AMUR TIGER: THE UNCROWNED TSAR OF THE TAIGA
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AMUR TIGER:
THE UNCROWNED TSAR
OF THE TAIGA
1
UDC 591.5
DUNISHENKO Y.M., ARAMILEV S.V.
AMUR TIGER:
THE UNCROWNED TSAR
Dunishenko Y.M., Aramilev S.V.
OF THE TAIGA
Amur Tiger: The Uncrowned Tsar of the Taiga — M.: The Amur Tiger Center, 2021. — 96 pages, illustrations
ISBN: 978-5-6044957-2-8
The book is about the Amur tiger, an amazing animal inhabiting the territory of Russia. The readers will find informa-
tion about where and how the tiger lives and how this representative of the southern fauna survives in the severe
Russian winter. The readers will get acquainted with the efforts taken to save the rare predator for the future gener-
ations, as well as with dos and don’ts when in tiger habitat.
The book is written by the people who have been working with tigers for many years now, so there is no fiction
in it. Most of the information in the book was published previously. You can find much more detailed information
about tigers' life in various scientific sources, but nowhere else the readers could listen to the firsthand story of the
experienced "tigerologist", with the original additions of his student.
The book is aimed at non-specialist audience. Despite the simple language, there is scientific accuracy in the
presentation of the predator’s "secret life", which is perfectly illustrated with the pictures taken by professional
photographers and automatic cameras in the wild.
UDC 591.5
ISBN: 978-5-6044957-2-8 © Dunishenko Y.M., Aramilev S.V., 2021
© Aristotle Publishing House, 2021
Moscow
2021
2 1
CONTENT
WHO ARE YOU , OUR CHARACTER?
PRIME CAT OF THE SNOW FRONTIER ................................................................................7
MANY SUBSPECIES, BUT FEW TIGERS ...............................................................................9
NAVIGATION AND WEAPONS ............................................................................................11
TIGER IN ACTION ...................................................................................................................15
A 150 THOUSAND HECTARES PALACE ............................................................................17
ETERNAL WANDERING .........................................................................................................19
THE TSAR’S HUNTING ..........................................................................................................23
NEIGHBORS .............................................................................................................................29
YET IT IS A FAMILY .................................................................................................................31
FLOWERS OF THE LIFE ..........................................................................................................33
LIFE. THE TWO SIDES OF IT .................................................................................................35
TIGERS ARE NEVER ENOUGH .............................................................................................39
SCIENCE AND TIGERS
SPECIALLY PROTECTED NATURAL TERRITORIES .........................................................45
HOW WE COUNT THE TIGERS ............................................................................................51
THE ART OF OBSERVING .....................................................................................................55
LIVE AND LET OTHERS LIVE
POACHING ...............................................................................................................................61
WHERE IS MY HOME? ...........................................................................................................65
THE ART OF LIVING NEARBY ..............................................................................................69
TIGER FOREVER
IN GOOD HANDS ...................................................................................................................77
NEW SETTLERS .......................................................................................................................85
TIGER BUSINESS ....................................................................................................................89
AMUR TIGER CENTER ..........................................................................................................91
IN LIEU OF AN AFTERWORD ...............................................................................................93
2 3
WHO
ARE YOU,
OUR
CHARACTER?
4 5
WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
PRIME CAT OF
THE SNOW FRONTIER
The Amur tiger is the largest and one of the rarest tiger subspecies.
The only subspecies of the tiger that can live in the snow,
at strong negative temperatures.
The specific name of the tiger comes from a and the inhabitants of Central Asia called
similar-sounding Iranian name (sharp, fast), him ‘dzhulbars’. Other peoples had different
which was first borrowed by the Greeks, and names. However, the tiger itself did not even
later by other peoples. know what it was called. He just lived.
Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist The Amur tiger is listed today in all regional
(1707-1778) was the first to describe the Red Data Books of the south of the Far East, in
tiger, while people in the western countries, the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation,
where tigers did not live, learned about the the IUCN Red List (International Union for
name of the unseen animals from Latin Conservation of Nature), Appendix I of the
(tigris). As the information and the size of the CITES Convention (Convention on International
TIGER collections increased, the Nature revealed Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Kingdom: Animalia the difference between its habitats, and it Flora).
Class: Mammalia became clear that there was only one species,
Order: Carnivora but due to obvious external differences,
Family: Felidae a more fractional ‘subspecies’ classification
Subfamily: Pantherinae was needed.
Genus: Panthera Almost a hundred years later (1844), the tiger
Species: Panthera tigris living in the Amur basin was also classified.
Subspecies: Panthera The variety of its names (Ussuri, Siberian,
tigris altaica Manchu, and even the North Chinese and
Korean) is mainly due to both a change in our
knowledge of what a subspecies is and where
its boundaries are, and improper use of the
names by scientific knowledge popularizers.
In his works, N. A. Baykov called it ‘Manchu’,
K. A. Satunin in his turn divided it into two
subspecies – ‘Korean’ and ‘Amur’, etc. There
were many disputes about the species this
animal belongs to. Until they gained enough
information to prove the difference between
the animals is purely individual and there is
just one subspecies described by scientists on
the basis of a sample obtained in the Amur
River basin. Thus, the tiger remained the
‘Amur’ one.
By the way, it is not only scientists that called
him different names. The natives of the Far
East in ancient times used to call him ‘amba’,
the inhabitants of Siberia called him ‘babr’,
6 7
WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
MANY SUBSPECIES,
BUT FEW TIGERS
Scientists single out 9 subspecies of the tiger. Only five of them
have survived in the wild, one subspecies lives only in captivity
and three subspecies are considered extinct.
