Tigers have been successfully released into a part of Russia that they were lost from 50 years ago

Two of the released tigers in a part of Russia not been seen for 50 years – photo credit ANO WSC

Tigers once roamed Russia from East to West, but by the mid 19th century, the population had fallen to just 1000. However, the question is what was it like originally? Well, one thing we have found out in the last decade, was the fact that the Caspian tiger never existed, this was instead, merely the most westerly population of the Amur tiger. The scary thing about this, is it suggests that the Amur tiger would have roamed possibly millions of square miles of land – and presumably have existed in huge numbers, perhaps over 100,000, though the decline in these numbers is likely to predate modern humans (our ancient pre homo-erectus ancestors were incredibly efficient at killing mega-fauna, thought to be responsible for much of the worlds extinct mega fauna).

While parts of the western end of the tigers range are now well populated by humans, there are still vast areas ready for the tigers return – such as countries like Kazakhstan. This move is perhaps less of a jump forwards – never-the-less, tigers have not been seen in this new area for 50 years.

The Amur tiger population dropped very low, which means that these 6 initial translocations are well suited to form an initial core for the new population, though to retain genetic diversity, it will be necessary to translocate tigers back and forth for the next few decades, until both tiger populations are more safe.

We are a long way from the Pri-Amur tiger population being viable in the long-term, but this reintroduction is a good first step. I hope to see an acceleration of these reintroductions (it was a decade ago that translocation into Kazakhstan was discussed, and this has not yet happened). Is this just the first step in allowing the Amur tiger to return to former haunts, or will this be the only step? Time will tell, but at its worst, this should double the habitat, and potentially the population of the Amur Tiger, and is therefore healthy.

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    Back on the 10th I wrote about the Tiger recovery, here is more details about the Kazakhstan reintroduction: by 2026?

    The Caspian tiger once lived in 12 countries, from the west in Turkey, to the east in central Asia. Seemingly, across this range, they did not have consistent populations but the tigers lived on the shores of lakes in the region, with 15-20 valleys being their strongholds.

    The Kazakhstan delta is mostly ready for a return of the Tiger, with just the missing prey base needing addressing, this is well in hand

    On the whole, the Caspian tiger lived in relative harmony with humans up until the Russian invasion. The Russians brought with them, the custom of keeping livestock, which brought the humans into direct competition with the tigers. As a result, Russia started paying a bounty for every tiger killed. This was incredibly successful, such that by the 1940 they were exterminated. The hunting was banned in the 1940s but too late to save these tigers.

    After this, the tigers former home was taken over and converted into farmland, so the few that survived the hunting, soon lost what home was left.

    In the 1990s as Russia fell, WWF started working to help the ecosystem recover. As a result in the late 2000s a satellite analysis was carried out on the area, and one area stood out – a delta of the Lli river in Kazakhstan. It was found that if the prey base was first helped to recover (animals such as boar and deer) then this area could easily support tigers.

    Now, it is true that the Caspian tiger went extinct 70 years ago. However, recent genetic analysis has shown that the Caspian and Amur tigers are not distinct enough to be classed separately – they are essentially one subspecies, with a large range. It is true that Caspian tigers tend to have had shorter fur, but tigers are able to adjust in this way, so tigers that are moved to warmer climates will grow less fur and be able to thrive.

    Given Kazakhstan being the most advanced of the countries in the area, with relatively high living standards, they should be able to carry out the plan. The delay until 2026 is to allow time for the prey base to build up to sensible levels.

    Tiger

    Tiger

    Tigers – Unlike Lions, tigers are not kings of their ecosystem in the same way as lions. While lions live in prides and lie out in the open, Tigers are solitary (except mothers with their young, or a current breeding pair.

    In most instances, male tigers also have no part in caring for young. Amur tigers have a hard time finding food, and there are many documented cases where male tigers will leave kills for their mate and young. This has not been regularly noted amongst other sub species which  live in places where food is easier to come across.

    We are yet to add any destinations to go see wild tigers, but they will appear on this page, along with a list of articles from the blog on this subject. With a range of different subspecies, which range from relatively secure and growing population, to those on the edge of extinction.

    Tigers actually have a similar density in their habitat as a whole to lions (lions are about 5 times as populous, and have a range of about 5 times greater. Tigers roam around 650,000 square km, but with 4500 wild tigers – In other words, overall  each species has on average a similar density. Unfortunately, due to their solitary, and often nocturnal habits, it is better to compare tigers to leopards – for many visitors to Africa, while they might see 30 lions in a week, they might see just a couple of Leopards. Having said this, in India, this is recognized, and when a tiger is found you can take a ride on an elephant which will allow you to leave the road and get up and close to an elephant

    Tigers are still found in a variety of countries, however, for the time being, I have not broken them down in this way, as it is more useful to look at them as their former subspecies (I say former because of a decision a few years ago – for more, look below the tiger picture that is below this text).

    Below is a list of articles on all subspecies of tiger. Below that is a set of tabs, which will allow you to read about each subspecies. This is because tigers roam around 650,000 square km, however, there is thought that this could be increased by 1.7 million square km. It should be noted, that the current range of the tiger is only around 5% of its historical range.

    We are eager to list as many places to see the wild tiger as we possibly can. We hope that each subspecies will eventually have plenty of destinations to see them in the wild. There are many people living alongside these animals, and as such tourism can help these peoples to earn a better income, while they protect these incredible animals.

    I should note, that since 2017 there have only been 2 subspecies recognized. That of the continental tigers (Bengal, Amur, Malayan Indochinese, South China and the Caspian) and the so called Sunda tiger (historically from Sumatra Java and Bali, though only surviving in Sumatra). Now, I find it hard to believe that a Bengal tiger would survive in the Amur region of Russia. However, it may well have been found that the differences are not distinct enough to warrant subspecies status. As chance would have it, that would mean that the top line talks about distinct populations of the Continental Tiger, while the bottom line talks about the Sunda tiger populations

    Tiger news in general