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

[Wolverine]

(12-19-2018, 08:21 PM)peter Wrote: THE FUTURE OF THE AMUR TIGER ACCORDING TO DMITRY PIKUNOV - PART II

c - Introduction to Part II

In October 2014, 'Population and Habitat of the Amur Tiger in the Russian Far East' (D.G. Pikunov) was published in Achievements in the Life Sciences (Volume 8, Issue 2, pages 145-149). It was funded by the Far Eastern Federal University.

In the first post on this article (post 1,798 of this thread), apart from the introduction (a), the history of the Russian Far East (b) was briefly discussed. That post had this map:

*This image is copyright of its original author

It shows the territory Russia gained in 1858 (Treaty of Aigun) and 1860 (Treaty of Peking, now Beijing, 1860).

Every disadvantage has an advantage and the other way round: the territory the Chinese lost most probably saved the Amur tiger - in the late thirties of the 20th century, the territory gained in 1860 had the last Amur tigers in Russia.

The large tiger shot in 1943 near the Sungari river proves that some tigers made it to the early forties in Manchuria, but in the end they didn't survive the unslaught. In the Russian Far East it was a very close call as well:  

" ... By 1938-1939, the tiger population had decreased even further in the Russian Far East. L.G. Kaplanov noted that the tiger population gradually decreased due to the capture and shooting of young adult tigers. At this time, tigers were most common in the Sichote-Alin Reserve (10-12 individuals), and there were only 20-30 individuals in the Far East of Russia ... " ('Population and Habitat of the Amur tiger in the Russian Far East', D.G. Pikunov, 2014, pp. 3 of 14).

Kaplanov's notes, by the way, were not published in the late thirties, but in 1948. The publication of 'Tiger in the Sichote-Alin', (L.G. Kaplanov, Bull. Mosc. Soc. Nat., 14 (29), 1948, pp. 18-19) was of crucial importance in that it alerted the authorities. A year before Kaplanov's notes were published, tiger hunting was banned in the Russian Far East. Poor Kaplanov never knew about the effect of his publication, as he died well before his time. He most probably was killed by poachers. 

d - Amur tiger distribution in northern Asia in the period 900-2017

Pikunov's publication has a lot of detailed information about the distribution of Amur tigers in the period 1800-2014 roughly. As it requires quite a bit of geographical knowledge to keep on track, I decided to add a number of maps. 

d1 - Middle Ages to 1970

I'll start with the map I found in 'Die Saugetiere der Sowjet-Union' (V.G. Heptner and A.A. Sludskij, Band III, Raubtiere, VEB Gustav Fisher Verlage Jena, 1980, pp. 95). It shows the northern limits of tiger distribution in northern Asia in the Middle Ages (black dots, question marks and Roman figures), in 1900 (continuous black line) and 1970 roughly (dotted line at the extreme right).

As you can see, tigers most probably reached Sachalin in the extreme east and Ukraine and southwestern Russia in the Middle Ages (900-1100). Many hundreds of years later, tigers were still seen every now and then near the Ischim, Irtysch and Ob rivers (Caspain region). In northeastern Russia, tigers apparently reached the Lena and the Aldan rivers, about a thousand miles north of the Argun river. The liner notes are in German:

*This image is copyright of its original author

d2 - About 1850

I saw this map in Mark Sokolsky's dissertation 'Taming Tiger Country: Colonization and Environment in the Russian Far East, 1860-1940' (Ohio State University, 2016), but the map is from Pikunov.

Based on Barcly's article ('The Manchurian Tiger', F. Barclay, in: 'The Gun At Home And Abroad', The Big Game of Asia and North-America, 1915), I think that the southern tip of Korea should be included, as tigers have been hunted and shot on islands just south of Korea. 

