All About Wild Tigers

Common Name: Siberian tiger, Amur tiger; Tigre de Sibérie(Fr); (Sp)

Scientific Name: Panthera tigris altaica

Habitat: Boreal forest

Location: Far eastern Asia

Population: 360 to 406 individuals
Background
Amur Tiger

The Amur tiger, the world’s largest cat, appears to be making a comeback.
© WWF-Canon / Hartmut Jungiu

In the 1940s the Amur tiger was on the brink of extinction, with no more than 40 tigers remaining in the wild. Thanks to vigorous antipoaching and other conservation efforts by the Russians with support from many partners, including WWF, the Amur tiger population recovered and has remained stable throughout the last decade or so.

But poaching of tigers and its prey, increased logging and construction of roads, forest fires and inadequate law enforcement are threats that affect the survival of the species.

WWF, in partnership with Russian authorities and other NGOs, is helping establish an ecological network of protected areas to secure well-connected habitat for the Amur tiger, funds antipoaching patrols in the Russian Far East and supports an ungulate recovery program. WWF is collaborating with the Russian authorities and other partners in the recent survey of Amur tigers.
Physical Description Read the rest of this entry »

The Sumatran tiger at the San Francisco Zoo gave birth Thursday morning and was resting and nursing her cub Friday evening, zoo officials said.

Chief zoo veterinarian Jacqueline Jencek has been monitoring Leanne’s progress through a video camera to prevent disturbing the 230-pound tiger. It will be at least a week before Jencek and others go near the new mother and baby, and thus don’t know if it’s male or female.

“I’m trying really hard to have Leanne undisturbed,” Jencek said. “When she rolls on her back I can see a little brown, furry cub.”

It is the first birth of a Sumatran tiger at the zoo since 1956. The species is critically endangered, with only a few hundred left in the wild and 210 in zoos around the world.
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