Amur Tiger
Panthera tigris altaicia
Amur tigers, also called Siberian tigers, are the largest of the six subspecies of tigers and are the world’s largest cats. Amur tigers are primarily found in the birch forests of eastern Russia and northern China. They prefer to live in woodlands or overgrown, rocky cliffs and can be found at 4,000 feet in the summer but will move to lower elevations in the winter. Although they appear orange with black stripes to us, this pattern and coloration help them camouflage when hunting their prey. Being carnivores, most of their prey are deer and other hooved animals, which only have two color receptors in their eyes, instead of three. This means that the tiger’s orange fur will appear as a lighter shade of green with black stripes and when hiding in the tall grasses will make them harder to see. Additionally, their striped pattern is like a human’s fingerprint in that no two tigers have the same pattern of stripes.
Click HERE for an Amur Tiger Activity Sheet!
Our Current Residents
Sofi and Jasmine are sisters who were born at a roadside attraction in Florida. When they became too big for the facility and the programs that they were being used for they needed to be rehomed. They were both rehomed to ZooMontana in 2014. To people who don’t know them well, they may appear very similar, but here at the zoo, we have found interesting ways to tell them apart.
Sofi, Female - Born November 12, 2012
Sofi appears to have fewer and lighter stripes than her sister Jasmine. If you look at her face, her stripes look as though they outline a backward number “4”. A cool trick to remember is that Sofi’s name has four letters, and she is the tiger with the four on her cheek.
Jasmine, Female - Born November 12, 2012
Jasmine appears to have more, or darker stripes compared to her sister Sofi. Similarly, if you look at her face, her stripes look as though they outline the number “7”. Just like Sofi, there are seven letters in Jasmine’s name just like the number found on her cheek.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Carnivora
- Family: Felidae
- Genus: Panthera
- Species: Panthera tigris
- Subspecies: Panthera tigris altaicia
Animal Facts
Carnivore: mainly eat elk, red deer, boar and fish
Population Status: currently listed as Endangered
Habitat: woodlands, overgrown, rocky cliffs, but may move to lower elevation in the winter
Activity: nocturnal- mostly active during the night (but can be up during the day)
