ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

1 - The old Imperial Hunting Reserve (green) on the border of Korea, China and south-east Russia (a century ago). So there was a reserve where animals were left in peace most of the time for hundreds of years. Tigers in particular were protected. Rumour has it that's the reason they were large in those days:

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2 - Russian hunters on the border with Korea (a century ago):

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3 - A better quality picture of one of the tigers (from the text, I concluded it was a tigress) shot in the south of Korea by Ford Barclay:

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4 - In the Imperial Hunting Reserve, tigers were left in peace most of the time. They grew large and a century later it still shows:

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5 - Compare -4- with this one taken in facility. There's tigers and tigers and the size of some captive Amur tigers captures the imagination. I remember seeing one in Berlin a long time ago. Not quite as large as this one, but more massive all the way. I talked to people who also saw exceptional animals. It seems they are all but gone today, but I wouldn't be surprised to find one in Wild Russia in the near future when the situation improves. Russia has the best conditions (large forests, few people and Putin definitely is interested), but it could be the eastern parts of what was Manchuria has even better conditions.

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6 - Amur tiger distribution in 2011. I was most surprised about the new population in the north-eastern part of China, but they also seem to move north:

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