The Siberian tiger ( Panthera tigris altaica ) is a subspecies of tiger considered the largest feline in the world , since the male is 3.30 m long and weighs almost 300 kg, and the only one that can survive in the snow. It mainly inhabits the birch forests of the Amur River region in southeastern Russia, but also in some parts of China and North Korea.
They can be distinguished from other tigers by their striped fur, unique to each individual, since they have fewer stripes, paler and dense manes, which help them keep warm.
Like the rest of tigers, they are solitary animals that can travel several kilometers a day in search of small prey, such as rabbits, pikes and fish, to large mammals such as wild boar, elk, deer and even bear. They have extraordinary physical abilities: they are excellent swimmers , reaching speeds of up to 60 km / h and jumping up to 5 m in height. However, their hunting technique is stealth, as they wait for the right moment, when the victim is close enough to attack. In the event that the hunt is successful, they take their prey to safety before starting to eat it. They usually eat 9 kg of meat a day, but can binge up to 27 kg.
Their gestation period is 3 to 3.5 months and females can give birth every two years in any season. They usually have six cubs raised exclusively by their mother. They will not come out of hiding until three months, at which point they begin to learn to hunt with their mother, an art that they will not master until they are 18 months old.
Last but not least , it should be noted that it is one of the most threatened species, according to the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In fact, the species was on the verge of disappearing in the 1990s, when only 20-30 wild individuals remained and the population was in a ‘critical’ state. Currently, according to the latest counts, there would be about 562 Siberian tigers in the world. The reasons are the reduction of its habitat and especially the illegal traffic for its use in traditional Chinese medicine. Different parts of the tiger’s body are believed to have healing properties, such as its nose for epilepsy; your eyes for malaria; his penis as an aphrodisiac, etc. In addition, its meat and bones, to make wine, are becoming fashionable as luxury products. If there are a total of 4000 tigers (counting all subspecies) in the wild, there are 8000 specimens in captivity, almost twice as many individuals that are raised on farms for their traffic or so that tourists can take selfies with the young and Adults.