According to experts, The Amur (Panthera tigris altaica), Bengal (Pan- and on the island of Java (Indonesia), they are
the number of tigers thera tigris tigris), Indochinese (Panthera tigris two million years old! The tiger ancestors are
on Earth has decreased corbetti), Malayan (Panther tigris jacksoni) and believed to have survived only here, and then
from 100,000 species Sumatran (Panthera tigris sumatrae) subspecies re-settled around the world.
to just over 4,000 over have survived in the wild. As a result, fossils of the Trinilian tiger and of
the last 100 years. The most numerous of them is the Bengal ti- its equally primitive counterpart Panthera tigris
ger, which lives in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and acutidensis, which does not have any Russian
Bhutan, including a few tigers seen in China. name, were found in various parts of the planet
The Indochinese tiger holds the second place. about 1.3 million years ago. For many hundreds
It lives in China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cam- of years to come, all kinds of metamorphoses
bodia and Vietnam. The third largest tiger is the took place such as expansion and contraction
Amur tiger, which lives mainly in Russia with of the ranges with physical differences due to
about 20-30 species in China. Several species the habitat characteristics in various parts of
are also said to live in North Korea. The Suma- the Planet, etc. It is just about 100 thousand
tran tiger, which is in the fourth place, can only years ago that the species was formed and was
be found in Indonesia. In the fifth place is the later divided into subspecies as a result of great
Malay subspecies that lives in Indonesia and scientific disputes, which is all the same to ti-
Malaysia. gers. On the other hand, different subspecies
South China subspecies (Panthera tigris amoy- require different approach.
ensis) lives in captivity only. Three subspecies It is not disputed that the tiger species is much
are considered extinct: the Bali tiger (Panthera older than its three closest relatives – lions,
tigris balica) became extinct in the 1940s, the jaguars and leopards, while the most ancient
Turanian (Panthera tigris virgate), in the 1970s, species are South Chinese ones, which are no
the Javan (Panthera tigris sondaica), in the 1980s. longer in nature, and ours, the Amur one. They
All modern cat species descended from a pan- come from the early Pleistocene, and even such
ther-like predator that lived in Southeast Asia at an advanced age, which does not fit into the
the end of the Miocene about 11 million years human imagination, makes us respect this giant
ago. About 3.7 million years ago, the Felidae cat, which survived alongside millions of gener-
started dividing into such modern groups as ations of people who are the history now.
Scientists have found clouded leopards, lions, jaguars, snow leopards,
that the Caspian and leopards and tigers. It took almost two million
Amur subspecies are years and all sort of troubles to evolve into a
almost genetically today’s tiger!
identical. If this is true, Judging by the number of individuals found, the
then the Caspian tiger ‘homeland’ of this tiger-like individual should be
did not become extinct considered East Asia, and more specifically, the
at all, but simply reduced northern part of the modern China, which sur-
its range. vived the next glacial period. The oldest known
fossils of tigers were found in northern China
8 9
WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
NAVIGATION
AND WEAPONS
The Amur tiger is the largest living cat
on the planet.
In winter, long – up to The length of the male’s body – from the tip of dark hair grows on the dark stripes, and the
10cm – belly hair and his nose – can reach over 2.5m (the tail length pattern is completely restored.
adipose tissue is most left out!) with its height at the shoulders of Tiger’s fur is thick, double. Hard guard fur, we
thick (over 5 cm) in the about 120 cm. usually call ‘hair’, is longer on the belly, ‘pants’,
abdomen, which protects The average weight of a wild male is 165 kg to on the chine. Like a flexible shell, it covers the
from the cold. 180 kg. It could seem wrong but the tiger gains entire body of a tiger: snow and raindrops roll
noticeably in weight for winter due to the in- without touching the skin, the claws of oppo-
crease in the layer of adipose tissue to survive nents slide off without touching the body.
in severe cold conditions. There are individuals In addition to the coarse guard fur, tigers have
of 260 kg and even more. However, such giants undercoat. It is warm and soft. Juvenile (chil-
are extremely rare these days. Tigresses are dren’s, adolescent) pelage sheds at the age of 3.5
smaller than tigers: body length usually reaches to 5.5 months later changed by the ‘adult’ one.
180 cm with an average weight of 140 to 160 kg.
The tail of a tiger can be 1 m long, sometimes VISION
even longer. Like all felines, it serves as a kind of Night vision (twilight) of tigers is six times as
balancer. The tiger runs, turns to the right – and good as the one of the humans. A tiger’s eye
its tail deviates to the left, not to ‘skid’. And vice contains a large number of photoreceptor
Tigers cannot see versa. cells (receivers of light, the so-called rods). Be-
anything in utter darkness. The tail always ends with a black tip and bears hind the retina, which is sensitive to the light,
Their eyes do not ‘glow transverse lines, rings, at its main part. There there is a tapetum in the eye – a special layer
in the dark’ either, because are usually 10 such rings, but there can be 8, or containing light-reflecting cells. They seem to
the tapetum has nothing 9, or 11. As a rule, there are no solid rings at the return the light ‘slipping’ past the retina back.
to reflect. For their night base of the tail, where they ‘open’. The light reflected from the tapetum is usual-
vision, there must still The paws of the Amur tiger are short, although ly green or yellow: this is how the tiger’s eyes
be at least a little light they are longer than those of other tiger sub- ‘glow’ in the dark.
in the dark. However, there species. The paw pads, on which the tiger rests In daytime, the tiger relies more on its hear-
is no absolute darkness when walking, are wide so as not to fall into ing. By reflecting light, the tapetum slightly
in nature; if their eyes deep snow. obscures vision. The “striped ones” also have
‘do not glow in the dark’, a few times as little cones as we do – other
this does not mean that FUR light-sensitive cells of the eye that provide
the animal does not see The main color of the fur is orange. It is white daytime vision. Tigers do not perceive all col-
anything – its favorite on its belly. The sides are covered with verti- ors. Best of all, they distinguish between blue,
time for walks is the night cal stripes, which, against the visual contours green and yellow ones. They cannot focus the
when a human thinks of the body, help to hide in the depths of the eyes like humans: a person, in order to see
that he can’t see a thing. forest and hunt. In addition, the tiger victims something, changes the shape of the lens while
have black and white vision, so they cannot see a tiger can only physically approach the object
the orange color. There are exactly the same that interests him.
stripes on the skin: if you shave off its fur, then
10 11
HEARING nose, but in the oral cavity, behind the teeth, in
The tiger’s ears are small, rounded. In the front, the path of inhaled air. Thus, for these phero-
they are covered with white hair and are always mones to be more effectively captured by this
black with a large white spot in the upper half device's receptors, they have to ‘grimace’.
