Until the 20th century the tiger was found in the southern parts of the Altai mountains, where it reached Lake Zaisan and the Black Irtysh.
Velike plenilce predstavljajo snežni leopard (uncia uncia), volk (Canis lupus), ris (Lynx lynx) in rjavi medved (Ursus arctos), v severnih delih tudi rosomah (gulo gulo).