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

[peter]

'POPULATION AND HABITAT OF THE AMUR TIGER IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST' (Pikunov, D.G., in: 'Achievements in the Life Sciences', Vol. 8, Issue 2, Oct. 2014, pp. 145-149)

Today, cubs included, there are 450-500 Amur tigers in the Russian Far East and the extreme northeast of China, maybe a bit more. It took a very long time to get there.

The present area of the tiger in the Russian Far East is 156 000 - 160 000 square km (...). Although it is an enormous area, it isn't enough to accomodate more tigers. If the Russians really want at least 500 adult tigers, thus ensuring the long-term conservation of Amur tigers, they, according to Pikunov, have no option but to add two protective zones of 45 000 - 50 000 square km. with centres in the Sichote-Alin and Lazovsky reserves: 

" ... The creation of protective zones is the only route to preserving the natural complex of the Sichote-Alin, including the Amur tiger in Russia ... " (from the abstract).

The paper is interesting: 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2078152015000152

Based on everything I read and saw, I concluded that conservation of the Amur tiger is taken very seriously in Russia. Legislation has been adapted and poachers now face severe penalties. 

When you read the paper, you'll find a link to other documents. I can recommend:

'Assessing the influence of environmental parameters on Amur tiger distribution in the Russian far East using a Maxent modeling approach' (Matyuskin et al, 2014).

Interesting read as well. Those involved concluded that elevation was a better predictor of habitat suitability than habitat type. The most suitable habitats (for Amur tigers) are concentrated in the southern and western parts of the Sichote-Alin mountain range. Reply