At one time the Amur tiger lived in large areas of eastern China, Manchuria and parts of Siberia – hence its former and more familiar name: Siberian tiger. Tigers are solitary animals, seeking each other out only to mate. This requires them to overcome their natural aversion to company and involves a lot of noisy communicating with growls and snarls. The world tiger population continues to decline, and everywhere the threats they face are the same: poaching, trade in tiger parts for traditional Asian medicine, modern forestry and scarcity of prey