The critically endangered Siberian tiger, also known as the Amur, Manchurian, Korean or North China tiger, is a rare subspecies of the tiger. They are confined to the Amur Region in the Far East, which is now protected. They are considered to be the largest Big Cat in the world.
Their habitats ranges from hot, humid jungles to cold forests. The size of their territories depend on the amount of food availiable, usually about 26 to 78 square kilometres. Tigers usually live alone, but their territories often overlap. A male's territory usually overlaps with several other female territories.
The Siberian tigers are carnivores. They mainly eat wild boar and red deer, which takes about 65% to 90% of their diet. They also eat moose, roe deer, sika deer, musk deer, goral, brown bears and black bears. The tiger's job is to stop these animals from over-populating, which could alter the biodiversity.
The Siberian tigers reach sexual maturity by 3 years of age. They mate any time of the year. The litter size is usually about 3 or 4 cubs, but can be up to 6. There are more females then males, about 2 to 4 females for every male.
Thanks to poaching, habitat loss, and population fragmentation, the population of the Siberian tiger has vastly decreased. In fact, there are only about 450 of them left in the wild. Now, the Amur region (where Siberian tigers are now confined to) is protected, and poaching is now illegal. The Siberian tiger is also bred within the Species Survival Plan, or SSP, where 83 wild tigers were caught. There are now several hundred Siberian tigers of the captive population.
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