Reproduction and Life Span: The oldest Amur tigers in zoos have lived to 35 years of age, but 14 years is the oldest known age for an Amur tiger in the wild. Olga, the first tiger captured as part of the Siberian Tiger Project, was 14 years old when she was killed by poachers.
Tigers can reproduce starting at around 3 years of age, and mate at any time of year. Surprisingly, tigers often do not give birth in a den, but simply on the ground in dense, brushy areas.
However, they choose rocky areas with lots of nooks and crannies where cubs can hide once they become mobile. Mothers will move cubs if they think there is a chance of danger and frequently do so after cubs are about 1. Tigresses usually leave their cubs behind while hunting, but begin taking them to kills when they reach about 3 months in age. Figure 1. Birth dates have been identified for 27 litters of tiger cubs by staff of the Siberian Tiger Project, with births occurring in every month but January and March.
Later summer and early fall is the peak of birthing. Home Range: Tigers are territorial, and although female tigers may divide their home ranges with their daughters, male tigers leave their mothers to find their own territory, usually when they are between 16 and 22 months old, and sometimes travel hundreds of kilometers in search of a vacant area.
Figure 2. To protect them from the cold, their fur grows thicker than other tigers' fur, and they have manes. Thick fur on their paws keeps their feet warm, allows them to walk silently as they stalk prey, and makes their feet behave like showshoes as they move through the snow.
Their long claws are retractable, which allows them to run easily and quickly. Amur tigers live alone, marking their scent on trees to keep other tigers away. When hunting they rely more on sight and hearing than smell. They hunt for elk, boar, and deer, stalking them until they are close enough to pounce. They drag their kill to a secluded area before devouring the meat. Because of naturally low numbers of prey animals in eastern Russia, Amur tigers have large hunting areas.
Females range between 95 and square miles, sometimes dividing it up with their daughters. Northern forests offer the lowest human density of any tiger habitat, and the most complete ecosystem. The vast woodlands also allow tigers far more room to roam, as Russia's timber industry is currently less extensive than that of many other countries.
Tigers are the largest of all wild cats and are renowned for their power and strength. There were once nine tiger subspecies, but three became extinct during the 20th century. Over the last hundred years, hunting and forest destruction have reduced overall tiger populations dramatically. Tigers are hunted as trophies and also for body parts that are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
All six remaining tiger subspecies are threatened, and many protection programs are in place. Poaching is a reduced—but still very significant—threat to Siberian tigers. Tigers live alone and aggressively scent-mark large territories to keep their rivals away. They are powerful hunters that travel many miles to find prey, such as elk and wild boar, on nocturnal hunts.
Tigers use their distinctive coats as camouflage no two have exactly the same stripes and hunt by stealth. They lie in wait and creep close enough to attack their victims with a quick spring and a fatal pounce. A hungry tiger can eat as much as 60 pounds in one night, though they usually eat less.
Despite their fearsome reputation, most tigers avoid humans; however, a few do become dangerous maneaters.
These animals are often sick and unable to hunt normally, or live in areas where their traditional prey has vanished. Females give birth to litters of two to six cubs, which they raise with little or no help from the male.
Cubs cannot hunt until they are 18 months old, and remain with their mothers for two to three years, when they disperse to find their own territory. To learn more about tigers, watch this Tigers video. All rights reserved. What's Driving Tigers Toward Extinction? With fewer than 4, of these iconic animals in the wild today, tiger populations have been in a rapid decline over the past century.
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