Tigers
1. Estimates vary from source to source, however, it is calculated that there are just 500 Siberian tigers in the wild.
2. Around 80% of Siberian tigers live within the coniferous, scrub oak and birch woodlands of the Primorski Krai region of Russia (eastern Russia), with low numbers also being found in northeast China and northern North Korea.
3. The Siberian tiger’s orange color is actually paler than that of other tigers and it has widely spaced brown stripes rather than black. It has a white chest and belly and a thick ‘ruff’ of hair around its neck.
4. Its thicker fur, and the layer of fat along its belly and flanks, allow it to live within the cold, harsh Siberian temperatures which can reach as low as – 46°C.
5. A tiger’s stripes act as camouflage within long grass and dense vegetation as they help distort its body outline, however, as the land here is covered in snow for most of the year the Siberian Tiger has developed stripes much paler than that of other tiger subspecies.
6. They are the largest of all cats with males growing up to 3.3 meters long and weighing up to 300 kilograms. The smaller females measure around 2.6 meters and weigh between 100-167 kilograms.
7. They can live up to the age of 25 years in their natural habitat.
8. Its favorite foods include elk, deer, wild boar, lynx and bear; wild boar makes up more than half of its diet. They will also eat fish, rabbits and small rodents when larger prey are scarce.
9. An adult needs to eat around 9 kg of food a day to survive within the cold climate. They can, however, eat up to 50kg (110 pounds) of meat in just one meal, that’s around 400 hamburgers!!
10. Tigers can run very fast reaching speeds of up to 50 mph, however, they can only maintain this speed over short distances. In fact only one out of ten of their hunts will actually be successful.
11. They hunt mainly at night time; their excellent night vision and highly developed senses of hearing and smell allow this. Their night vision is six times better than that of human’s.
12. Their territories can be as great as 1,000 square kilometers; they need to cover such vast areas whilst hunting in order to find their prey.
13. The Siberian tiger’s mating season tends to be from December to January. The normal gestation period is three to three and a half months.
14. An average litter size is three or four cubs. The cubs are born blind and are around the size of a house cat. After about two weeks their eyes start to open and their teeth begin to grow. They are weaned at six months and independent by 18 months. They will start hunting on their own within their first year, however, they do not leave their mother and establish their own territories until they reach three to five years old. Unfortunately it is usual for only one cub from each litter to survive to maturity.
15. Forest fragmentation and poaching have both taken their toll on tiger numbers, however, in Korea logging of Korean Pines seems to pose the greatest threat.
16. Although it is illegal to kill a tiger, tigers are still poached today because their body parts can be sold on the black market for great sums of money. The tiger parts are sold for their fur and use in traditional Chinese medicines.