Perhaps for many people in China, tigers are still too far away from our lives. But for people living in tiger-prone areas in the Northeast, encountering Siberian tigers is not a rare thing. Especially in recent years, as the ecology has gradually improved, people have witnessed tigers many times just on the roadside. .
As the top predator in the ecosystem, the Siberian tiger is extremely dangerous to both humans and livestock. In life, it is not new for the Siberian tiger to go down the mountain to prey on livestock. Recently, an incident involving a Siberian tiger preying on a cattle occurred in the Dailin Forest Area of Heilongjiang Province.
Benefit Due to the effectiveness of ecological construction and animal protection work, the habitat of wild animals has been greatly improved. Wild Siberian tigers are also often found in the mountainous areas around the Erlang River in the Dahailin Forest Area.
A large ox weighing more than 400 kilograms owned by villager Zhang was lost a few days ago. After many searches, some remains were finally found in a forest near his home, and many suspected remains were left at the scene. Tiger tracks. After Zhang called the police, the staff measured the footprints, strides, etc., and it was highly suspected that they were left by a wild Siberian tiger.
Various signs indicate that his cattle must have been killed by a tiger, dragged into the forest and eaten, and basically eaten them all, with not many remains left.
Siberian tigers have come down from the mountains to prey on livestock. This has always happened. Compared with wild ungulates, livestock that have been domesticated by humans have low vigilance and lack of wildness, making it easier to hunt. Moreover, after years of publicity and education, the awareness of animal protection has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. After tigers prey on livestock, people no longer hunt them in retaliation.
As a A large predator, the Siberian tiger's prey preferences are also large ungulates. A three-nation research team in the Sikhote MountainsA survey in the Maimai area found that the main wild prey of Siberian tigers are red deer, wild boar, roe deer, etc. Cattle are large livestock and happen to be within the prey range of the Siberian tiger.
The impact of human activities on wild animals is also huge, which was very obvious in the original Asiatic lion. When Gir Forest National Park was first established, human activities were not prohibited inside it. The indigenous Malhari people live in the Gir Forest Reserve and have led a herding life for generations.
A large number of livestock has a great impact on wild animals. It not only crowds out the living space of wild ungulates, but also affects the diet composition of Asiatic lions. Research has found that Asiatic lions often preyed on livestock at that time, and livestock as a food source even accounted for 75% of the diet of Asiatic lions. This figure dropped to 25% after the Malhari people moved out of the reserve in 1972.
The edges of my country’s wild Siberian tigers’ activity areas intersect with some areas where humans live. Livestock are naturally easy prey for tigers. The scary thing is that this kind of survival experience will still be passed on to the Siberian tiger population until the end of the generation.
The Siberian tiger There are many related sightings, which gives people the feeling that there are a lot of them. Is this really the case? Obviously not. According to the data given by the Forestry and Grassland Administration on the "12th World Tiger Day" on July 29, 2022, the number of wild Siberian tigers in our country is only 60, which is even a fraction of the number of wild Siberian tigers in Russia. No, the visible quantity is very rare.
Although the number of Siberian tigers in my country has been rising, it is growing very slowly due to the low base.
Tiger is a highly mobile and exploratory cat, and it is not uncommon to see them in areas where human activities intersect with tiger ranges.
In a tiger’s daily life, a very important job is to patrol its territory. When prey is plentiful, they may be less likely to touch the edge of their territory; when prey is scarce, Siberian tigers will increase their activity range, and the edges of their territory are also where they often appear.
In addition, some male tigers that have recently matured are not physically strong enough, so they dare not set foot in the core mountain forests where adult male tigers are located. At this time, they often wander around the edge of the forest and actively explore. The new territory slowly becomes stronger while wandering.
For this kind of oldFor tigers, there is a lack of wild prey at the edge of the forest, and livestock raised by humans often venture into it, so predation will naturally occur.
More than 400 kilograms of big yellow cattle were eaten until only a few carcasses were left. Many people said: They knew tigers were scary, but they didn’t expect them to be so scary! Of course, a big ox weighing 400 pounds was definitely not eaten by a Siberian tiger in one meal, but continued for a period of time. This can be seen from the large and messy footprints.
In fact, many predators have the habit of hiding food. For example, leopards often drag prey into trees. If they have not finished eating, they will save it for next time.
In the Siberian tiger's habitat, there is less pressure from scavengers, so they often hide food boldly and safely. Prey that has not been eaten will simply be hidden and left for the next meal.
How strong is the Siberian tiger? First of all, in terms of size, it is the largest type of tiger among modern tigers. There are many large individuals exceeding 200 kilograms in adulthood. For example, the sub-adult male Siberian tiger that broke into Linhu Village, Mishan City, Heilongjiang in April 2021 weighs It reached an astonishing 225 kilograms, which was about the same as the big ox that was eaten.
In addition, for a predator, the most important aspect is the teeth. The Siberian tiger's canine teeth are huge and the bite is extremely powerful, which can cause great damage to prey. In the chapter on the giant teeth of the documentary "Natural Legends", scientists once measured the bite force of a lion, which was really shocking.
According to data from a paper published in "Life Sciences" by zoologist Stephen Rowe of the University of Sydney, the bite force quotient of a lion is 112 and that of a tiger is 127. The comparison shows that under the same conditions, The tiger's teeth are more lethal.
Amur tigers are currently the most important wild tiger species in my country. They mainly live in the two provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin. Their numbers are not large. However, as the ecology gradually improves, humans have encountered them in the wild. The frequency has also increased.
What needs to be remembered is that although Siberian tigers do not directly attack humans in many cases, they are ultimately a very ferocious beast, strong and very dangerous.