The threatened Amur tiger - the world's biggest* - has staged a bit of a comeback in its native Siberia, with the population "finally stabilised", according to the WWF.

The Amur population, which by the 1940s was represented by just 40-odd individuals in the Russian wilds, is now estimated at 480 to 520, The Telegraph reports. There are also small populations in China and North Korea, bringing the world total to 600.

Poaching and habitat loss almost did for the Amur tiger, aka the Siberian tiger, but wildlife experts last year "celebrated the first birth of Amur tiger cubs in the wilds of southeast Siberia for over a century" - a fact confirmed by "paw prints in the snowy forests of the Amur region".®

Bootnote

*An adult male Amur tiger can weigh in at 800lb and reach 10ft in length.

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