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

[Roflcopters]

I was going over the 5 cubs that were released under the watchful eyes of Vladimir Putin and found some of the weight, first is a 19 month old male cub weighing 330lbs or 149.6kg.


Rare Siberian tiger 'flees' from Russia to China
Roaming big cat swims river between the two countries, prompting jokes about Vladimir Putin visit

*This image is copyright of its original author

An endangered Siberian tiger released into the wild by Vladimir Putin has "defected" to China.

The male tiger, named Kuzya, swam across the Amur river, which is Russia's border with China in the Far East region.

Mr Putin set free Kuzya, and two more of the rare tigers named Borya and Ilona, in a filmed ceremony in May.

The Russian president is well-known for his love of nature and animal stunts, having flown with cranes in a motorised hang-glider, fired a tranquiliser dart into a grey whale with a crossbow, and measured a slumbering polar bear.

On Wednesday, he revealed that "everything still hurts" after he spent his 62nd birthday on October 7 trekking through mountains for five miles. His spokesman had said earlier the president would pass the day in the Siberian taiga, up to 250 miles from the nearest settlement.

Kuzya's "escape" caused mirth in the Russian Twittersphere. "The tiger is the first guy Putin has set free since Khodorkovsky," said one joker, referring to the jailed oil tycoon who was released from prison last year, and who now lives in Switzerland.

"1. A tiger that once met Putin swiftly runs out of the taiga and off to China," wrote another. "2. Putin heads off to spend his birthday in the taiga. 3. Question: Who tipped off the tiger?"

The World Wildlife Fund believes there are no more than 450 Siberian or Amur tigers left in the wild. They mostly live in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in the Primorsky and Khabarovsky provinces of the Russian Far East, although there are small pockets in the border areas of China and possibly North Korea.

The tigers, which have shaggy coats in order to survive Russia's snowy winters, are threatened by illegal logging and poachers, especially in China where their body parts are used in medicine.

Earlier this week, Russia's veterinary watchdog warned that Siberian tigers could be affected by an epidemic of gypsy moths in Primorsky, which destroy fruit trees on which some prey of the big cats feed.

The tigers released by Mr Putin in the Zhelundinsky nature reserve in the spring were wearing satellite-tracked collars. All three were among five tiger cubs that were rescued by Russian zoologists after being found exhausted and abandoned by their mother and taken to a rehabilitation centre a year and a half ago.

Borya and Ilona stayed in Russia after they were let go but Kuzya swam the river to China at the beginning of October.

Vitaly Timchenko, the head of Tiger, a state-controlled body that helps protect the animals from poachers, told Russian media he hoped that Chinese colleagues would continue monitoring Kuzya.

Valery Pagasienko, head of the region's hunting control directorate, said he doubted suggestions the 330lb[b] tiger had gone to China in search of food.

"We were tracking them and they were feeding well," he said. "Ilona began hunting first and then Kuzya killed a wild boar." The tiger had moved abroad because of its natural "roaming character", he added.

Later on Wednesday, Chinese specialists said Kuzya had been spotted in the Taipinggou nature reserve in northeastern Heilongjiang province, after a tip-off from the Russian experts.

Chen Zhigang, the director of the reserve, told the official Xinhua news agency there should be plenty for the wild cat to eat but officials could "release cattle" into the area to feed it if necessary Russia and China have been strengthening ties since the EU and United States introduced sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis earlier this year. However the two countries, which fought an armed conflict over an island in the Amur in 1969, remain wary of each other.


Please keep in mind that this cub was of 19 months age in [b]May/2014 when Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin first tagged him.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...China.html

China and Russian Wildlife conservationists are working together to keep a track of this young male.
 


Here's another young male cub weighing 140kg and the female 105kg (both roughly about 19 months the time of their weighing)

http://programmes.putin.kremlin.ru/en/tiger/news/24831

On 4 June, two Amur tigers left for the wilderness of the Jewish Autonomous Region after completing a rehabilitation programme in the Primorye Territory. On 5 June, when the country celebrates Ecologist’s Day, the tigers will be released at the Zhuravliny (Crane) game reserve. This will be a gift for all nature conservation experts and volunteers, as well as for the tigers themselves.



Today was a hard day at the Centre for the Rehabilitation and Reintroduction of Tigers and Other Rare Animals in the village of Alexeyevka. Experts had to catch the tigers inside their enclosures, measure and weigh them and load them inside transport cages for subsequent delivery. It was possible to immobilise the male tiger named Ustin by 10 am, but the rather cautious female tiger, Svetlaya (Bright), hid successfully until noon. Both tigers are healthy, with the male and female weighing 140 kg and 105 kg,respectively. They are ready to be released into the wild. Once little tigers doomed to die, they have received a new lease of life, and they will be able to roam free and unhindered in their new home.



The Centre for the Rehabilitation and Reintroduction of Tigers and Other Rare Animals has already prepared several tigers for subsequent release. In May 2013, a tigress named Zolushka (Cinderella) was successfully released at the Bastak reserve in the Jewish Autonomous Region. That same year, the largest number of Amur tigers was released into the wild. This was made possible by a programme to research the Amur tiger in Russia's Far East, an independent project of the permanent expedition of the Russian Academy of Sciences aiming to study endangered animals listed in the Russian Red Data Book. That expedition was established in 2008 at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The releases were also made possible by the consolidated efforts of the Tiger special inspection, the Phoenix Foundation, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Wildlife Conservation Fund (WCS).



Please note that, 3 males and 2 females were released and their names are
(M, Kuzya- 149.6kg) brother of Borya
(M, Ustin - 140kg)
(F, Svetlaya - 105kg)
(M, Borya - weight unknown, brother of Kuzya
(F, IIona - weight known



 

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