in the back. It is believed that these ‘mirrors’ Sometimes, watching a tiger, you might think
are used to guide those who follow behind. In that it has licked such muck that it cannot
particular, thanks to the well-visible spots, the breathe normally because of the smell. By the
The arrangement cubs following their mother can easily follow way, this is how your own pheromones work.
of the stripes is unique her movements. After that, molecules of these odors that get
for each tiger. Just as police The tiger’s ears are highly mobile: more than on the receptors follow up – the whole pro-
officers identify people a dozen muscles can rotate the ear nearly 180 cessing is going on: olfactory bulbs – tonsil –
by fingerprints, scientists degrees. Each ear can move independently hypothalamus, and the smell reaches the
use stripes to identify and follow various sound sources. The struc- brain. For males, pheromones carry a huge
individual tigers. ture of the ear and the hair inside it provides amount of information that ensures success-
perfect sorting of sounds. Like all cats, tigers ful reproduction. Their ‘analysis’ unmistakably
can not only distinguish and memorize the tells how old and what condition the female is
sounds, but also determine their direction, in and how soon she will need a ‘groom’. The
pitch and intensity. females will find out who there is, what gender,
age, physical condition it is in, and whether it
VIBRISSAE will be suitable for ‘wedding’. In a word, it is a
The tiger’s whiskers (vibrissae) also belong to useful organ, and tigers, of course, actively use
the senses, and moreover, one of the most per- it. But why in the ‘intimate sphere’ they do not
fect. They register vibrations in the air. Very trust the nose and why they ‘go into overdrive’
elastic, white, sometimes brownish at their when flehmening is still a disputable question.
base, they are arranged in 4-5 rows on the face
The ‘span’ of a tiger’s of a tiger. They are up to 16.5 cm long, up to 1.5 WHAT ABOUT TALKING?
mustache is equal to mm thick, like a strong fishing line. The tiger is rather a silent creature. Even tiger
the width of the body, Vibrissae are located not only on the face. scientists, who have wandered around its hab-
if you look at the tiger They are on the belly, paws, and near the tail. itats for over half a century, faced the beast at
directly, full face. Each hair is directly connected with a special a short distance, can hardly boast they have
nerve, so that information about the slightest heard the roar of the beast over a dozen times.
air movements near the tiger instantly enters However, once is quite enough to memorize it
its brain to be analyzed: what is it? Wind? Or for a lifetime: thunderous rumbles, which real-
victim’s movement? ly freeze the blood in the veins.
It is a strange feeling when, a tiger suddenly
OLFACTION makes its ‘A-ah-uff’ somewhere far away in the
The sense of smell for a predator is also an night! Calling, wailsome cry. Then it gets closer,
important thing. The tiger smells hundreds or, very close... and a clear relief when the beast
rather, thousands of times as good as a human, begins to move away. What was it? What made
but worse than a good hunting dog. However, the silent creature call someone? Even when
this is enough for him. this rumble quietens down in the distance, the
Tigers (and some other animals) also have one ‘aftertaste’ of danger won’t go away that soon.
more sense of smell. It is called the VNO, or the A little more often you can hear a tiger’s roar –
vomeronasal organ. It picks up specific chem- however, it will definitely not work to convey
ical ‘odors’, pheromones. In humans, the VNO, it in writing as ‘rrr’. It would rather be a short
of course, is weak, and we do not deliberate- guttural and rumbling ‘ooh-ooh’. We just don’t
ly drive a smell into it in order to get used to recommend listening to it in the wild at night...
the smell and analyze who there is and what it
smells like, and we perceive pheromones un-
consciously, but tigers and some other animals
do it completely consciously.
Have you ever seen how, say, a cat, having
nosed tightly about something, sniffed out
something that made her mouth open and a
distracted grimace of disgust over its face?
This grimace is called ‘flehmen reaction’,
Images taken with trail
which does not mean ‘pshaw!’ to it. It sniffs like
cameras in National Park Bikin that. It’s just that VNO has an outlet not in the
12 13
WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
TIGER IN ACTION
Like any other cat, the tiger bites like a punch or hole punch:
the jaws move only up and down, squeezed and extended.
It cannot move its lower jaw to the left and to the right.
The tiger’s teeth are the main lethal weapon. And later it depends. The teeth of an animal
Their length and shape, multiplied by the are a universal ‘device’. It is both a weapon
incredible force of compression of the jaws by and a tool for everyday use. For the animal’s
human standards, which is provided by a short, affliction, it is irreplaceable. Animals change
rounded skull, leave no chance to the victim. their winter-to-summer ‘clothes’ regularly,
Well, after that, the tiger feasts for a long time which is not true to their teeth. By the age of
and relish – if the prey is large, the feast can ten, one or two canines will have been broken
last for two weeks. He walks a bit nearby, takes off, and in rare cases, all four of them.
The tiger has 30 teeth a nap by the victim, and gets back to eating. As for the winter ‘fur coat’, it has a well-
in its mouth. Although What is interesting: in such a ‘meat grinder’, the developed undercoat, much lusher than
humans have 2 more, tiger prefers not to grab the victim’s muscles summer clothes. The latter helps cover its body
we don’t beat tigers: in chunks all over its mouth, as wolves do, but from harmful bloodsuckers without getting
they have 6 incisors and to lick them. Tigers do it with great pleasure worn out in the summer heat. However, it does
2 canines up to 7.5 cm and very well, because their tongues are like not save from ticks, even Mother Nature has
long both on the upper a rasp. Along the edges, it is covered with nothing to protect against them. Maybe just
and lower jaws. slightly horned ‘fleshy papillae’, which help, immunity against encephalitis...
a kilogram of meat migrates with diligence
into the stomach in three to four minutes, and
there is no need to chew.
By the way, for a bear or other tiger, a tiger’s
teeth bite, even if it does not hit the neck, is
often fatal. Not because the tiger kills another
tiger like prey, but due to infection that gets
into the wound with a bite.
The bites are often deep (up to 7 cm), and
the upper edges of the wound close, while
Bite force of a tiger inflammation happens at the bottom of the
is 73.82 kg/cm2, almost wound channel which can lead to blood
twice that of a lion. poisoning and death of the bitten animal.
