The size of the Amur tiger

(Panthera tigris altaica)

By Raúl A. Valvert L.
Guatemala, 2009

There are many records about the size of the Amur tiger, however very few are reliable. Since
1992, the Siberian Tiger Project had been worked in the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Zapovednik and
had collected a huge quantity of information about the morphology of this subspecies.

The following images are de summary of the scientific studies about the size and weight of the
Amur tiger, commonly know as the Siberian tiger.

Weight:
Sunquist & Sunquist (2002), in the table 63, presents the measurements of historic Amur tigers.

Is important to mention that the body measurements presented in this table were taken over
the curves of the body, so, the real length of the animals could be about 15-20 cm less. The
existence of Amur tigers of more than 300 kg is well documented, and by any means
impossible; however, it most be noted that those specimens were old and very rare.

Slaght et al. (2005), in the table 6.2, presents the calculated average weight of several subspecies
of tiger, however, those from the Amur tiger are based in two different streams: First, the
historic specimens gathered only from well documented records from reliable sources. The
second are the modern records that only used the animals weighed by the Siberian Tiger Project.
This image shows the fragment about the Amur tiger.
There is a difference of about 39 kg between the historic and the modern figures. However, it
most be noted that, in the past, the population of prey base for the Amur tiger has higher and
the poaching level was lower than in these days. However, the prey base of the Amur tiger is
very low in the actuality, compared with others tiger populations. This fragment is from the
official page of the WCS Russia :

Available at: http://www.wcsrussia.org/Species/AmurTigers/Ecology/tabid/1467/Default.aspx

By comparison, the heaviest tiger in the table of Sunquist & Sunquist (2002) was of 325 kg,
while the heaviest reliable record in the historic average weight of Slagth et al. (2005) was of
254 kg. This shows that the tigers in the Amur region, even when they look in good physic
conditions, are suffering of very low prey base, which make that every next hunt must be
harder than in old days.

Body size:
There are many measurements about the Amur tiger in the literature; however there is no
much certain if they were obtained from the fresh animal or from the skin. According with
Mazák (1981), the biggest Amur tiger with reliable measurements was a male hunted in the
basin of the upper course of the Sungari River in Manchuria, in 1943. The total length of the
animal, in the flesh, was of 351 cm. measured “over curves”, so he calculates that this tiger
would be about 330 to 335 cm if measured “between pegs.” This is the official record at this
day. Now, the scientist of the Siberian Tiger Project had captured several animals during they
study. Based in these measurements, Kerley et al. (2005) presents the table 7.3 about the size of
the present adult Amur tiger:
Kerley et al. (2005) reported that the longest male, captured by scientist, measured 309 cm in
total length (tail of 101 cm) and had a chest girth of 127 cm. The longest female measured 270
cm in total length (tail of 88 cm) and had a chest girth of 108 cm. These measurements show
that the present Amur tiger is longer than the Bengal tiger and the African lion.

The measurements were conducted according with the methods described in Nowell &
Jackson (1996). The next image shows the procedure:

Skull size:
The best source about the skull size of the Amur tiger came from the Zoologist Vratislav
Mazák. Heptner and Sludskii (1989) make a compilation of the measurements presented by
Mazák in 1967.
The next image show the original source of the skull from Baikov (1925), described in the
previous images by Heptner and Sludskii (1989). This is one of the largest skulls of any tiger in
record.
References:
Baikov, N. A. 1925. The Manchurian tiger. The Society for the Study of the Manchurian
Region. Kharbin.

Heptner, V. G. y Sludskii, A. A. 1989. Mammals of the Soviet Union. Vol. II, part 2,
Carnivores (Feloidea). Leiden, E. J. Brill. 784 pp. (see Panthera tigris Linnaeus, 1758 (Tiger),
pp. 95-202)

Kerley, L.; Goodrich, J.; Smirnov, E.; Miquelle, D.; Nikolaev, I; Arjanova, T.; Slaght, J.;
Schleyer, B.; Kuigli, H.; Hornoker, M. 2005. Chapter 7. Morphological indicators of the
Amur tiger. 15 pp. In D.G. Miquelle, E.N. Smirnov, and J.M. Goodrich (Eds.). Tigers in
Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik: Ecology and Conservation. PSP, Vladivostok, Russia (in
Russian).

Mazák, V. 1981. Panthera tigris. Mammalian Species 152: 1-8.

Nowell, K. & Jackson, P. (compilers and editors). 1996. Wild Cats: status survey and
conservation action plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
406 pp. (see Tiger, Panthera tigris, pp. 55–65).

Slaght, J. C., D. G. Miquelle, I. G. Nikolaev, J. M. Goodrich, E. N. Smirnov, K. Traylor-

Holzer, S. Christie, T. Arjanova, J. L. D. Smith, and K. U. Karanth. 2005. Chapter 6.
Who‘s king of the beasts? Historical and recent body weights of wild and captive
Amur tigers, with comparisons to other subspecies. 20 pp. In D.G. Miquelle, E.N.
Smirnov, and J.M. Goodrich (Eds.). Tigers in Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik: Ecology and
Conservation. PSP, Vladivostok, Russia (in Russian).

Sunquist, M. & Sunquist F. 2002. Wild cats of the world. University of Chicago Press,
Chicago. 462 pp.