Siberian Tigers - A beautiful endangered animal
Siberian Tigers are the largest and most powerful of all cats in the world. An adult male can grow to be 12 feet in length and their body can weigh 650 pounds. Siberian tigers get their name primarily from their cold homeland of Siberia, which is covered in snow for a good part of the year.
Siberian tigers occupy an extremely large territory. There have been ranges of over 4,000 square miles recorded for them. If food sources are pretty stable in their area, they may choose to occupy that same territory for many years before it migrates again.
Both male and female Siberian tigers mark their boundaries with urine and by scratching trees. But surprisingly, referring on the same page, only the male is the one that defends their territory. Male Siberian tigers are usually solitary, often seen shunning other males. They tend to only be tolerant of females.
Siberian tigers mate at any time of the year. The female is usually fertile for only three to seven days during which they will mate several times. The gestation period for them is three to three and a half months at when three to for cubs are born. They are nursed by their mother who never leaves their side. When the Siberian tigers are three months old, they start to leave the den they were born in and the mother brings them their food. They will still continue to take her milk until they are about six months old after which that time, they will leave with her to go out and hunt for food. The tiger cubs are still less than a year old when they are ready to go and hunt by themselves. When they are two years old, they are ready to hunt and kill large prey, but they still don’t usually leave their mother until they are three to five years old.
Siberian tigers spend much time hunting because surprisingly, only about one in ten hunting trips is successful. They are not as good of hunters as one may think. They hunt mainly deer, boars and elk but will also prey on fish and rabbits. They usually require up to 20 pounds of meat a day to survive the temperatures of their environment but are able to consume up to 200 pounds a day. Their lifespan is usually up to twenty-five years.
Siberian tigers are endangered animals. They are found in eastern Siberia and also in northern China and Korea. Unfortunately, studies show that there are probably no more than 200 of them left in the wild.