Three Amur tigers – Kuzya, Borya and Ilona – are adapting to their new surroundings after being released into the wild in the Amur Region. The felines hunt roe deer, boars, Manchurian deer, wolves, bears and other game. This will be their first winter in the wild.

Scientists can follow the tigers’ movements through satellite tracking-connected devices on their collars.

Ilona settled in the mountain part of the Khingansky Nature Reserve, while Borya hunts some three kilometres from the Andreyevsky Wildlife Preserve, Valery Pogasiyenko, chief of the local hunting department, told reporters. Kuzya, who swam across the Russian-Chinese border in October, remains on the Chinese side of the Amur so far, but is expected to cross back into Russia after the river freezes completely.

“Chunks of ice are floating down the river, the water is icy. It’s impossible to get to the other side,” Pogasiyenko said.

Later, when the tigers move to new places, a team of zoologists will inspect their former dwellings to explore the “menu” and health condition of the felines.

In May 2014, young tigers were released back into the wild in the Zhelundinsky Nature and Wildlife Reserve. The orphaned cubs had been taken from the forest and placed in the Rehabilitation and Reintroduction Centre for the Amur Tiger and Other Rare Species.