Status
The latest robust estimate was more than 26 tigers in Northeast China in 2018. Yet the population is rapidly growing. While only a handful of individuals were detected by WCS and partners in China in the late 1990s, Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park (NCTLNP) reported a tiger population size of 70 within the park in 2024 (including some tigers with territories that overlap Russian lands). Beyond these reports, WCS has documented an increase in tiger population density from 2014 to 2023 in Hunchun, the core habitat in the national park.
Ecology
Most scat analyses using data collected before 2017 in Northeast China report that wild boars are the preferred prey. However, sika and roe deer also substantially contribute to their diet. The increase in the sika deer population near the China-Russia border may have ensured the continuous growth of Amur tigers in this region despite the likely decline in wild boar numbers. At the same time, several studies have found spatial correlation between Amur tigers and sika deer.
Region
Amur tigers are found only in the Russian Far East and Northeast China.
Habitat
The mixture of certain forest types—e.g., Tilia, birch, and oak—seems to be the suitable habitat for Amur tigers, while some studies found that they avoid coniferous and mixed hardwood forests. In areas where Sika deer are present in China, the habitat use of tigers increases with the abundance of this prey. Tigers also avoid highways; such infrastructure often blocks their dispersal. However, they appear to prefer moving along forest roads.
Conservation Approach
Our current efforts focus on the removal of snares, a direct impact that is known to reduce prey for Amur tigers and aggravate human-tiger conflict. We also support the use of electric fences by local communities, which has the potential to mitigate conflict between farmers and wild boars—the favorite prey of tigers and the animals that cause the most crop damage.
Threats
Amur tigers in China are known to be threatened by the lack of prey, especially large-bodied prey, as well as habitat fragmentation, disease (e.g., canine distemper virus), and low genetic diversity.