The Amur Tiger(Panthera tigris altaica)
The world's largest, living cat is easily among my top favorite animals- if not my absolute favorite. Why? They're all of the things we, as humans, consider positive. They are absolutely gorgeous, unique, courageous, strong, fluffy, majestic, and just plain magnificent creatures.
The Amur Tiger is also known as the Siberian Tiger, which is an incorrect name due to the fact that this tiger does not live in Siberia and, instead, lives in the Amur-Ussuri region of Russia. A few of these cat may even stray along the northern Chinese and Korean border.
The Amur Tiger is the largest and heaviest of all the subspecies of tiger. They have extremely long, fine hair (in comparison to other subspecies) and a layer of fat to aid them in their survival of the heavy winters of Russia. These cats have a lighter-orange colored coat to help them blend into the snow. Their large paws make phenomenal snowshoes.
A typical male can weigh more than five-hundred pounds and measure nine-feet from nose to tail. Some extreme individuals can weigh over eight-hundred pounds and measure well over ten-feet long. These cats reach maturity at 3-5 years of age and have no particular mating season. Most cats are reflex ovulators, meaning they begin ovulating upon arousal. A female tiger will carry a litter of 1-4 cubs for three to three-and-a-half months. When the cubs are born they are both blind and deaf, completely defenseless for the first eight weeks of their life. They will stay with their mother until they are one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half years old. These cats are what you would call a K-Selected species, meaning they care for their young similarly to way we humans care for our young. They have a very involved parenting method and completely provide for their offspring for the first two years of their life.
It is believed that there are only 431-529 individuals left in the wild, making them extremely and critically endangered. Sadly, this isn't the worst it has been for these cats. In the 1940s, the Amur Tiger was on the brink of extinction. There were as few as 40 tigers remaining in the wilds of Russia. Fortunately, antipoaching and conservation efforts by the Russians and other groups, led to the recovery of the Amur Tiger population. This population has remained stable for the last decade or so...
but...
Poaching of both the tigers and their prey continues today. This along with increased logging, construction of roads, forest fires, and inadequate law enforcement may eventually lead to the extinction of this beautiful creature (whom I adore).
You're probably wondering why I adore them so... It is a pretty simple reason. There is nothing else like them in the world. Not even their own fellow subspecies are as large, as fluffy, or at all the same.
Here are some interesting facts about these cats. These are the things that make me love them so much.
An Amur Tiger can jump as far as 23 feet.
The Tungusic people who live in the same region as this tiger, refer to the tigers as "Old Man" or "Grandfather". These are terms of endearment and respect.
Only six incidents of man-eating involving these cats have been recorded in the whole of the last two centuries.
Siberian Tigers have been known to take down prey as large as Brown Bears.
Amur Tigers in the wild can live as long as 15 years, whereas in captivity, their lifespan is shorter.
In case of a fight, they warn the intruders beforehand by rattling their tails. Though a male tiger fights fiercely over its territory, it will not harm a female with cubs should she enter his territory.
The Amur Tiger once roamed historically all over Korea. Korea is the only country where the tiger is the center of its culture. Korean people believe they have a very close spiritual relationship with the tiger and have personified this relationship throughout history.
In one Korean myth, Korea's National Creation Myth, tells of a tiger and a bear who asked the son of the ruler of Heaven if he would make them human. The ruler of Heaven agreed under one circumstance. If they could endure 100 days in a cave with nothing but garlic and mugwort to eat, he would grant their request. The bear endured and became a beautiful woman, who gave birth to Tangum, the legendary father of Korea in 2333 BCE. But the tiger grew hungry and impatiant. The Amur Tiger left the cave early, unable to cope with the hunger and waiting. After this, the people believe that same tiger has been slinking through the Korean mountains ever since.
If you look deep into this myth, you can see why the bear outlasted the tiger. Tigers, like any cat, are true carnivores who need meat to survive. They lack the proper functions to digest vegetative matter. Bears however are omnivorous and carnivorous. The tiger could not survive simply on garlic and mugwort. The tiger was set up to lose.
In many Korean folktales, listeners are reminded of the constant conflict between tigers and humans. In these tales, the tiger, while often gullible, is also extremely terrifying and sometimes deceitful.
In one specific tale that tells of how the uneasy relationship between tigers and humans was successfully resolved by a change in the way people view these animals. In the story, a terrified woodsman was ambushed by a tiger. The woodsmen bowed deep and low to the animal and claimed the tiger as his long-lost brother. The tiger became confused, but somehow touched by the man's respect and lack of fear. He believed the woodsman and agreed not only to spare his life, but also to help him hunt for food from that day on.
It seems to me that the greatest way to understand a creature like this is through the eyes of the people around them- through their culture. The Koreans both cherish and adore their long-lost tigers. I wonder how they must feel about the use of their tiger's body parts by the Chinese... I think if Korea could speak out against Traditional Chinese Medicine, much could be done to save and perhaps return their national symbol.
"By the way, I tried to say, I'd be there... Waiting for..."
the return of the Amur Tiger...
I adore the Amur Tiger and I hope by reading this blog, you may learn to love them just as much. From their fluffy disposition to their big ol' paws, these cats represent everything I love and I for sure don't want to live in a world without them.
Let's find the love for the tiger again and bring them back...
Let's Fight To Get It Back Again!!!
Thanks for reading,
Ashley
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