Therefore, a warning bite of a male by a female
defending tiger cubs or a ‘small bite’ of one
male by another in the forearm can lead to
tragedy.
Tigers’ dairy teeth get substituted with
indigenous once with age, like ours do. At birth,
they have no teeth at all, but the places of their
appearance are already marked on the gums.
14 15
WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
A 150 THOUSAND
HECTARES PALACE
KOREAN CEDAR The homeland of the tiger is mixed coniferous-broad leaved forests.
(PÍNUS KORAIÉNSIS). Among them, the tiger prefers the Manchu Urems, in the floodplains
Cedar is a ‘breadfruit tree’, of the southern rivers. These are the richest woodlands
a symbol and one of the main in which hundreds of plant species grow.
species in the Amur tiger’s
range. A good harvest of
its seeds also determines What do the plant have to do with it, since the out the habitable place or if the female assigns
the high number of wild boar, tiger is not a vegetarian? It is simply impera- part of its area to the grown-up daughter.
which is the basis of the tive that the species that support the life of the In general, it seems that the tiger is an invet-
tiger’s food supply. tiger also need enough food. erate lone tramp. It does not form any ‘flock’,
Previously, the royal beast would prefer un- it is not engaged in collective hunts, it creates
crowded, remote areas. With harvesting of couples only for the period of ‘mating rituals’,
forest trees, when a man appeared in its lands, which take place mainly in February. Its whole
the tiger went to quieter places. The tiger has life is in the search for prey. Gets it, eats it with-
become more tolerant to people today. It is in a week – and moves on.
clear – you cannot find a quiet place now. The Family clans (male, 2-3 females, ‘own’ young
tiger has also got used to the machinery. His stock) are formed for a long time and with
appearance at the cutting area has become great difficulty, tigers gather extremely rare-
commonplace. ly, exchanging information through a kind of
MONGOLIAN OAK The beast has come from the wild closer to ‘mailboxes’– marking objects that stand out
(QUERCUS MONGOLICA). the settlements, or more precisely, it is us who well on the ground (trees, rocky outliers and
Mongolian oak acorns, along came to the tiger's refuge, where it used to other things). And, it seems that by sniffing the
with cedar seeds, feed wild rule. Perhaps that is why the predator has been ‘tags’, they read everything that needs to be
ungulates, but not only wild increasingly showing himself to people, almost known about the lives of neighbors and rela-
boars, but also Manchurian demonstratively, in recent years. tives: gender, age, diet, ‘letter’ date, and other.
deer and sika deer. The more The tiger is found not only in his favorite ce- Animals leave not only scent tags, but also
feed, the more ungulates, and dar-deciduous forests. It can be found in larch visual ones. Sometimes with their teeth, but
the better the tiger. forests, overgrown burned-out areas, fields, more often with their claws. At the same time,
small woods. For its comfortable life, it needs they try to clearly ‘boast’ of their height and
a large territory. Each tiger has its own area, physical capabilities – to leave scratches high-
which it goes around from time to time. At the er, almost climbing a tree like a cat. Most likely,
same time, the site differs in its size depending such tags are not addressed to relatives, but
on amount of prey that such a large predator to wandering claimants to the territory. Why
needs. intimidate their relatives? It seems that these
The male habitat area averages 100 thousand warnings are enough for the tramps, since
hectares, but with a low density of ungulates it fights for the territory are not often observed,
reaches 150 thousand hectares in the north of but they do happen.
MANCHZUR WALNUT the range. The female’s plot is on average 45
(JÚGLANS MANDSHÚRICA). thousand hectares. With an abundance of wild
With poor harvest of cedar fowl, these values can be half as large. Some-
seeds, their place in the diet times animals move 70-100 km away from their
of wild boars is taken by lands. Perhaps, they do it in order to pay re-
the fruit of the Manchurian spects to their relatives or in case of wedding.
walnut. Or maybe to find a new area, if people lived
16 17WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
ETERNAL
WANDERING
Tigers are territorial animals, vagabonds by nature.
The constant going round its individual areas is a kind
of part of their ritual.
The lord of the taiga wanders a lot. A journey the end of winter in the lands of the Limu-
of 20-30 km is a common thing for one winter ri-Alochka rivers.
night. The study of the footprint of one tiger Its fate is unknown. It is unclear where it came
led to the conclusion that it ran over 40 km on from and where it went to, considering the ex-
the road in a night! However, the animal does treme point the subspecies’ range remained
not make such transitions every day: 7-10 km 400 km behind in total, it covered more than
per day on average. 600 km.
The indigenous population It often lies down, rests and listens. Sometimes There is a mystery about the tigers’ tramp-
humanized the tiger, it lies down two or three times per one kilo- ing. On one hand, there is an assumption that
a successful rival on the meter. The tiger, with its feline agility, moves the tiger population in the Far East just cor-
hunting trail. They treated silently and swiftly. Given a large weight of the responds to the number of predators these
it with great respect beast, this seems incredible. On a short dis- lands can feed. Grown up tigers and those who
and, in case of chance tance, it can reach speeds of up to 60 km/h. have lost a plot for some reason and have not
encounters with the The predator sleeps where it needs to. How- been able to make place for their neighbors
formidable neighbor, ever, it tries to choose a dry place for the rest probably have to leave their range.
the traveler did everything – under a tree or under a slope of a rock. Prob- On the other hand, it is possible that ‘tramps’
to walk away peacefully. ably, this helps to protect itself from an attack are not only among tigers (tigers are more
from the back. The forward view, on the con- noticeable) and that nature meant much in it.
trary, should be free to detect danger. The vagabondage provides natural settlement
The tiger loves to view its possessions. More- and genetic diversity in populations.
over, it has enough time for this – like all cats,
tigers doze rather than sleep in our usual
sense of the word. They can doze up to 18 Anninsky
waters
hours a day.
