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Amur Tiger
Panthera tigris altaica
| Size |
Amur tigers can grow to 12 feet long, from nose to the tip of their tail. |
| Weight |
They can weigh up to 700 pounds. |
| Conservation Status |
On the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Amur tiger is listed as Critically Endangered. |
| Diet |
Tigers hunt prey of all ages and physical condition including animals in their prime. The favored prey of wild tigers is deer and wild boar. At the Zoo, their diet includes a commercial meat mix, solid beef, beef shank bones and long bones. The diet is formulated to meet the nutritional needs of each animal. Beef long bones are offered once a week mainly to provide chewing activity. Beef shank bones have nearly 7 lbs of meat attached to the bone; the tigers enjoy tearing the meat from the bones. In addition to food, the shank bones provide exercise for the animal’s jaw muscles. |
| Geographic Range |
The Amur tiger is found in isolated forests across eastern Asia, in parts of Siberia and China. |
| Where to find me in the Zoo |
Bank of America Big Cat Falls |
Note: Description below should include Longevity, Behavior, and Reproduction information
Amur tigers are the biggest cats in the world. They have a round head with a heavy skull, strong facial muscles and an extremely powerful jaw. The "eye of the tiger" faces forward, giving the tiger depth perception useful during hunting. Even in the poorest light, a tiger's eyesight is six times greater than that of a human's. They also have a keen sense of hearing and equilibrium. Strong legs and silent paws help it hunt, run and jump.
Amur tiger's fur is a very thick yellow to reddish color with a black stripe pattern. This thick coat and a layer of fat up to 2" thick on their belly and flanks help them tolerate temperatures as low as minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
The tigers' famous stripes help them camouflage themselves from their prey while hunting. No two tigers have the same stripe pattern. And just as humans are identified through their own unique fingerprints, tigers are identified by their individual stripe patterns.
Tigers usually live to the age of 15, but have been known to live as long as 20 years in zoos.
Amur tigers can mate throughout the year, although mating usually occurs between November and April. The gestation period for the tiger cub is approximately 100 days or more. Females will give birth to a litter of two to three cubs, although they can give birth to larger litters.
A female reaches sexual maturity around the age of three years and, for the next 12 years of her life, she will give birth to a litter every two to three years. She will raise her young on her own without help from the father or other tigers. The cubs will nurse for the first three to six months of their lives, although they may begin to eat meat after two months.
By their first birthday, they will join their mother in hunting for food, and by the time they reach two years of age, they are able to kill larger prey on their own. Around two and a half years after the cubs are born, they will leave their mother to begin life on their own.
Amur tigers are primarily nocturnal and roam the vast Siberian tundra on their own, coming together only to mate and occasionally share a large prey. They are very territorial covering large stretches of territory. Although males will not overlap territories, several females may have smaller areas inside the territory of one male.
Both males and females mark their territory by spraying a strong odor along its borders. They will also scratch and claw trees to show others that they're nearby.
More than any other cats, Amur tigers rely on their sense of sight. Tigers will stalk their prey and get as close as possible before pouncing on it. Once the prey is killed, it is dragged off to a safe place where the tiger will consume the meat until it is full. The prey is then covered and hidden so that the tiger can return at a later time to eat again.
Tigers produce various sounds and communications. One is a loud roar that can be heard over vast distances.
Kira: Born at the Leipzig Zoo in Germany on May 18, 1997. Imported to the Philadelphia Zoo on
May 14, 1998. Kira was introduced to Dmitri on January 16, 2007 and gave birth to her fourth litter
of cubs on May 24, 2007. Dmitri, a male on breeding loan, left the Zoo for Indianapolis on
January 29, 2008.
The cubs: Changbai, Koosaka and Terney were born to Kira and Dmitri on May 24, 2007. The
three sisters were the first animals born in the recently renovated Bank of America Big Cat
Falls (opened May 2006), and made their public debut on August 16, 2007.
Changbai (chang-BUY): named for a mountain reserve in China where tigers are found.
Koosaka (koo-SAH-kah): means "biter" in Russian.
Terney (TEER-ney): named after the village base of the Tiger Conservation Project.
Enrichment
Adoption Information
Featured Foster Parent
The Amur tiger is endangered, there are roughly 400 to 500 left living in the wild. Deforestation and poaching have resulted in the dwindling population numbers. Tigers have always been valuable in the traditional Asian medicine market, and with the loss of habitat, they have become more accessible.
The problems of post-Soviet Russia have also increased the tigers' challenges. The Russian government has sold vast portions of Siberian forests to logging companies to help aid its economy. This resulted in major losses of habitat for the tiger.
Zoo Research
Sources:
(1) Philadelphia Zoo staff
(2) IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 04 January 2008.
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