The Siberian Tiger

Fight of a Great Killer to survive in Wild East.

Have you ever imagined a tiger in your head? Maybe some high-powered animal as it wades through thick jungle? And suppose this raw energy were now wrapped in plush fur and prowling some snow-plied wood in a great, cold sky. It is the Siberian tiger or Amur tiger the largest of all big cats, a creature of wild nature which is highly dangerous and extremely powerful, specifically designed to survive in the icy wilderness of the Far East of Russia. These magnificent animals are really the ghosts in the taiga, and their legend is a very strong tale of the most great danger and the most great hope.

Siberian tigers are the rulers of their realm of ice. Their heavy, long coats, their stripes being not as dark as those of the southern relatives, give them perfect cover among the snows and the trees and enable them to melt out of sight as they creep upon their prey. Under this gorgeous fur is a blanket of fat which is necessary to keep the animal warm should the temperature drop to -40 degrees Fahrenheit. They are lone hunters, apex predators, which are at the top of their food chain, and they use them to balance the deer, wild boar, and elk populations. The very fact that these grand animals exist is a sign of a proper functioning forest ecosystem. The whole fine balance of life within such far flung regions would be destroyed without them.

Nevertheless, these tigers have been struggling to survive the decades even with their impressive adaptations and strength. They reached an extremely low population in the middle of the 20 th century, comprising less than 40 individuals in the wild, scattered across an extensive territory. Two insatiable threats that were involved in this dramatic and pitiable fall were poaching and habitat loss.

Poaching was, and still is a savage practice on these animals. Their fur is extremely valuable on the black market and their bones and other organs are also coveted to be used in traditional medicine although it has not been scientifically proved to be effective at all. The illegal trade of wildlife is worth billions of dollars and it has pushed these amazing animals to the most extreme end of extinction such that every surviving tiger is worth gold.

At the same time, their habitat has been dwindling and breaking up at an extremely high rate. The big cuts, the vast extending of infrastructure such as roads and railways and human incursion into once untouched wilderness have all been their toll. Their forest habitats are fading or being subdivided in small distances, making tigers ever more unable to find sufficient prey, to conquer large territories (they need a substantial amount of space, since they are solitary creatures), and to get mates without their getting into a conflict with humans. This division also alienates populations and they become susceptible to diseases and genetic bottlenecks.

The silver lining though is that it is not only a tale of despair that the Siberian tiger has come to tell, but also a tale of incredible conservation success. They have been actively worked on to be saved since the end of the 20th century. Russia has introduced stringent anti-poaching legislations, deployed numerous patrols, and created large reserves, including the Sikhote-Alin Bio-sphere reserve and Land of the Leopard National Park which play a critical role in the survival of these large cats. The international conservation organizations such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and local conservation organizations are trying their best. They employ camera traps to track tigers without disturbing them, collar tigers to trace their movements and learn their needs, rehabilitate injured or orphaned ones and most importantly manage the human-tiger conflict and create a sense of stewardship with the local communities.

These group, selfless efforts have not been futile. The tiger population has improved tremendously since the lowest record to an estimated figure of about 500-600 in the wild. Although this is still a critically endangered comeback is still monumental and represents the power of what can be done when humans take the initiative to preserve the environment. It demonstrates that we can avoid extinction so far as we take a decisive action and cooperate all over the world.

The Siberian tiger is today a symbol of hope. It makes us remember that our actions directly and significantly affect the natural world, and with the help of hard work, scientific studies, and international cooperation, even the most drastic harm to nature can be undone. They are not only the survival of a single species, but also the survival of an important section of the biodiversity of our planet, the health of an entire recycling of the entire ecosystem and the ability of the future generation to be amazed by the sight of such mighty and evasive creatures. The struggle is not finished, but the results are the most significant reason to hope and believe that we will not give up our struggle.