There are real pioneer tigers among the male
tigers. Tigers constantly move to the territo-
ry of the People’s Republic of China. Irkutsk
The lake
researchers provide evidence that the Amur Udyl
tiger was seen in as far as Chita Oblast and
Buryatia. The Alochka
In October 1999, scientists could trace the river
path of a tiger in Khabarovsk Krai. It had
come to Ulchsky from the Vaninsky district, Village
wandered around the basin of the river Muta, of Kizi
and was already at the village of Kizi in No- Ulchsky
District
vember, which the animal did not like and The river
Muta
moved further. It crossed the Amur River in
the area of the Anninsky waters, bypassed
Vaninsky
Lake Udyl from the north and settled until District
18 19However, vagrant life is associated with great
jeopardy. Tigers willingly use roads, paths,
clearings for long-distance travelling. This of-
ten leads to meetings with people which does
not always end peacefully.
‘Settled’ resident tigers mark the territory–
‘everything is mine’! The tramp ‘reads’ the
warning and peacefully walks by. It seems that
when the areas of resident males and females
have formed, and there has been a decrease
in the number of immigrating (tramp) males,
which is stressful for females and is the great-
est danger to tiger cubs, this is an optimal en-
vironment for tigers.
This is how the Amur tiger lives. However, it
does not live long. There is reason to believe
that in nature generations completely change
in 12-15 years or even less. The departure
of animals is very great for various reasons.
They die from diseases and injuries sustained
while hunting, fall into clever traps and bullets
from poachers, and even drown, despite the
fact that they swim well and are not afraid of
water. However, there are also long-livers who
manage to live up to 18 years old, but this is
rather an exception.
20 21WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
THE TSAR’S
HUNTING
The tiger’s diet is based on large animals: Manchurian deer,
wild boar, sika deer, roe deer, which the predator hunts
with feline qualification.
It does not catch up with animals due to high- claws, leaving deep scratches on trees orsoil.
speed endurance, as does its relative cheetah. Therefore, the animal does not need to ‘sharp-
It does not pursue to exhaustion, like wolves or en’ them under natural conditions (to remove
bears do. The tiger rarely follows one’s trail. Its the obsolete corneous layer), as pets do.
hearing is the best developed of all its senses, The tiger is a large predator: it hunts 40-50 un-
and it ensures the success of the hunt. gulates per year, often less, due to the smaller
The share of wild boar The animal perfectly hears the grazing prey, animals in the diet. Therefore, it is quite fair to
in a tiger’s diet ranges determines the direction of its movement and believe that the well-being of the rare ‘cat’ is
from 48.8 to 67.1%, makes an ambush either in front of it, or stalks primarily determined by the state of food re-
depending on its number. the prey from the side (approaching stealthi- sources.
Thus, this species is the ly is a way of hunting: secretive, from an am- As practice shows, a tiger can live quite
basis of the predator’s diet. bush). At the same time, the predator has to safely in the changed (as a result of human
consider the direction of the wind so that it is activity) forests, and is ready to tolerate the
not sensed. existence of people, but it will never be-
The tiger attacks on a short distance with just come a vegetarian.
a few quick jumps. However, it does not ‘break’ A couple of roe deer or small pigs can be con-
the victim’s ‘backbone with a blow of cannon sumed in one go. Once Yuri Dunishenko wit-
power,’ as it is sometimes described in fiction. nessed how a large tiger completely ‘disposed
All experts indicate one reason for the death of’ a Manchurian wapiti calf, which in Decem-
of the victims – the destruction of the cervical ber weighs at least 40 kg, during the night.
vertebrae at the base of the skull. In this man- However, the fortune does not often present
ner, the predator kills even a large bear. Just a gifts for the tiger. Long-term fasting, which the
bite – and a roe deer or a wild boar becomes animal withstands without significant damage
its dinner. to its health, is not an uncommon condition. It
Claws are used in hunting much more rarely. is rather a habit!
You cannot see claw prints on the tiger’s tracks In summer, the tsar of beasts has little to do,
Manchurian deer as they are retractable in the tiger, like the ones after all as the sun heats up, it doesn’t take as
(Sika deer) is the second of a domestic cat, although they make up to 10 much energy as in winter months. It can eat
most important item in cm along the outer arc. For the time being, they both a frog and a fish. It is much of a swimmer.
the tiger’s diet, with its are securely ‘packed’ and are needed rather to Once they observed a male who approached
share varying from 21.6 hold the prey, than for killing it. Although the the river, admired the floating ice floes, and
to 40.7% over the years. injuries caused by such ‘scratches’ are rarely then flopped into the icy water and swam. Vol-
compatible with life. Not only because they are untarily! Without paying attention to the fact
sharp, but because the capture is accompanied that it would have to get out on a steep coast.
by such a blow that knocks out the small prey, It was not easy, but it did it, rolled about the
and there is no need to use teeth. snow, dabbing its fur coat from the water, and
At the same time, the tiger extends its ‘claws’ went into the floodplain forest, as if nothing
not only in order to grab a gape boar by its had happened.
side. The animal marks its territory with its
22 23There is an opinion that the tiger is waste- The share of sika deer in the tiger’s diet is up to
ful, kills more than it can eat, which is highly 50%, since sika deer and Manchurian deer are
controversial. Scientists who have followed a competitors, their numbers are interrelated.
tiger for a long time believe that the animal al- Accordingly, where natural conditions permit,
ways returns to its prey, no matter how many sika deer replaces Manchurian deer and occu-
days pass. Another matter is a man who might pies its share in the tiger’s diet, which makes
stumble upon the prey, stomp around it out of from 20 to 50%, as indicated above. In short,
curiosity, or take a piece of carcass to feed the their percentage corresponds to the ratio of
dogs. The beast will really throw such prey – it their number.
will walk at a distance, ‘swear’ to itself and walk Among the smaller animals, the badger and the The roe deer, judging by
away from the dangerous place. raccoon dog should be noted, which are quite the data collected, makes
In our harsh grounds with a few wild fowl, deer a few in the tiger’s habitats and they probably 1.3 to 9.9% in the tiger’s
hunting, even for such a professional as a ti- hold a prominent place in the summer diet. diet. However, this value
ger, is not an easy thing. So it creates a reserve, This is the basic diet of the Amur tiger. In gen- may turn out to be higher,
which it will certainly use in difficult times, if eral, it likes all the warm-blooded animals. since the predator usually
not himself, then its less successful relatives However, the tiger has never been seen to eats the roe deer completely
and young stock. This happens often. A lot of catch mice. But it once ate an otter impru- and it is more difficult to
flying and running ‘scavengers’, who are not dently running across the river on the ice with find the place of the tragedy
averse to profit from gratis, is a trouble for the great appetite, it’s a fact! The poor fellow hit than the place of death of
‘striped’ animal. Therefore, the tiger drags its the ‘striped’ animal right in its mouth. larger animals.