According to Baikov ('The Manchurian Tiger', 1925 - I have the English translation of A. Shevlakov of 2000), the northeastern part of Manchuria (Guiring Province) was the 'basic home range' of the Amur tiger,

" ... where it abides in multitude as, for example, in extensive primeval Woods of the upper river Sungari, the Lalhinke and Ashikhe, and also in the following river basins: the Mudan-jan, Maikhe, Muren and Sui-Fong ... " ('The Manchurian Tiger', N.A. Baikov, English translation, pp. 6 of 28):   

*This image is copyright of its original author

 

d3 - The period 1828-1953

This map, also from V.G. Heptner, shows the situation in eastern and northeastern Siberia in the period 1828-1953. In the first decades of the 19th century, tigers were seen and shot north and west of Lake Baikal (heavy black dots). When rifles became available for many, records of tigers shot in that region quickly disappeared.

More than a century later, in the fifties of the previous century, Amur tigers, although severely threatened by then, really lived near the upper part of the Amur river (blank dots) and its tributaries like the Argun (south of the Amur) and the Seja (north of the Amur) rivers (blank and black dots). In the decades that followed, they completely disappeared in that part of Russia:

*This image is copyright of its original author

d4 - The period 1940-1962

Yet another map from V.G. Heptner. This time, the focus is on the changes seen in the period 1900-1962 in general and 1940-1962 in particular. During the population crisis in the thirties and forties of the last century, tigers first disappeared from the northern part of the region they had occupied for so long. Although individuals reached the region north of the Amur river every now and then in the period 1920-1962 (blank dots), most of the remaining tigers lived in the extreme south of Sichote-Alin (striped line with dots). Compared to the situation at the beginning of the 19th century (uninterrupted heavy black line), they had moved south.

Although the territory they occupied had increased somewhat in 1950 (striped line, no dots) and individuals still reached rivers well north of the Amur river in that period, Amur tigers would never breed north of the Amur river again.

The large blank dot on Sachalin (referring to what most probably was a sighting in the beginning of the 19th century) is interesting:

*This image is copyright of its original author

d5 - The situation in the Sichote-Alin Reserve in the 1939-1940 winter according to Kaplanov

I found this map on the internet. The liner notes on the left say the map is based on Kaplanov's observations in the second half of the 1939-1940 winter. It is about the line with the small red dots (routes taken by the observers) and the depth of the snow cover. 

According to Kaplanov, there were 10-12 individuals in the Sichote-Alin Nature Reserve only. Their prints were only seen in districts where the depth of the snow cover didn't exceed 40 cm.:      

*This image is copyright of its original author

d6 - The situation in the period 1950-1970

By the 1950s, tigers had completely disappeared from (Manchuria and) the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. According to Pikunov, the southern border was just south of Pyongyang (capital of North-Korea). In the fifties of the last century, tigers still lost territory in Sichote-Alin as well. In spite of the loss of territory, the number of tigers in the Russian Far East slightly increased. In the mid-fifties of the previous century, there were 58-60 individuals in the entire Russian Far East (the Primorsky and Khabarovski territories).

In order to improve the situation, radical measures were taken. In 1956, a complete ban was placed on the capture of cubs. According to Pikunov, this measure was needed 

" ... because the Primorye Zoologic Base could not provide the required conditions and professional personnel to maintain the animals ... " (Pikunov, 2014, pp. 4).

Furthermore:

" ... To streamline the economic use of tigers and their protection, the keeping of animal records was initiated in the winter of 1958-1959. (K.G.) Abramov (1961) was the first to develop a methodology for tiger accounting and proposed the width of big subunguis ('heel') of the predator's forelimb as the primary parameter ... " (Pikunov, 2014, pp. 4).  

Sichote-Alin has two administrative units: Primorsky Krai (southern part) and Khabarovsky Krai (northern part). In 1959, the Khabarovsky Krai had 36 tigers. In Primorsky Krai, 

" ... it was found that there were 60-65 tigers ... that included 12 adult males, 16 females (both with the broods and single), 23 cubs, and 12-14 individuals of unknown gender and age ... " (Pikunov, 2014, pp. 4-5).

