The Amur, or Siberian tiger is the largest of the 5 remaining sub-species of tiger. It has a thick, pale coat - perfect for living in the cold forests of the Russian far-east. It is generally a solitary cat and each individual (or family unit) will have its own territory. Territory size will depend on the availability of food (prey species), water and shelter and may reach up to 100 square miles for an adult Amur tiger. Prey species include antelope, deer and wild boar, but larger prey, such as buffalo may also be taken.

Like all tigers, the Amur tiger is endangered. The dual threats of illegal poaching and habitat destruction have brought this species to the brink of extinction, by the 1930's there were less than 30 of this sub-species left in the wild. By 1996, thanks to fantastic conservation efforts, the tigers had made a spectacular comeback with numbers reaching just under 400, out of these the number of adult reproductively-successful Amur tigers is likely to be less than 250, still a dangerously low number.

Although the population is currently considered to be stable, poaching, human-tiger conflict and prey base depletion continue with the potential to easily alter the hard-won conservation gains for the Amur tiger. The number of Amur tigers in China is estimated at 18-22 and it is not known if any still survive in North Korea.

Amur tigers are hunted for their skins and body parts which are used widely in Oriental medicine. Different parts of tigers can be worth a lot of money, £10,000 for a skin and £1,300 per kg of bones on the black market. The incentives to hunt tigers are huge and poachers may use poison, traps, snares and guns to kill these magnificent animals.

Destruction of tiger habitat is also a major threat to the species. As logging companies move in, sometimes illegally, large areas of forest are removed. Disappearing forests means disappearing prey species for the tigers.