Amur Tiger
Panthera tigris altaica

The largest of all cats and one of six remaining tiger subspecies, the Amur tiger is a top predator of far eastern Asia. With thick fur, and padded paws, this northern cat is well protected against the bone-chilling cold and icy winds of winter.

What They Eat
Amur tigers are carnivores. They eat mostly large mammals, especially wild boar and deer. But when food is scarce or a hunt goes badly (many do), they may turn to smaller prey such as rabbits or to carrion.

Where They Live
Amur tigers thrive in temperate forests (similar to central and northern Minnesota) that are large and healthy enough to support abundant populations of deer and other prey. Once spread across large areas of Asia, the tigers are now mostly limited to the northern end of their ancient range. They require dense woodlands and open fields, and each male covers territory of up to 400 square miles.

What They Do
Tigers travel over extensive territories in search of food. They hunt using stealth, speed, and sheer strength. With thick fur for warmth, stripes that render it hard for prey to identify, powerful leg muscles for stalking and springing, superb hearing and night vision, and sharp teeth and claws, these animals are well adapted to their role as top carnivore of Asia’s eastern forests.

How They’re Doing
The Amur tiger’s need for large areas of wild land, reputation as a threat to livestock and humans, and value to hunters caused its population to drop to between 20 and 30 in the 1940s. In 2005, biologists counted over 400 in the wild. Though still small, this number proves that even a tiny population can rebound if protected.

Amur Tiger

• Tigers use their rough tongues to clean their fur and rasp meat off bones.
• When they walk, tigers often place their hind feet in the tracks of their forefeet.
• Unlike most cat species, tigers like water and are good swimmers.

Amur Tiger

Care at the Zoo

The 4-acre tiger exhibit is divided into two parts. The 1-acre moat exhibit features a tiger lair viewing area. The 2-acre pier exhibit features a tiger base camp interpretation area. A greenway in between provides a buffer zone so the tigers will not pace the back of their exhibit to challenge one another. The tiger barn holds 11 indoor enclosures connected to five outdoor. The breeding cages are equipped with a “howdy door” that allows a breeding pair to see each other before they are allowed access to each other. Tigers are rotated to the large outside exhibits every other day. They are fed about 10 pounds per day of a prepared horsemeat diet inside the tiger barn at night.

Enrichment for the tigers is very important. We may give a tiger a cardboard box to pounce upon and shred. In the summer time we freeze bones into pails of water, then throw the “bonesicles” into the moat to encourage activity. We fill balloons with water and freeze them, then remove the balloon and place the frozen ball in the exhibit. Bones are given at least twice a week. The tigers love Obsession and Charlie perfumes, which are sprayed on trees and rocks in the exhibit area.

Meet the Animals

“Molniy” and “Vaska” (AKA “The Detroit Boys”)
Molniy and Vaska were born at the Detroit Zoo on March 23, 2000, and came to Minnesota in 2002. As part of the AZA Amur Tiger Species Survival Plan, one of these boys is being placed with a female on loan from the Columbus Zoo.

How to Recognize Them:
Vaska is the more outgoing of the two brothers and is distinguished by a sideways C-shaped stripe under his right eye

“Nadia”
Nadia was born at the Baltimore Zoo on July 11, 1993, and arrived at the Minnesota Zoo in 2006.

Distinguishing Characteristics:
Nadia is a generally relaxed cat which you're most likely to see sunbathing.

“Sergei”
Sergei was born at the Denver Zoo on November 12, 1994, and arrived at the Minnesota Zoo in 2006.

Distinguishing Characteristics:
Sergei is the curmudgeon of the group, only offering an occasional brief greeting at feeding time.

Things you can do

When you visit the Zoo, you help support our conservation programs. Visit www.savethetigerfund.org for additional suggestions on ways you can help save tigers.

Your visit to the Zoo helps support our conservation programs. You can also sponsor an animal at the Zoo.

 

 

Amur Tiger

Although Amur tiger populations in Russia have increased during the past several decades to over 400 individuals, tigers elsewhere have not fared as well. The primary problem faced today by tigers across Asia is the loss of habitat and associated loss of prey. In the past 20 years 60% of tiger habitat has been lost and tiger numbers reduced by 50%.

Habitat destruction has resulted in islands of tiger habitat surrounded by developed areas. This isolates small tiger populations from each other. Most of these tiger populations contain fewer than 50 tigers and are too small for long-term survival in the face of threats such as disease, forest fires, and inbreeding.

Poaching for body parts used in medicinal products and poisoning also threatens tiger populations. This also is related to habitat loss as roads provide access for poaching tigers.

Things the Zoo's Done/Doing

The Minnesota Zoo has long been a world leader in tiger conservation. For more information, see the following pages: Home of the Tiger Species Survival Plan
Recovery of South China Tigers
Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program

Zoos work together to manage captive tigers. In North America management is coordinated through the Tiger Species Survival Plan (SSP) program, which is led by the Minnesota Zoo’s conservation director. The Tiger SSP manages about 150 Amur tigers in North America, as well as about 75 Sumatran tigers, 50 Malayan tigers, and 100 so-called “generic” tigers that are mixtures of different subspecies.

