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Beauty, grace, power - these signs are inherent in only one animal in the whole world. Seeing him, you will never cease to admire him. This representative belongs to the cat family - this is the Amur tiger. Far Eastern, Ussuri, as soon as this predator is not called. Such a variety of names is associated with the habitat of the animal. In Russia, this tiger lives in the Far East, near the Amur and Ussuri rivers.
Tiger: a place in nature
The Amur tiger belongs to the mammalian class, and is one of the representatives of the oldest genus panther. The size of this predator will surprise everyone. In length, it is more than an African lion, which also comes from the genus panther. So, the weight of an adult tiger varies from 170 to 250 kilograms. With such a large weight, the body length is from 2.7 to 4.1 meters. It all depends on the sex of the animal, females are usually smaller. The height of the animal from the ground to the withers is slightly more than a meter.
Characteristics of external data
With such a large mass and body length, the Ussuri tiger moves almost silently, and at the same time gracefully. This quiet movement is due to the soft pads on the fingers of the animal. They act as shock absorbers, like small springs, thanks to which the tiger can not fall through even the deepest snowdrifts, and, as you know, in winter time in the Far Eastern taiga they are full.
The cold climate in Ussuri also affected the tiger. She is very thick, soft and fluffy. The color of such six resembles the color of rust, the same red and rich, but in places, on the chest, neck and paws, it is white, as the snow has just fallen. Throughout the body, like a zebra, the predator has black stripes - from the nose to the tip of the tail. Scientists note that, like zebras, tigers do not have two identical colors. This is a unique pattern that is assigned to each tiger cub from birth. Biologists also note that it is the black stripes that make it best to disguise themselves in impenetrable taiga.
Habitat
The favorite habitats of the Ussuri tigers are the huge valleys of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, taiga, oak groves, as well as places where cedar grows. Thanks to its warm fur, tigers do not need to migrate seasonally due to cold winters. But in those cases when winter drags on and there is not enough food, tigers are forced to go down to villages and villages in search of food. In this case, the food is all that the predator eats. Most often this is livestock.
Predator Features
Many people are mistaken in saying that Far Eastern tigers live in packs. Zoologists say that wild cats live alone, and each of the representatives of the species has its own territory. So, the female possessions do not exceed 500 square meters. In males, the area is four and a half times larger, and is approximately 2200 square meters. Along the perimeter, each predator puts its mark. It can be deep scratches in a tree or the smell of urine.
It is very rare to see a tiger with your own eyes. Even when hunting, a predator rarely goes beyond its perimeter. Only in severe frosty weather, when the animal has absolutely nothing to eat, it can afford to go beyond the conditionally fenced area, and go down to people to find food.Only in this rare case, when hunger overpowers fear, does a tiger go to areas where people live. Here, in this situation, the animal will not care what it is. Everything will go into food: livestock, vegetables, fruits, plants, domestic animals such as dogs and cats, and even fish.
Amur tigers in Russia
Having plunged into the past, you can find out that even 100-200 years ago, the Ussuri predator populated the entire present territory of the Far East. But every year the growth of shooting and hunting for these animals grew exponentially. As soon as the number of killed animals per year exceeded the mark of 155 tigers, the population of wild cats began to decline sharply.
In the 1930s, predators began to disappear everywhere, they were less likely to meet in the forests of the Amur and Ussuri rivers. Only by that time the government began to think about the complete disappearance of the population in the Far East. Only this reason influenced the accelerated consideration of the law on the prohibition of hunting, as well as the capture of the young of these predators. This happened in 1947. After 11 years, an important decision was made to put the Amur tiger in the Red Book. These necessary measures had a positive effect on the life of wild animals, and by 1980 the population had an increase of 200 individuals.
Tiger guard
The status of “threatened species” was a stigma over the Far Eastern tiger until 2007. But in 2008, the administration of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) released an article describing the life of Amur tigers. From the report it became clear that over the past 70 years the population has increased quite sharply. After this sensational news, WWF began to receive questions about how much the number of individuals increased. The answer was that according to official scientists, the number of tigers currently exceeds 500 individuals.
In 2011, a well-known expeditionary group with the name of the endangered tiger noted in its report that seven tigers were found in the Ussuriysky nature reserve, whose area is only 468 square meters. The scientists' surprise knew no bounds, because in such a small territory the density of tigers tempered. After this good news, zoologists demanded an increase in the area of the reserve. Today its area is 40,432 hectares, and 41 tigers live on its territory.