In the early sixties of the previous century, the population density in the northern part decreased as a result of the extensive development of the forests in the basins of the Bikin and Big Ussurka rivers. Furthermore, as a result of a number of years with poor harvests and deep snow, the number of wild boars decreased. In 1960-1961, tigers disappeared from the Amur region. A few years later, they left the Jewish Autonomous Region as well.

In the southern part of Sichote-Alin, the number of tigers slightly increased. As a result, attacks on domestic animals became more frequent. For this reason, hunting permits were issued every now and then.

In the extreme southwestern part of Sichote-Alin, a different population developed:

" ... In the winter of 1964, 12 adult tigers were observed crossing the state border with China in the Pogranichny and Khankaisky areas. Thus, a group of 15-17 individuals emerged (3-4 residents and the 12 newcomers). The Pogranichny and Khankaisky areas of Primorye are separated from the mountain range of the Sichote-Alin by the vast treeless spaces of the Prikhankayskaya lowlands. Therefore, the tigers living here do not have contact with the animals that live in the mountain and forest areas of the Sichote-Alin. It should also be noted that the lands that are appropiate for long-term tiger stays in the Kahnka and border areas are too small, and probably for this reason, the migrant tigers either disappeared back to China or were illegally shot after some time ... " (Pikunov, 2014, pp. 5).

This map (in 'Die Saugetiere der Sowjetunion', 1980, pp. 108) shows the situation in 1968, when there were 120-130 tigers in the entire Russian Far East. The map, made by S.P. Kucerenko and A.G. Pancratiev, shows that tigers still migrated to districts well north of the Amur river every now and then. Some of them covered many hundreds of miles:

*This image is copyright of its original author

d7 - Summary of the period 1890-1940  

Here's another nice map. This one is from K.G. and V.K. Abramov. It's in 'Die Saugetiere der Sowjetunion' (1980, pp. 109) and shows the northern, western and southern limits of the distribution at the end of the 19th century (uninterrupted heavy black line); regions that still had a few tigers in the 1930s (in red); territorial losses in the 20th century (horizontal double stripes) and occasional trips of individuals (males in the great majority of cases) into greener pastures (arrows).

It doesn't show the situation in the late 1960s. In order to get there, you need the previous map. That one shows that Amur tigers had moved to the southern tip of Sichote-Alin in 1968:

*This image is copyright of its original author

d8 - The period 1970-2015

Although the number of tigers slowly increased in the sixties, the area they used continued to decrease. Compared to the situation in 1960, the loss of territory, especially in the northern part of Sichote-Alin, was significant. By 1970, the left bank of the Amur river had lost all tigers. Most of the northern part of Sichote-Alin (Khabarovski Krai) also had been lost.

In 1979, tigers occupied only two regions in the Russian Far East. The largest of these was in the southern part of Sichote-Alin (1). The smallest, about 500,000 ha, was located in the Khasansky and Nadeshdinsky districts and the western part of the Ussurisky district in the extreme southwest of Primorsky Krai (2).     

According to Pikunov, the southwestern region was completely separated from the region occupied in the southeastern part of Primorsky Krai by a highway, a railroad and vast open spaces near Lake Khanka: " ... Movements of tigers between these sections have not been registered ... " (Pikunov, 2014, pp. 6).

Furthermore, " ... the majority of the tiger habitat is beyond the state border and partially located in the adjacent areas of China ... " (Pikunov, pp. 6).

In the southern part of Sichote-Alin, the natural conditions were better than in the north. However, " ... it is precisely this region that has been affected by and is currently being exposed to growing anthropogenic pressure ... " (Pikunov, pp. 7).

As a result of the pressure, tigers started moving north once again. In the northern part of their former range, the pressure was less. Habitat conservation resulted in better conditions and tigers quickly noticed. 

