The last Siberian tiger seen in Sai Kung appeared on the slopes of Ma On Shan in the 1960s. Today hundreds of these big cats live in sanctuaries in northeast China and Russia. The Siberian Tiger Park in Heilongjiang, northern China, holds the world’s largest captive population of these beautiful creatures. Visitors may see the impressive animals in their snowy, natural environment. The Heilongjiang park successfully breeds cubs every year. The Siberian (Amur) tiger is a highly endangered species with a small, wild population in northeast China. There is another breeding centre at Hengdaohezi. The tiger subspecies panthera tigris tigris is also found in the Russian Far East. About 750 adult tigers and 200 cubs are estimated to inhabit this area.
These tigers are reddish rusty or rusty yellow with narrow black stripes. They grow up to 306 kg for males and 167 kg for females. The average body length of a male is 2 m. In 2019 a large Siberian tiger was found, 384 kg and 3.4 m long. These tigers are known to roam over 960 km. They hunt deer, moose, boar, small bears, rabbits and even salmon.
Tigers mate at any time of the year. The female signals her readiness by leaving urine and scratch marks on trees. She will spend up to six days with a male during which she is receptive for three days. Litter size is two to four cubs, sometimes as many as six. Cubs are born blind in a sheltered den. The mother hunts for food.
The average life span of Siberian tigers is 16 to 18 years. They are rarely man-eaters, if not provoked. Some people have been killed and eaten because of botched attempts to capture tigers. One woman at an American zoo taunted a tiger. It escaped and killed her. Treat wild creatures with respect and you’ll probably never have a problem.
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