What do tigers eat?
The diet of a predator consists mainly of ungulate herbivores. It can be a deer, an elk, a roe deer, or even a wild boar. However, with long starvation, the predator will not sort out prey. In this state, not only small animals, such as a mouse, but also the fruits of fruit trees will go to food. On a successful hunt in places where there are a lot of roe deer or deer in a short period, the tiger can gain 4-6 centimeters of fat. Thanks to her, a wild beast will be able to live close weeks on only one water. Knowing what a tiger looks like during a hunger strike, it is better not to appear in his eyes.
How tigers hunt
Despite the huge size of the tiger, its strength and grace, its sense of smell and eyesight, only one of the twelve attempts at a potential victim becomes successful. It's all about agility and speed of movement of victims. Researchers of Amur tigers note that a huge predator very rarely pursues prey. It is much easier for a tiger to track a new victim than to chase a previous one. Therefore, tigers spend more time tracking, and then another long preparation for the jump.
The precautions of a wild predator can only be envied. Having found its prey, the beast is selected almost silently, while his back is arched, and his whole body lies practically on the ground. If the prey is small, then the tiger, holding its paw, simply gnaws its throat, if the prey is large, for example, it is a deer, then the beast floods the hoofed animal with its entire body, and only after that it gnaws its neck, making it impossible for the herbivore to live. Holding the whole carcass with two paws, the tiger tears pieces from the ungulate, and at the same time he does this while lying, like all kinds of cats.
Far Eastern Tiger and Man
Many believe that the Amur tiger poses a direct threat to humans. But fortunately, this is not entirely true. The nature of this beast rewarded in such a way that there is no man in his diet, but there are different types of ungulates, such as roe deer, deer, wild boar or gazelle. But since the Ussuri tiger is a predator, under unknown circumstances, it can consider a person to be prey. But such cases are rare, and most often the person is to blame. Zoologists say that for a healthy lifestyle, the Far Eastern tiger needs about 75 ungulates. Very often Ussuri predators use cunning and do not trap prey. Sensing the smell of people, including lumberjacks, tigers find traps set up in the forest or all kinds of traps for small animals, where prey has already been caught.
Sometimes you can hear the news that the next tiger has become a cannibal. It is difficult to refute this fact, but it is worth considering that the tiger does not attack a person just like that, most likely, the beast was driven into a situation that was impossible for itself, and was forced to commit murder. Although it is sometimes worth noting the fact that the animal could be sick or it was injured. The tiger will never go without reason into the place where people live, and even more so will not kill them, because he himself is afraid of people.
Interesting facts about tigers
To describe such a magnificent creature is a pleasure. The Far Eastern tiger is too beautiful, strong, and seems to have such charm that sometimes you forget that it is a deadly predator. For this reason, it is necessary to state all the veils about this striped animal:
- Several hundred years ago, hunters and fishermen living near the Amur River were so afraid of this beast that they did not even pronounce its name out loud. Realizing how much this creature they bowed to him, as a kind of god who has power over everything that happens in the world, and as a thank you brought him gifts in the form of dead deer.
- Chinese folk doctors have long believed that the bones and teeth of dead tigers have healing properties, like rhino horns or mammoth tusks, and can cure the most severe ailment.
- A subspecies of the Amur tigers is listed in the Red Book since the population of these animals is very small.
- The most beautiful and at the same time the most deadly weapon of the tiger is striking - its fangs. In an old predator, they can grow up to 13 centimeters.
- Scientists have found that the most common method of killing herbivores is to gnaw their throats, but there are also cases when a predatory cat strangles a victim, leaning on its neck with its whole body.
- Jumps of a wild tiger can be entered into the book of records, because a predator is able to jump 6.5 meters in length. In height - by 5.1 meters.
- The speed of the tiger is also worthy of the record book. The maximum recorded tiger running speed was 68 kilometers per hour.
The Ussuri predator is able to accelerate to 60 km / h. - The black stripes on the animal’s forehead will not tell a Russian person anything, but in China they mean a hieroglyph, which translates as “king”. Therefore, in the land of the rising sun, this truly ancient and powerful animal is greatly appreciated.
- It's no secret that the shooting and hunting of Ussuri tigers is prohibited. So, for example, in China for the murder of this beast threatens to be shot.
Video: Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)
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