Bikin National Park researchers have started collecting data on the Amur tiger population using trail cameras installed in the protected area last winter. According to the preliminary count, the number of big cats in the national park is increasing. It was especially thrilling to retrieve images of tiger cubs that were spotted in Bikin for the first time.

“For the first time, trail cameras in the national park spotted tiger cubs. A female with four cubs were seen on the Razvilistaya River and another female with two cubs on the Klenovka River,” said Vladimir Popov, a senior researcher at Bikin National Park.

One of the cameras also captured a pregnant female tiger that later gave birth to three cubs. Scientists discovered the tiger family near the Taimen River. “The mother, who greeted us with a warning roar, did not let us get a closer look,” Vladimir Popov recalled.

In 2017, the national park received grant-aid from the Russian president, which made it possible to install nearly 60 trail cameras between November 2017 and February 2018. Residents of the traditional Udege village of Krasny Yar also participated in the project. Bikin is Russia’s only national park that supports the traditional lifestyle of indigenous minorities.