Journey of the Heart: A Siberian Tiger’s 200 km Quest for Love

Felines are impressive animals. Cats are capable of traveling thousands of kilometers to find their home. This year, a cat who escaped from a campsite in the United States traveled more than 1,400 km to return home.

Tiger Boris and five other orphans rescued in Russia

Before talking about this extraordinary journey, we must go back to the very beginning of the lives of these two Siberian tigers. Orphaned, they were found babies with 4 other tiger cubs in the forests of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in Russia.

This area is known as “the last stronghold of tigers in Russia”. Researchers therefore decided to raise these orphans with the aim of reintroducing them into the wild.

The six tigers were therefore part of a project to re-introduce Siberian tigers into Pri-Amur. It is a region close to the Russian-Chinese border. The tiger population in this area has been almost completely absent for more than 50 years.

A tiger raised in semi-captivity and isolated from humans can be released into the wild

Thus, the tigers were bred in semi-captivity. This means that their enclosure was designed to minimize human contact as much as possible. As soon as the babies were old enough, they were introduced to live prey.

This allowed them to develop their hunting skills. The researchers needed to verify that the tigers were capable of killing enough prey to survive on their own in the wild.

Their learning went very well. The tigers were therefore equipped with GPS collars before being released into the wild. They were not all released in the same place, but rather at different points to cover the entire region.

The tiger Boris walked 200 km to find his soul mate with whom he was raised

The researchers were therefore far from expecting that the tigers would find each other. A male named Boris was more determined than the others. In three years, Boris walked more than 200 km to find a female named Svetlaya.

In just a few months, the tiger couple has already welcomed their first litter. This is proof that tigers raised in semi-captivity can be released into the wild if properly prepared.

As Dale Miquelle, lead author of the study, explains, “The data showed that orphaned tigers, raised in captivity and released, were just as good as wild tigers at hunting, targeting the same types of prey.” wild and very rarely killing livestock.

There are only 4,500 tigers left in the world, hence the urgency to reintroduce them

Of course, care must be taken in how orphaned tigers are raised. It is essential to properly isolate them from humans to give them the best chance. “This process requires a lot of caution and attention to detail when preparing little ones for this journey,” adds Dale Miquelle.

Even if this reintroduction project gives hope, we must not forget that the Siberian tiger is critically endangered. According to experts, there are currently fewer than 4,500 tigers left in the world. They are dispersed in only 8% of their historic range.

In any case, the project to reintroduce the Siberian tiger to Russia is a success. Tigers raised in semi-captivity manage to survive. They are making their species thrive in an area where it was almost absent for more than 50 years.

More than 700,000 square km in Asia could support reintroduced tigers

Tigers have suffered greatly from habitat loss, but there is still space to reintroduce the big cats. In Asia, for example, experts estimate that there are potentially more than 700,000 square kilometers of open habitat that could be suitable for them.

This study published in the Journal of Wildlife Management therefore demonstrates that it is possible to reintroduce tigers in regions where they have practically disappeared, such as in Asia.

Dr. Luke Hunter, executive director of the WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) Big Cats Program, confirms that the study “opens the door for other attempts at reintroduction, not only of tigers, but of other big cats as well.”

Source: IFLScience