Although the number of tigers increased in the seventies (there were 172-195 individuals using a territory of 97,150 square km. in 1979 in Primorsky Krai alone), not a few (130) were lost in that decade as well. Most of these (78) were shot (with and without permits). Furthermore, a significant number of cubs (37) had been captured alive for zoos. In the seventies, the ban on capturing cubs apparently had been lifted for some time. About 15 tigers died of natural causes.

In the seventies and early eighties, the tide was definitely changing: 

" ... A comparison of the boundaries of the ranges and distributions of tigers in 1970 ... with those in 1978-1979 ... revealed expansions in the area and increases in numbers occurred mainly in the northern regions of Primorye. By 1984-1985, increases in the number of tigers had occurred in ... all parts of the range. These increases were facilitated by the preservation of habitats and the consequently more favourable environmental conditions.

The results of recordings from 1984-1985 revealed a further increase in the area of tiger habitat in Primorsky Krai tot 108,500 square km. Later, in the winter of 1995-1996, the increase in range in the Primorsky Territory continued to 123,000 square km., the range throughout the Far East of Russia expanded to 156,000 square km., and the number of individuals increased to 415-476 ... " (Pikunov, pp. 8).

To finish the post, a few more maps.

Here's the situation in 1995-1996:

*This image is copyright of its original author

This is the situation in 2011:

*This image is copyright of its original author

The situation in 2015 based on an algorithm.

My guess is the map is a bit wanting in some respects, as it says there are no tigers in the reserve just below Khabarovsk. Tkatchenko, however, said there were tigers only a few years ago. They were heavily involved in bears:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Forest cover in Primorsky Krai, Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces ('Taming Tiger Country: Colonization and Environment in the Russian Far East, 1860-1940', Dissertation of Mark Sokolsky, Ohio State University, 2016):

*This image is copyright of its original author

e - Situation 2018-2022

This post took quite a bit of time. I need a break, that is.
 
In a few days, I'll continue on Pikunov. In part III of the series, the focus will be on his proposals to ensure the future of the Amur tiger in the Russian Far East. In his opinion, Sichote-Alin needs two more reserves (about 46,00 - 50,000 square km. in total) to ensure the future of the Amur tiger.  

That post will also have information on the situation in northeastern China, including the new reserve close to the border with the Russian Federation and North-Korea. It's an enormous reserve (larger than the Netherlands!) located in the same region that had the, alleged, former Imperial Hunting Reserve.

I'll add a bit of info in the Korean peninsula as well.

Here's the proposed new reserve (in red):

*This image is copyright of its original author

  

And here's the, alleged, former Imperial Hunting Reserve (from 'The Tiger's Claw', M.L. Taylor, 1956):

*This image is copyright of its original author

According to G, Jankowski, the Imperial Hunting Reserve (also known as the Imperial Tiger Park) was created by one of the Manchurian Emperors. As hunting wasn't allowed for centuries (...), animals thrived. There are many rumours about the size of tigers in the Imperial Tiger Park. 

Pocock (1929) wrote about a skin from northern China exceeding 13 feet in length. According to Jankowski, longer skins have been measured. That should tell you something, as the skin of the enormous Sungari river tiger shot in 1943 was about 12.6. According to V. Jankowski ('Tiger, Deer, Ginseng', 1993), he was at least 350 kg. (about 772 pounds).

The new Chinese reserve more or less includes the old Imperial Tiger Park. Coincidence? Of course it is.

It looks like the new vast tiger reserve in China is going to border the Land of Leopard NP behind the Russian border so that will create a vast trans-boundary protected area as for example Serengeti-Masai Mara in Tanzania-Kenya. These mountain ranges are inhabited not only by tigers but also by Amur leopards because they have a bit milder climate than Sihote Alin mountain range which is inhabited only by tigers.
For now the largest protected area in domain of the Amur tiger is newly created Bikin national park (11 000 sq. km.), 3 times the size of Sihote Alin state reserve. Reply