Amur tigers are sexually dimorphic (with two distinct gender forms). Males are larger than females. Their body is covered with narrow, vertical black, gray, or brown stripes, and they are the only large cats that have a striped coat. The long, thick fur on their neck and back is yellowish in the winter and reddish in the summer. However, a white coloration extends from their belly onto their sides, while their tail is also white and black.

This subspecies of tiger is very rare in Manchuria and Korea. In the past, they have been hunted for sport, as a pest of domestic herds, and out of fear, although Amur tigers have rarely ever eaten humans. Habitat destruction through deforestation, elimination of their natural prey, and the spread of agriculture is an even greater threat to the tigers' future. However, protection in the Ussuri region of Russia appears to have resulted in increased numbers and distribution. Poaching remains a significant threat to Siberian/Amur tigers. Poaching is driven by the possibility of profit from body parts sold to traditional medical markets.

The Amur tiger population was reduced to about 40 individuals in the 1930s. This bottleneck has reduced the overall genetic variability in the current population of ~350. The recovery from this tenuous population size suggest the Amur leopard population could similarly grow.

Some 80% of Amur tiger mortality is caused by humans: habitat encroachment, depletion of prey, or poaching. Areas with road access have higher mortality.

From www.wcsrussia.org: each female tiger requires ~250 to ~450 square km, therefore the largest protected area in tiger range—the Sikota-Alin Reserve—shelters only 10 to 15 tigresses.
 

• Listed as “endangered" on the IUCN Red List (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources).
• CZS Conservation - Species Survival Plan
• WWF
• Planning land use practices are important for long-term conservation of large predators.