Tiger Terrace

As you continue down the pathway of Tiger Terrace past the Cougars, you’ll reach the Amur Tiger exhibit! In the middle of the exhibit there is enclosed glass viewing section that is in the shape of a diamond. This window gives you an angled view into the exhibit. This enclosure has netting fully encasing the entire exhibit. On the far left and right sides there are large rock walls designed to look like mountains, with many ledges built into them for climbing. There is also a large rock wall in the middle of the exhibit creating 2 distinct sections of the exhibit. On the left side of the central wall, there is a large pool and a rock slab platform built into the far wall. There is also a cable strung across the left section holding up a large plastic ball on a covered chain, similar to one you would find hanging on a cat tree at someone’s home. There are also logs strewn about in the enclosure with large shrubs and trees lining the netting on the back half of the left side of the enclosure.

As you approach this exhibit you may hear the sounds of sticks crunching or dirt shifting as the tigers walk around exploring their exhibit. You might also here the clunk of a plastic barrel or ball as the tigers play with the hanging enrichment items or other plastic enrichment toys their keeper put out for them today. As the tigers walk around you might hear them do a low growl as they walk around. Tigers can roar, but ours very rarely do it. Tigers roar mainly to mark their territory, communicate with other tigers that are far way, or to scare off intruders that are in their territory.

Amur Tigers are the largest of the big cats! They are around 7 to 10 feet long and are around 4ft tall to the shoulder. They have a large body, a large tail, a large head with large yellow eyes, medium sized black colored ears, and a large snout. Their fur color is mainly orange, with their bellies having a white color, with white also appearing on their tails and faces around their eyes and cheeks. Across the whole body are the characteristic black stripes. The stripes on a tiger serve a purpose besides looking very striking. The contrast of light and dark colored stripes helps break up the silhouette of a tiger allowing it to blend in with vegetation and low light areas. Tigers rely more on stealth for hunting over speed. Tiger stripes are also unique to each tiger! They are very similar to how your finger prints are different from someone else’s!

Tigers can also be found in far eastern Russia outside of the Amur province, into portions of Northeast China and into northern portions of North Korea. Within that range, their habitat is mountainous forests which allows them to utilize their stripes for their “stalk and ambush” style of hunting. The things they are going to hunt are large prey animals like deer, wild pigs, and tapir which are animals similar in size and shape to a wild boar. In more densely human populated areas they have been known to hunt domestic animals like livestock, similar to wolves here in the United States.

Tigers are critically endangered within their range. The main threat they are facing is the loss of suitable habitat for them. Laws within their range are becoming stricter on poaching and the creation of protected lands. Amur Tigers are also a species that have a Species Survival Plan, or SSP, through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, or the AZA. The SSP is a joint effort of member zoos to increase populations, but also help with preserving habitats, conducting research on the species, providing educational programs to the public, and helping with field conservation efforts in their native range. The Toledo Zoo is a proud AZA accredited organization that assists with SSP efforts with Tigers, as well as species that are on SSP programs.

Thank you for visiting the Tiger Exhibit at Tiger Terrace! We hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about not only Tigers, but conservation efforts the Toledo Zoo participates in with endangered species like Amur Tigers! Please enjoy the rest of your visit here at the Toledo Zoo!