National Geographic: Tigers of the Snow Page #4

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"Where's that? 10?"

"That's right..."

Mission accomplished.

The new collar will provide crucial

data for at least another two years.

Not far from the cold,

forbidding wild,

the success of the venture

is celebrated - Russian style!

It's also Bart Schleyer's birthday.

For American and Russian alike

it's a camaraderie born of years of

shared dangers and shared dreams.

At Victor Yudin's compound winter

has transformed the enclosure.

The Siberian winter seems to

invigorate the captive tigers.

This is truly the season of

the Tigers of the Snow.

As Victor Yudin observes,

Kuchur, the male, continues to

stake out his territory,

spraying the trees with his scent.

In what is called a 'flehmen' the

female tests the air for his scent.

Then it's Kuchur's turn to

detect if his mate is in heat...

And she is.

Niurka, the female,

initiates the coupling.

And so the mating period begins.

"If we succeed in getting young cubs

it would be great,

because then we can develop

the best methods

for returning the young tigers

back into the wild.

We'll try to bring them up

in natural conditions

so they will more easily adapt to

joining the wild tiger population

here in the reserve."

As for a successful mating,

all Dr. Yudin can do

is hope for results.

Victor's wife, Lena, has a special

relationship with the tigers.

She's nurtured them

since they were cubs.

When they must be brought in

at night

because of the dangers of poaching,

only their Babushka

can lure them home.

Over the next few days,

the tigers breed often.

Sometimes dozens of times a day.

At last, the breeding ends,

and Niurka moves into her den.

She should give birth

in about a hundred days.

Springtime in Siberia.

Dr. Hornocker receives word from

Victor Yudin

that Niurka has given birth.

But something's wrong.

Victor's observed that the mother

is not taking care of her cubs.

This is not uncommon when

big cats give birth in captivity.

"Does Victor think

she's fed them at all?"

"Probably not."

"Then we better go in and look, Victor."

They isolate the mother, Niurka,

so they can safely approach the den.

One of the cubs is up and about

but looks hungry and unkempt.

The other cub is barely moving and

Victor is clearly concerned.

"How is he?"

"Yeah, oh yeah, the poor little guy."

Suddenly, the cub stops breathing.

Victor rushes it inside

where he will try to revive it.

It appears the mother has neither

groomed nor nursed her cubs

and this one is near death.

With infinite patience,

Victor massages the heart.

Hoping - against all odds -

to bring the cub back to life.

The mortality rate of Siberian tiger

cubs can be up to thirty percent.

With so few born in the wild,

the survival of captive cub

is critical to the species.

One cub is lost,

but her brother - under Victor's

tender nursing - recuperates quickly.

He's named the cub Globus -

for a world that cares about him,

even if his own mother

hasn't learned to.

Eventually Globus will be brought

to the United States

as part of a captive

breeding program.

When he is, he'll be following

other cubs,

orphaned in Siberia and

sent by Dr. Hornocker

to the snows of Omaha, Nebraska.

They're now part of the world's most

successful breeding program

for large predators.

The tigers are bred here

with the goal of returning the cubs

back to the wild.

But what kind of environment

will await them?

Back in Russia,

Dr. Hornocker strives to educate

Siberia's future caretakers.

"If we're to save these big carnivores

as the world population increases,

we must convince

the younger generation

that it's worthwhile

conserving them.

It's always so rewarding to me

and gratifying to see how

children accept this.

They really love these big animals.

They want to save them.

And if we can convince them

that it's in their best interest then

it's to their advantage and to ours."

Soon, much of this magnificent

forest -

the Siberian tiger's last domain -

may be cut down for a world

hungry for lumber.

But the years of difficult and

dangerous study have given birth

to a plan to save the forest...

by saving the tiger in the wild.

Selecting the tiger as the

umbrella species to be saved

means that the forest surrounding

the reserve must also be protected.

But in a land of political

uncertainty,

there are no guarantees.

Poised on the edge of extinction,

the tiger of the snow evokes

an old Russian proverb:

Hope is the last to die.

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