On 24 November, Moscow’s State Darwin Museum hosted the opening of the exhibition, Russian Nature Reserves: 100 Years of History, with the participation of the Amur Tiger Centre and the autonomous non-profit organisation Far Eastern Leopards. The event will mark the upcoming Year of the Environment and the Year of Specially Protected Areas.

The exhibition will feature over 150 specially protected areas in Russia – nature reserves and national parks – that play a key role in the conservation of rare animals, the main characters of the exhibition.

The main exhibit consists of photos by famous wildlife photographers Igor Shpilenok, Denis Kochetkov, Konstantin Mikhailov and Yury Shibnev. Visitors will also be able to see unique photos and videos taken by trail cameras in nature reserves, and learn about environmental organisations using themed stands. The Amur Tiger Centre presented photos from an expedition to Bikin National Park, established at the end of 2015.

Young visitors will be able to enjoy an educational programme and games, for instance, the Tiger Trail board game to learn about the striped predators and the dangers the big cats can face in the wild.

Vitaly Kontorshchikov, senior research fellow at the museum’s environment department and the organiser of the exhibition, said that the exhibition will be mobile. In the Darwin Museum, it will run through 4 February 2017.