prey from an open place into the forest cano- Once we observed the hunt for the hazel grouse
py, but does not know how to bury it with snow sitting under the snow. The tiger stopped, lis-
and forest trash, like a lynx or a bear do. tened, made a few small steps stealthily, and
Feeding is as follows. The share of the wild then! A small jump – and the bird that man-
boar in the tiger’s diet ranges from 48.8 to aged to take off was knocked down by its paw
67.1%, depending on the population size. Thus, on the fly. Then it bit out the breast, threw the
this species is the basis of the predator’s diet. rest flesh disgustedly aside, to the delight of a
Manchurian deer is the second most import- sable, which was the first to pass nearby.
ant object in the tiger’s diet, its share varies At least 170 animals must live on an individual
from 21.6 to 40.7% over the years. site of a tiger for it to live happily, including: 70
The roe deer, judging by the data collected, to 100 wild boars, 70–85 Manchurian deer (or
makes 1.3 to 9.9% of the tiger’s diet. However, sika deer), about 20 roe deer, 5–7 bears. Giv-
this value may turn out to be higher, since the en the number, considering the natural annu- In the tiger’s diet, the elk
predator usually eats the roe deer complete- al surplus stock, there are enough animals to is 1.1 to 3.7% of its diet,
ly and it is more difficult to find the place of ensure the balanced diet for the tiger and to and, judging by the
the tragedy than the place of death of larger preserve the ecological balance. collection of information
animals. In the tiger’s diet, the elk makes 1.1 about the prey, this is
to 3.7%, and, judging by the information about mainly the accidental
the prey, this is mainly the accidental prey of prey of the predator.
the predator.
Among the other species of animals used
by the tiger, the Himalayan and brown bears The white-breasted
should be noted. Among the predator’s vic- and brown bears should
tims, these animals are found annually, but be noted. Among the
their share in its diet is insignificant and rang- victims of the tiger, these
es from 0.9 to 2.9%. Although there are some animals are found annually,
individuals whose diet contain up to 5% of the but their share in its diet
Himalayan bear. is insignificant and ranges
from 0.9 to 2.9%, or up to
5% in rare cases.
24 2526 27
WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
Neighbors
As for the forest animals, the tiger does not have any special
problems with such neighbors. As it is expected from the tsar,
it roars and the incident is over.
In half of the fights Only a large brown bear, which in the south of Another ‘beast’ worthy of special mention is
between the Amur tiger the Far East can weigh 400, 500, and sometimes the dog. The tiger feels almost mystical hatred
and the brown bear, 600 kg, can disobey the tiger and even offer de- for them. Vladimir Troinin, a hunting writer,
predators inflict serious cent resistance. The tiger is far from winning pointed out that “Tigers don’t like dogs. They
wounds on each other, such fights very often. Tigers do not grow as prefer fresh dog meat to any other fresh food.
which make both big, but they compensate for the lower weight And it’s not about the taste – it’s about the
subsequently die. with more developed hunting skills. complete difference in their characters. Fussy
In other cases, conflicts Therefore, animals of equal strength try not to and noisy dogs get on the nerves of calm
end approximately equally notice each other. A harsh showdown happens and silent cats, annoy them with barking and
either with the victory extremely rarely – when a brown bear believes squealing, poke their noses into the hunting
of the tiger or the victory in its impunity and tries to take the prey from a grounds of tigers, bring anxiety and panic in
of the bear. more successful hunter. There is a lot of blood the life of tiger prey. By killing dogs, tigers not
and hair at the site of the fight. Its outcome only feed, but bring discipline in their posses-
is largely determined by the size and weight sions.”
of the animals. A very large bear has a better If a tiger meets a hunter with a dog in the for-
chance against a tigress or a small tiger. When est, it can attack. Therefore, the dogs which
meeting a large adult tiger, the bear already has hunters walk with through the forest in the
fewer chances. tiger’s habitats do not live long. If there is no
A Himalayan bear cannot defeat a tiger in a ‘fair prey, and the tsar of animals is starving – it vis-
fight’, so when it meets it has to sit on a tree and its the settlement for the dogs.
wait. The tiger climbs trees reluctantly, only out Why?! Perhaps this is because the dog is a de-
of urgent need, and only if the diameter of the scendant of the wolf, and the wolf is a direct
trunk allows it to be done. Even climbing a tree, food competitor of the tiger? The tiger does
the bear will not always be saved. In rare cases, not like them and tries to expel them from its
if the poor fellow choses a softwood of small di- territory. Eternal enmity, thanks to which there
Another species of bear ameter for salvation, then a tiger, like a beaver, are almost no wolves in the south of the Far
that lives in the Far East, biting off the trunk in parts, got a well-deserved East where the tiger lives.
the Himalayan is included ‘lunch’. There were times when the tiger simply On the other hand, the lynx also lives next to
in the diet of the tiger waited near the tree until the ‘ripe fruit’ got to the ‘lord’ and it does not feel any special hos-
and can make up to 5% the ground and – everything is clear then. tile feelings towards it. Yes, it kills at the meet-
of the total ‘menu’ of Despite the difference not in its favor, the Hi- ing, but not to specifically ‘displace’. However,
some ‘striped’ ones. malayan bear has lived next to the tiger for domestic dogs do not feel much love for cats
centuries. The cat, which is harmful to it, has either, and can hardly stand them.
not exterminated its population. It is fair to say
that in the 1950s, when there were few tigers,
there were much more ‘Himalayans’ than now,
but this may be due to the cedar and oak for-
ests that were more extensive in the area at
that time.
28 29WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
YET IT IS
A FAMILY
To be able to replenish the genus, tigresses need to live three
and a half years. Therefore, in their entire short life, they usually
deliver offspring 3 or 4 times.
