The Amur tiger is the largest member of a subspecies of tigers. It can be as long as two metres. The adult tiger usually weighs up to 300 kilogrammes

The tiger’s coat is beautifully coloured: it has dark horizontal stripes against an orange-brown background on its back and both sides. It is commonly believed that the striped pattern is unique for each tiger

The tiger is a top carnivore in the food chain living in a unique ecosystem, the Ussuri taiga. The condition of tiger populations is an indicator of the state of the environment in the entire Far East

The tigers greet one another with special sounds that they make by vigorously exhaling air through the nose and mouth

Friendly behavior for the tigers may also be marked by the animals touching their heads or faces or rubbing their sides

Tigers are polygamous: one male tiger can have one to three females living with it on its territory. The appearance of a rival on its territory may end in fighting

The tiger is a solitary territorial predator, which is typical for the majority of big cats. The adult tiger usually stays within a particular range of land which it guards from intruders

The Amur tiger is a predator who feeds exclusively on animals, primarily larger prey

The tiger is a quiet animal. Some zoologists who have studied the animal for many years have not heard the tiger roar even once

When contended, the tiger purrs like an ordinary house cat

If the tiger is irritated, it growls hoarsely; when it is angry, it makes a characteristic “cough”

Tigers spend most of the time hunting as only one in ten attempts to catch prey is successful

Amur tigers not only hunt but also catch fish: they catch fish in the shallow waters of highland rivers during spawning season

The tiger can eat up to 30 kilogrammes of food in one sitting and its daily ration is nine to ten kilogrammes of meat

The tiger marks its territory in a special way. It usually does this with scent marks: the tiger splashes urine on trees or rocks. Sometimes it scratches the ground in places that it has marked

When food is plentiful, tigers quickly get fat, with their hypodermic fat often growing five or six centimetres thick. Because of this, tigers can easily go without food for a week and even more between successful hunts

The tiger scratches bark on trees with the claws of its front paws: such scratches can be found two to two and a half metres above the ground and are indicative of the size of the animal that has left them

The Amur tiger is one of the rarest species of predators in the world. It has been put on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species