Largest Cats, Siberian Tigers, are Engangered

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Siberian tigers are the largest cats in the world,at an average of 11 feet long. There tail lengths even are an average of 3 feet long. Males are usually around 700 pounds while females are more around 400 pounds. On average, they are the largest species of tiger based on weight and length.They have large feet with 5 toes on their front feet and 4 on their hind. Their claws are long and retractable being up to 3.9 inches in length. They are also some of the most endangered. There is only an estimated 400 to 500 Siberian (or Amur) tigers in the wild today. When it comes to their habitats,siberian tigers are solitary animals, marking their scent on trees to keep other tigers away. Siberian tigers live primarily in eastern Russia's birch forests, though some exist in China and North Korea. The reason that these tigers are endangered is because their homes in the woods, are being destroyed. It doesn’t help that people are hunting these tigers illegally either. Over the last hundred years, these hunters and the forest destruction have reduced overall tiger populations from hundreds of thousands to perhaps 3,000 to 5,000. Most of the siberian tigers that are left are in some sort of captivity, such as zoos or special parks where they are protected, but can still roam and be free. The tigers in the actual wild, can have territories that are 210 - 618 square miles. Male Tigers have territories that are much larger and they will be connected to the smaller territories of several females. The size of a Tiger's territory is dependent on the available resources and the largest territories belong to Siberian Tigers.Tigers defend their territory strongly and will fight any strange tiger that strays within their range. Amazingly a tigers r... ... middle of paper ... ...s, fires, or droughts or human activities. The characteristics of a siberian tiger are quite unique. Their skulls are characterized by their large size. It is similar to the skull of a lion although it is different in the way of how the jaw is shaped. The jaw muscles are attached directly to the top of the skull, on the sagittal crest. The bottom jaw can only move up and down, not from side to side. This ensures that the jaw is as strong as it possibly could be ,which is ideal for its purpose in the tiger’s life such as taking down prey and tearing it apart. In siberian tigers the facial region is very powerful and broad around the canines. The size of skulls of a male siberian tiger ranges around 13 to 15 inches. The size of a females skull ranges from about 11 to 12 inches. A females skull is always smaller than a males and never as heavily built as a males.

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