Fact of life

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John Vaillant's The Tiger is part natural history, part Russian history and part thriller; it tells a gripping and gory story of what it's like to stalk — and be stalked by — the largest species of cat still walking the Earth.

The most bio-diverse region in all of Russia lies on a chunk of land sandwiched between China and the Pacific Ocean. There, in Russia's Far East, subarctic animals — such as caribou and wolves — mingle with tigers and other species of the subtropics. It was very nearly a perfect habitat for the tigers — until humans showed up.

The tiger facts that populate this region are commonly referred to as Siberian tigers, but they are more accurately known as the Amur tiger. "Imagine a creature that has the agility and appetite of the cat and the mass of an industrial refrigerator," Vaillant tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer. "The Amur tiger can weigh over 500 pounds and can be more than 10 feet long nose to tail."

These majestic tigers can jump as far as 25 feet — vertically, they can jump over a basketball hoop. Vaillant cites a famous tiger biologist who, when asked how high a tiger can jump, responded: "As high as it needs to."

At the center of the story is Vladimir Markov, a poacher who met a grisly end in the winter of 1997 after he shot and wounded a tiger, and then stole part of the tiger's kill.

The injured tiger hunted Markov down in a way that appears to be chillingly premeditated. The tiger staked out Markov's cabin, systematically destroyed anything that had Markov's scent on it, and then waited by the front door for Markov to come home.

Author John Vaillant compares the size of his hand with the size of female tiger's paw print.John Vaillant

"This wasn't an impulsive response," Vaillant says. "The tiger was able to hold this idea over a period of time." The animal waited for 12 to 48 hours before attacking.

When Markov finally appeared, the tiger killed him, dragged him into the bush and ate him. "The eating may have been secondary," Vaillant explains. "I think he killed him because he had a bone to pick." That is fact of life

The other central character in The Tiger is Yuri Trush, the head of the local squad of an anti-poaching unit known as Inspection Tiger, an organization created by the Russian government to combat the black-market trafficking of tigers and tiger parts.

Trush was "a guy well-suited to work in tiger country," Vaillant says. Physically imposing and a skilled fighter, Trush was a larger-than-life figure, and a "real warrior."

For most of his time with Inspection Tiger, Trush's job involved setting up sting operations and catching poachers. But Markov's death — which is followed later by the death of a second man — meant that Trush ended up having to hunt the same animal he had worked to protect.

Trush needed to anticipate what the tiger's next move would be, and then get there before the tiger did, Vaillant explains. "Trush was charged not just with protecting tigers, but now with saving human lives."

Cossacks pose with a tiger they hunted in Russia's Far East, circa 1885.Courtesy of Vladimir Trofimov

Vaillant's retelling is a life-and-death, moment-by-moment chase — and at times, it can be hard to remember whether you're rooting for the tiger or the humans.

"The animal facts is tiger just trying to be a tiger," Vaillant says.

"What's so fascinating to me about that region is that there are human beings and tigers hunting for the same prey in the same territory — and they don't have conflicts." But if you make the mistake of attacking a tiger, you will regret it, he says.

Markov certainly learned that the hard way. Vaillant says the tiger's response was "logical" and "understandable," but in the case of the revenge it exacted on Markov, it was anything but typical. In writing the book, Vaillant interviewed people of all ages from families who had lived in the Russian Far East for generations.

"In living memory, there was no record of an incident like this, of a tiger hunting a human being," he says. "This was a highly unusual circumstance, completely driven by human behavior. If the tiger hadn't been shot, there would be no story."

The South China Tiger features a very vibrant color of orange with black stripes on it. There are also areas of white on the face and on the belly that runs to the insides of the legs as well. This is classified as one of the smallest species of tigers out there. It is also one that is believed to be most threatened by the possibility of extinction. In fact if there aren’t significant changes it will likely be extinct within the next 10 years or less.

In order to help with the population concerns, many of the South China Tigers are being moved to other areas of captivity. So far such efforts have been successful with many cubs born in the last five years that are thriving. However, this animal is now on the top 10 list of endangered animals so that tells you just how much hard work is ahead if they are going to make it.

The smaller size of the South China Tiger has to do with the fact that there are smaller forms of prey for it to consume. A full grown male is approximately 8 feet long and will weight about 330-390 pounds. The females are much smaller at about 7.5 feet long and about 250 pounds. The stripes of this particular tiger are spaced further apart than those of any other species.

South China Tiger / Photo taken by J. Patrick Fischer

A great deal of their diet is made up of livestock and wild pigs. This has created issues for them as they are often hunted by those that make a living raising these types of animals. The South China Tiger is very diligent when it comes to stalking their prey. They may wait for hours before they take the opportunity to pounce in it. They want to make sure they have a very good chance of taking down what they want to eat.

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They are also known to attack humans due to the large number of them in their natural habitat. In fact, the South China Tiger has been labeled as a man eater by many in our society. A big part of this problem is that the forests where they naturally live continue to be destroyed for other things to be put in their place. This has put these tigers and man in too close of quarters for them.

The number of them began to dwindle in the early 1950’s due to people viewing the tigers as pest. They were killed for their pelts as well as for the bones to use to make medicine in China. Even though such hunting on these tigers was banned in China in 1977 the drastic drop in their numbers by then was already a huge threat to their survival.

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Tiger was chosen as the National animal of India due to its grace, strength, agility and enormous power. As the tiger is also considered as the king of Jungle, it was an obvious choice for the National Animal category. Since time immemorial, the tiger has been considered as a Royal Animal. Often, The Tiger as the National Animal of India symbolizes the power, strength, elegance, alertness, intelligence and endurance of the nation.

The IUCN Global Species Program states that the scientific name of the tiger is panthera tigris. The tiger was founded and scientifically categorized by the species authority Linnaeus in 1758. The tiger is listed as an endangered species because its population has decreased by 50 percent over the last three generations. Project Tiger, a program launched in 1973, has set aside 23 land reserves equaling a total of 33,406 square kilometers for tigers.

The tiger is the symbol of India's wealth of wildlife. The magnificent tiger, Panthera tigris, is a striped animal.The tiger is the symbol of India's wealth of wildlife. The magnificent tiger, Panthera tigris (Linnaeus), is a striped animal. It has a thick yellow coat of fur with dark stripes. The combination of grace, strength, agility and enormous power has earned the tiger its pride of place as the national animal of India. Out of eight races of the species known, the Indian race, the Royal Bengal Tiger, is found throughout the country except in the north-western region and also in the neighbouring countries, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

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