Big Five Asien - Der Amurtiger

Tigers are the mightiest and at the same time the most adaptable of all wild cats. They inhabit rain forests, mangrove swamps and savannahs and can be found in high mountains as well as at the edge of deserts or in the deep snow of the Taiga. Tigers used to be the most widespread of all the large cats. They once occurred from the Caucasian Mountains at the Eastern edge of Europe, Iran and the Tugai forests of Central Asia, throughout the Indian sub-continent and deep into the Russian far East, into Indochina and down into the Malayan Archipelago.
Today, the picture is very different. From an original estimated population of 100,000 tigers, a mere 3,000 (3%) remain. Former ‘tiger countries’ such as Iran, Turkey, Iraq, North and South Korea, China, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan have removed this large stripy cat from their species lists a long time ago. It appears that tigers are inevitably heading towards extinction. Out of the 9 sub-species, 3 are already lost forever. Another – the South China tiger - has not been seen for many years. For the remaining 5 – Bengal, Sumatran, Indochinese, Malayan and Armur tiger – the situation is getting bleaker and bleaker. Many conservation measures are ineffective and can clash with the realities of the modern world. The tigers in Russia’s Far East are a prime example for the problems and setbacks that the struggle for their survival encounters. In the deep frozen Taiga on the shores of the Japanese Sea, a ‘BIG 5 Team’ went in search of the last ‘snow tigers’. They were trying to find answers to the question: ‘Will there still be wild tigers on earth in 20 years time?’ (http://www.altayfilm.com/en/Tiger/)