National Geographic: Tigers of the Snow Page #2

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before he's safely on his feet -

but also eager not to be in his way.

Now at a safe distance,

the team receives a signal

from the radio collar.

The tiger is up and about...

and on the prowl again.

In another part of the reserve,

the team is concerned about the

signal from a tigress named Olga.

She was the very first

collared with a radio.

Olga, it appears, has remained in

the same area for a long time,

a sign that she may be dead -

or that she has found a den

and given birth.

Dr. Evgeny Smirnov,

Russian tiger specialist,

determines that Olga is, in fact,

moving about her den site.

The researchers decide

they'll attempt to enter the den

to earmark the cubs.

They'll need to wait until night

when the tigress should be

out hunting.

Hopefully, far from home.

"I asked if he thought, uh, it would be dangerous

or we'd, we'd be in trouble if we went there and he said,

'Of course, it'd be dangerous,

there's only one variation there,

to approach when she's not there,

because it's simply too dangerous

to make an approach

with the, the mother present."'

He said, "Thank God",

we have the telemetry equipment to

check on whether or not Olga is there

and so we know, exactly,

when she's left the den site.

Without that it, it'd simply be a,

a suicide mission to walk in there.'

The fading radio signal indicates

that Olga has left her den.

But if she returns

she would probably attack instantly.

They test flares

they hope would drive Olga off.

Protecting a den is one

of the rare circumstances

when a Siberian will turn man-killer.

Night is the time when tigers

are most alert and aggressive.

Their night vision is far superior

to humans.

The signal from Olga - once faint -

is getting louder.

The team must quickly

be in and out of the den.

"Yeah this is it. This is it, Bart."

"Yeah, yeah, we've got the spot.

"Do you see a cat?"

"Yeah."

Gloves soaked with tiger urine

are worn

so the mother will not detect

their intrusion and reject her cubs.

"Get away."

It's a healthy male.

Two months old, the cub already

weighs about 13 pounds.

"Dale, I'm still getting a signal

and it's really not that weak

right now,

we're probably going to

have to hurry, if you can."

Unlike other cats, tiger kittens

never learn to purr.

An ear tag is inserted

for future identification.

They christen the cub Sasha.

"I'm getting a signal,

we're going to have to hurry,

she's back,

she's come back over the ridge."

Their daring has set a new precedent.

For the first time ever,

scientists have examined and

returned a cub to a den in the wild.

In towns and villages throughout

coastal Siberia,

people have learned to live

with the idea of tigers.

But attacks have happened

and some are afraid.

In the village of Guyvaron,

however, one man is happy to

have tigers in his own backyard.

Maurice Hornocker and Howard Quigley

are working with a Russian biologist

who has two orphaned cubs

in captivity.

"That's a big male tiger."

Victor Yudin has raised the cubs

from infancy.

Victor is the author of a definitive

natural history of the Russian wolf.

But he soon learned that Kuchur, the tiger...

...and Niurka, the tigress,

are different animals indeed.

"To study tigers in captivity

is absolutely necessary,

because many of their biological

traits cannot be learned in the wild.

Comparing the results

of the tiger studies

that were done in captivity

and in the wild

helps us to develop the methods

of how to preserve the tiger

as a species in reserves

like Sikhote-Alin."

The young tigers have

outgrown their cages,

and so, with the support of the

Hornocker Wildlife Institute

an enclosure is built

in the adjacent woods.

Though a far cry from the hundreds

of square miles

a tiger in the wild would roam,

these six acres will provide

the young captives

with the opportunity to run

and hunt

- and hopefully -

even mate and have cubs.

But there are neighbors

in the area.

Victor knows the importance

of keeping them well informed.

Especially now,

when the tigers will soon be turned

loose into the enclosure.

So he brings local school children

to the compound.

"Villagers often come to see

the tigers.

They often ask me:

why keep tigers in this enclosure

since it's so different

from life in the wild?"

"I explain to them

that there are limitations

to what we can and cannot learn

from observing tigers the way we do

in the wild,

by simply following tracks

through the snow.

Afterwards, when people realize

that it's not just for fun,

that it's serious work

they look at me in admiration,

as if I were a superman, I guess."

The day has come

when - for the first time -

the tigers will step into the natural

world they were intended to rule.

No one knows how they will react

to their new enclosure.

For Victor, it's an especially

anxious moment,

for he hopes the enclosure

will be home to these tigers

for the rest of their lives.

The male, Kuchur, steps boldly out.

For the first time...

the light through the trees,

the smell of grass and leaf,

the feel of the soft earth.

Niurka, the female,

is unsure of all this -

and even tries to close the gate.

But soon,

curiosity overcomes caution.

To Yudin's surprise,

Kuchur begins to feel a little frisky

and tries to mate.

But Niurka will have no part of it.

For her, the time has not yet come.

Exhilarated by their freedom,

they soon vanish into

their little private forest.

To feed his feline charges,

Dr. Yudin collects road kill.

Victor feels he knows the mood

of his tigers so well

he can risk entering the enclosure.

In the wild, most attacks

on humans occur

when they invade a tiger's territory

or when cubs are threatened.

Unlike Bengal tigers, Siberians

have never been known to hunt man.

As the tigers settle into

their enclosure,

Dr. Yudin begins his observations

and controlled experiments.

He hopes to learn

which behaviors are innate

and which would need to be taught

to captive tigers

before they could be released

into the wild.

Tigers live in a world of feast

or famine.

Still, Kuchur must wait his turn.

Dr. Yudin notices it's the female

who feeds first.

With the coming of fall,

the first brisk winds blow in

from the Siberian Arctic.

As if designed

for these autumn colors,

the tigers blend with the landscape.

In the wild,

their coloration becomes lighter

as winter approaches,

anticipating snow.

Dr. Yudin confronts one more problem

that makes the study

of tiger behavior so difficult.

The tiger is largely

a creature of the dark.

With their extraordinary

night vision,

Kuchur and Niurka come fully alive

only after sunset.

Recently, they've begun to roam

restlessly in the dark.

Victor wonders if night has

awakened an instinctive urge to hunt.

When he releases a small rabbit

in the enclosure,

he quickly learns the answer.

After several weeks,

the tigers have established

their territory in the enclosure.

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