Anna Savelievna, the The male needs about four years to mature. But this concern ‘own’ cubs. The 20-year-long
tigress from the Sikhote- But the male tiger is a bad family man. monitoring shows a clear inverse relationship
Alin nature reserve, had Tiger ‘weddings’ take place mainly in Febru- between litter size and the proportion of adult
a very happy tiger life and ary, but tigers can breed all the year round, males. It turns out that an increase in the num-
delivered five broods over because the rutting time for southern animals ber of males inevitably leads to a decrease in
12 years of observation! is not clearly defined. Moreover, the females, the number of cubs. At the same time, not only
It raised all the cubs safely. who for some reason have lost their ‘young- the number of broods is reduced, but their size
She was named in 2014 sters’, come back to sexual excitement and of- as well. Therefore, we can assume that not only
after Anna Savelyevna ten untimely. poaching, but the population regulates itself,
Aleksakhina, the woman Winter broods are not uncommon in the tiger and does not grow immensely, despite the fact
who had given birth to world. It’s another matter that to raise and feed that the proportion of cubs in it in sometimes
and raised 12 children, newborns, when the frost is over forty degrees reaches 32%.
she was the first woman is a big issue. Moreover, females do not really Such ‘self-criticism,’ in our opinion, is an inevi-
in the USSR to be awarded care about the comfort of their den. table phenomenon. Moreover, it contributes to
the honorary title ‘Mother The main thing is no drops from above with genetic diversity in the composition of ‘family
Heroine’. The tigress died some dry leaves or grass ripped off right there clans’ in which no one eats anyone.
in 2018 at the age of and used as the litter; or simply the rubbish
over 15. Her site was of an old boar gain (den). The tigers ‘find’ a
occupied by her daughter, ready-made roof under a snag, the roots of a
tigress Princess. tree twisted by the wind, an overhanging rock,
in a shallow cave – as a rule, on the arrow of
the ridge or on the southern slope. In general,
they are not builders.
Yet, it happens that winter broods survive. This
happens when wild boars live not far from the
lair and people do not bother all this ‘wild beast
shew’ with their invasion. It should be said that
in such cases the female behaves very careful-
ly, trying not to terrify the forest animals
Once upon a time, late in winter, they found a
cleavage in the lands of the Sobolevsky hunt-
ing territory of Khabarovsk Krai, with traces of
death of 27 piglets, gilts and adult boars, while
well-packed tiger paths led them to a den, ar-
ranged on a slope under an overhanging stone
block from which the tigress had taken her
grown tiger cubs.
30 31WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
FLOWERS OF THE LIFE
While the tigress escorts the offspring, she does not participate
in reproduction. Therefore, she can deliver a new breed in two
or three years only.
In 38-39% of cases, In 100–107 days after the ‘wedding’, blind and Collective hunts, as wolves do, is not about this
the litter consists of only helpless babies weighing up to a kilogram are family, and in general it is not a matter of train-
one cub, in 54-56%– of born. At first, their mother feeds the cubs with ing and not a method of hunting. It is much
two cubs. Three – 5-7%. milk only. The cubs grow rapidly. Two weeks more important for a tigress to grow tiger cubs
Sometimes 4 kittens are later they see clearly, in another 12-15 days to be physically able to catch up and kill a large
born, but 5 tiger cubs they can hear well and learn to crawl through prey. So, the over-aged dropouts, no smaller
are extremely rare. the den and very soon turn into cute animals. than their mothers, are forced to follow in her
A month later, they make their first forays footsteps.
outside the lair – they begin to comprehend Nevertheless, at the age of 15–16 months, sep-
the world, gradually expanding the radius of aration from the mother is a rule, and one-and-
their research. At the age of three months, a-half-year-old animals can be found many ki-
the cubs have milk teeth that allow them to lometers away from the tigress.
feed on meat. It will take them another 2-3 months to be-
According to zoos, At four months, the young already follow their come independent animals, capable of getting
the boys-to-girls ratio mother, ‘from prey to prey,’ which the tigress food and standing up for themselves. From
at birth is close to 1:1. tries to ‘prepare quickly’ not far from the an- that time on, their roads part. Everyone choos-
On average, the same cestral nest. In rare cases she drags the carcass es a site and everyone has their own destiny.
is observed in nature: directly to the den. In search of a new victim,
over 20 years of work the tigress leaves the children alone, while the
on model sites (that is, time when they are alone increases gradually.
those annually monitored), A female can leave half-year-old tiger cubs
142 females and 139 males for two or three days, and one-year-old cubs
were identified, that is, – even for two weeks. When the food runs out,
in fact, the ratio is the and the mother is still not with them, the cubs
same, 1:1, but this is on starve. If suddenly the starvation drags on,
average. In fact, the sex they often go to search for their mother and
ratio of animals depends often die from poachers on the roads, of ex-
on the phase of changes haustion and viral diseases.
in numbers. During the The mother feeds her babies with milk up to
growth phase, there are the age of 5-6 months. They do not hunt for
more females. And vice big game themselves and so parasitize almost
versa. up to a year, and catch available trifles on oc-
casion.
As they grow older, the cubs begin to leave
their mother, moving away, at times, for con-
siderable distances, studying the surroundings
and gradually comprehending the intricacies
of finding food. Roe deer, hares, piglets hunt
nearby – whatever they can find.
32 33WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
LIFE. THE TWO
SIDES OF IT
Sometimes nature is cruel. So male tigers can ‘hunt’ other families’
cubs, who were left unattended, to mercilessly eat them.
But happy endings for the orphaned tiger cubs also happen.