Over the years, the Minnesota Zoo has hosted a number of tiger conservation activities and has contributed to many efforts (see history of conservation). Since its opening in 1978, the Minnesota Zoo has produced nearly 40 tiger cubs and we have sent tigers to 26 zoos around the world.

Conservation Notes

In the mid-1900s it is estimated that there were only about 25–30 Amur tigers left in the wild. After the Soviet Union outlawed tiger hunting and actively enforced it, the population grew to about 250. When the Soviet Union dissolved, both tigers and their habitat lost ground. Then zoos and other conservation organizations stepped up to support policing, and tiger numbers again climbed.

An estimated 400 wild Amur tigers remain in the wild. They are found primarily in two populations in the Russian Far East and at least one or more populations on the Russia-China border and into northeastern China.

The Amur tiger is considered endangered by the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. Like all remaining tiger subspecies, it is threatened primarily by habitat loss and fragmentation due in part to timber harvest. Amur tigers are also illegally hunted and their body parts sold into a black market for traditional Asian medicines. Poaching pressure appears to have declined recently due to intensive anti-poaching activities.

Scientists study tigers in the wild. They use camera traps and radio collars and study tracks and scat to learn how many tigers there are, where they move, how much prey they have, and how they interact with their environment. The information they gather is used to develop effective conservation strategies.

The Tiger Species Survival Plan (SSP) coordinates the efforts of some 85 North American institutions that hold more than 350 tigers, including nearly 150 Amur tigers.

Amur Tiger

Range and Habitat
Amur tigers inhabit a large variety of habitats. They need large prey, water, and some cover to survive. Approximately 450 live in southeastern Russia, where their numbers may be increasing.

Description
The largest of all cats, the Amur tiger has a brownish-yellow to orange coat that is often somewhat paler than that of other tiger subspecies. Black stripes that vary greatly in length, width, and spacing provide disruptive coloring that renders the tiger hard to see in the wild. The fur on the throat, belly, and inside of the legs is white. Tigers have a rounded head and rounded ears that are black on the outside with a white center area. Eyes are yellowish. Hair is longer on the cheeks and neck. Males are larger and have larger heads than females. They also have more of a ruff around the neck. The young are similar in appearance to adults.

Habits and Adaptations
Male tigers roam territories of up to 400 square miles, generally alone. They make dens beneath rocks or fallen trees. A single tiger may have several dens in its territory. Only mothers with young stay at one den for long periods. Amur tigers can leap almost 20 feet and can jump over barriers 6 feet high. They like water and are excellent swimmers. Adults are not good climbers.

Tigers hunt mainly alone and at night. Their most favored prey are medium-sized deer and wild boar. They usually capture their prey by stalking to within short distances and charging the unsuspecting animal from the rear. Small prey is killed by a neck bite. Larger prey is grasped by the jaws and forelegs and, once pulled down, the tiger grasps its throat and suffocates it. Tigers often drag or carry their prey to an area of dense cover, then begin eating at the prey animal’s rump. If they can’t finish the meal, they will hide the remains from scavengers by covering them with plants or debris.

Communication and Interaction
Tigers are essentially asocial but communicate with other tigers using scent marks left throughout their territories to indicate presence and occupancy of the area.  The scent marks include urine sprayed on bushes and trees, feces and urine left in prominent places, scratch marks on trees, and scrapes made by raking backwards with the hind feet.  Both sexes routinely freshen scent marks, and the frequency of marking is higher in zones where contact with neighboring tigers is likely.  A tiger can tell whether a scent mark belongs to a familiar local resident or a stranger, a male or a female, and whether or not that female is in estrus.  Their loud vocalizations, called roars, probably help them to find each other.

Eat and Be Eaten
Amur tigers prefer to eat large mammals, especially deer and boar. Tigers average 10 to 20 pounds of food per day. If the hunt does not go well, however, they may go several days without eating. Humans are the primary enemy of tigers, hunting them illegally for body parts for use in traditional medicine.

Life Cycle
Amur tigers mate in the winter. Females typically give birth to 2-3, and up to 5, cubs after about 102 days of gestation. Cubs weigh 2–3 pounds at birth and are born with their eyes shut. They open their eyes at one week of age and see clearly in about two months. For the first two months of life the cub remains in the den and is seldom left unattended. The female may move her cubs to a new den to avoid predators or an unfamiliar male tiger. She carries them one by one in her jaws. When they are 2 months old, cubs begin to eat meat. Tiger cubs are very playful, and spend their time stalking and leaping on each other, or attacking their mother’s tail. They also practice their stalking skills on small animals like birds or insects. At 6 months the cubs are weaned and begin traveling with their mother as she hunts. Offspring usually remain with the mother for about two years, and may stay with each other for even longer before setting out on their own. At least half of all tigers die in the first two years of life.

In the wild, males mature at 4–5 years of age and females mature at 3–4. Females produce litters every 3–4 years. Tigers live probably less than 12 years in the wild and up to 20 years in captivity.