Boris and Svetlaya were raised together as orphaned cubs and reintroduced to the wild separately. Their love story surprised scientists.
When Russian scientists released a pair of orphaned Amur tiger cubs into the wild in a remote corner of Russia’s far-east in 2014, they were trying to save a species. While the tigers, sometimes called Siberian tigers and the world’s largest big cats, remain endangered, the scientists created something else: an unlikely love story.
that the successful release of rescued cubs like Boris and Svetlaya may, for the first time, become a viable option for restoring wild tigers to their historical range.Estimates of the number of tigers left in Russia range from 485 to 750. But researchers say that the Russia-China border area, including the Pri-Amur area where Boris and Svetlaya live, could support hundreds more of the animals.
Also critical to the success was the timing of the cubs’ release: during spring when prey was plentiful. As the Pri-Amur population grows, the Russian-American team hopes it can join up with other tigers, including across the border in China. “The grand vision is that this whole area would be connected,” said Luke Hunter, executive director of the Big Cats Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society. “There’s lots of habitat that could be recolonised by tigers.”
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