Maybe the meaning of cannibalism is that by TIGRESS SVETLAYA
killing other tiger cubs, males expand their In February 2013, a lone teenage tigress was
own clan? Or perhaps it reduces the harm of found in Pozharsky District of Primorsky Krai,
incest mating? Most likely, these are intrapop- not far from the rural settlement of Svetlogo-
ulation mechanisms that allow tigers to regu- rye. It was taken to the rehabilitation center in
late their population and not undermine their Khabarovsk Krai to be veterinary assisted. The
food base. tigress was named ‘Svetlaya’– after the place
In winter of 1997–1998, Yuri Dunishenko found where it had been found.
the remains of cubs of three broods in the ba- In September of the same year, she was trans-
sin of the river Khor in Khabarovsk Krai. All of ported to the Rehabilitation Center in Pri-
them had been killed and eaten by males. The morsky Krai, and as late as in June 2014, she
mother had left two cubs of about six months was released into the wild in the Zhuravliny
old for a very short time, but a male came in Wildlife Reserve in Jewish Autonomous Oblast.
her wake, captured the cubs and managed to She settled in that territory. Late in 2015, tiger
eat both of them by half, before the hunters Boris came to her site. In the spring of 2017,
spooked it. The tigress returned a day later, they learnt she had given birth: two ’boys’ and
and several days later its calling, wailsome ‘a girl’. All have grown up healthy and are al-
roaring was heard from far away. ready mastering their own habitats. In Decem-
Another tigress so fiercely defended two ber 2019, Svetlaya brought a second offspring –
youngsters that it inflicted mortal wounds on another three cubs.
the enemy. The attacker could not even leave
the ‘battlefield’: tendons were torn on its legs,
and the hunters found it dying.
A similar story happened on February 17, 2011,
when the corpse of an adult male, wounded in
a fight, was found in Primorye, in the basin of
the river Dzhigitovka. Fragments of tiger flesh
were found in the stomach. During the exam-
ination, they found a place of the fight be-
tween two animals – the winner had left, and
the loser had walked 200 m away, had laid for
two days and died. A few kilometers away from
this place, two gnawed corpses of half-year-
old tiger cubs were found. Their mother had
protected them and inflicted the first wounds
on the male. She probably finished him off, but
didn’t manage to save the cubs.
However, left unattended or orphaned ‘kittens’
also might have happy destinies.
34 35TIGRESS LAZOVKA AND TIGER CUB SAIKHAN
In December 2016, not far from Lazovsky Re-
serve an orphan tiger cub was discovered. The
baby was transferred to a rehabilitation cen-
ter; it was named Lazovka after the district it
had been found in.
At about the same time a tiger cub with a gun-
shot wound to the head on the verge of death
got to the Rehabilitation center. For several
months, veterinarians had been fighting for
the life of the wounded animal, and saved the
young predator to give it the chance of return-
ing to the wild. The baby was named Saikhan
(‘Precious’).
Following several months of treatment and
quarantine, the cubs were released into one
spacious enclosure. Despite the fact that the
young predators had come from different fam-
ilies, they quickly bonded and had been pre-
paring together to return to the taiga for more
than a year.
In the spring of 2018, tiger cubs, with support
of the Amur Tiger Center, were released into
the wild in the middle reaches of the Bidzhan
River in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Both
predators quickly adapted to the new condi-
tions, and in December 2019 they found out
that Lazovka, being 3 years old had become
mother, which is quite early for tigers.
36 37WHO ARE YOU, OUR CHARACTER?
TIGERS ARE NEVER
ENOUGH
The Amur tiger population living in the south of the Russian
Far East is now relatively numerous, even though the northern border
of the current distribution of the tiger as a species passes here.
In other words, the Russian Amur tiger range is In confirmation, let us say that the tendencies
the northernmost place where this species can of changes in the populations of wild animals
be found. Amur tigers in China live closer to are most clearly manifested in the areas neigh-
the south, as well as other subspecies. boring the outskirts of the species range. In
Our weather and natural conditions can be our case, a group of tigers in Khabarovsk Krai
called extreme for the tiger. Although it lives can be considered such an outskirt. The pop-
with us, the tiger is primarily a southern ani- ulation (number) has kept on growing despite
mal. Low temperatures and a fairly low density all forecasts and periodic decreases at the
of potential prey, combined with an anthropo- model monitoring sites!
genic factor, should have severely limited pop-
Just over 600 Amur tigers ulation growth. But they have not! The number
live in Russia as of 2021. of tigers is growing, and this is very pleasing to
all those who are not indifferent.
For almost a quarter of a century, the size of
the population, on average, has been half a
thousand individuals. And the fact that this
is a single, weakly fragmented range is an un-
doubted advantage of a population that has
the ability to maintain high genetic diversity.
The important thing is that, the initial number
of individuals is small, therefore, the higher the
number, the lower the rate of the so-called ‘in-
bred depression’– the consequences of closely
related crossing.
We will get the data for the next complete
count of the number of tigers in the entire
range only in 2022. However, monitoring is
carried out annually at the model sites. Moni-
toring data shows that the number of tigers in
these areas has increased since 2015. Extrap-
olating (that is, expanding) the data for the
entire range, we can say that there are now
about just over 600 individuals. Extrapolation
was ‘entrusted’ to a special computer pro-
gram that considers all the most important
factors, such as the density of ungulates, so
at the moment the figure of 600 individuals is
considered reliable.
38 39INFORMATION UPON ACCOUNTING
OF THE AMUR TIGER
IN THE FAR EAST OF RUSSIA
Primorsky Khabarovsk Sourse
Year Krai Krai Total of information
1940 20 N/A 20-30 Kaplanov, 1947
1952 40-45 N/A — Kuznetsov, 1952
1954 48 N/A — Kuznetsov, 1954
Bromley, 1959;
1957 35 23 58
Frolov, 1957
1959 55-65 35 90-100 Abramov, 1962
1965 70 N/A — Kudzin, 1966
Yudakov, Nikolaev,
1970 130< 20 150< 1973; Kazarinov,
1972
Bromley, 1977;
1976 — — 160-170
Kucherenko, 1977
Abramov et al., 1979;
1979 172-195 34 206-229 Pikunov et al., 1983;
Kazarinov, 1979
1985 200-210 68-69 240-250* Pikunov, 1990
1986 N/A 91 — Kazarinov, 1986
1989 275-295 N/A — Meshcheryakov,
1989
Meshcheryakov,
1990 N/A 64 349 Kucherenko, 1990
1993 N/A 54-56 — Dunishenko, 1993
Dunishenko et al.
1994 N/A 57-58 —
1994
Matyushkin et al.,
1996 351-405 64-71 415-476
1996
2005 357-425 71-77 428-502 Mikell et al., 2005
V.V. Aramilev et al.,
2015 417-425 100-109 523-540**
2016
* according to alternative data, the number was about 500 individuals
** including 4 tigers in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, and 2 in Amur Oblast
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