The Amur tiger is the largest and heaviest subspecies of tiger.
To survive winter the tiger has fine but long fur and a layer of fat that allows it to stand the bitter cold. The coat is lighter in colour than other tigers and it has large paws which act rather like snow shoes.

 

SIZE	WEIGHT/HEIGHT
weight of adult male	up to 800 lbs
weight of adult female	up to 500 lbs
length of adult male	up to 10 feet

 

 

Young tigers or cubs are born from 100 to 112 days after parents have mated. Usually tiger cubs are born between February and May after a gestational period of three and a half months. The cubs weigh under three pounds at birth and are striped. The cubs' eyes open in 15 to 16 days. a litter consists of 1 to 4 cubs, occasionally up to 6, but only 2 to 3 will survive. The mother is responsible for defending her cubs, while the father hunts for food. Tiger cubs are weaned at 4 to 6 months, but depend on their mother for food and protection for another 2 years; the new males entering a female tiger's territory may kill her her cubs. Cubs learn how to kill at 16 months, and they are on their own at 2 to 3 years. The white ear spots help the mother tigers and cubs to keep track of each other in dim forests at night. Their lifespan is 10-15 years in the wild.

Unlike some big cats like lions, adult tigers like to live alone (except for mother tigers with cubs). This is partly because in the forest, a single tiger can sneak up and surprise its prey better than a group of tigers can. The size of a tiger's territory depends on the amount of food available. Siberian tigers sometimes have really big territories. Although tigers usually live alone, tiger territories can overlap. A male tiger's territory usually overlaps those of several female tigers. Tigers mark their territories by spraying bushes and trees with a special mixture of urine and scent gland secretions. They also leave scratch marks on trees.

The average litter size of tigers is 2 or 3 cubs (the largest is 5). One usually dies at birth. Tiger cubs are born blind and weigh only about 2 to 3 pounds (1 kg), depending on the subspecies. They live on their mother's milk for 6-8 weeks before the female begins taking them to kills to feed. They begin making their own kills at about 18 months of age. Young tigers leave their mother's range at anywhere from a year and a half to three years of age, depending on whether the mother has another litter. Females tend to stay closer to the mother's range than males.