The presentation of The Amur Tiger: The Uncrowned King of the Taiga, a book by Yury Dunishenko and Sergei Aramilev, will take place in Vladivostok in late 2020 or early 2021, the book's publisher, the Amur Tiger Centre, reports.

The authors of the book, who have been Amur tiger conservation activists for years, wanted to introduce a wider audience to this animal, its lifestyle and environmentalists’ efforts to protect its population in the wild. A major part of the book is devoted to portraying the way of life of this uncrowned ruler of the taiga and its relationships with other animals and humans.

The book also describes current tiger conservation programmes in Russia that help ensure that the animal and humans co-exist in peace and harmony in the same territory. The narrative is illustrated with the best images taken by professional photographers and motion-sensor trail cameras as well as sketches by illustrator Diana Makarova.  

“The purpose of this book is to tell people about the unique Amur tiger, paint it with its warts and all, based on objective data. We wanted to share what we know with those who are involved in conservation or sympathise with our efforts. We also wanted to prove to our opponents, who question the relevance of preserving the tiger population, that there is simply no other way. People and time will tell if we succeed,” commented one of the co-authors, Yury Dunishenko.

Sergei Aramilev, general director of the Amur Tiger Centre, noted that the book makes an easy and captivating read while presenting accurate and credible information about Amur tigers and the latest conservation practices focused on the population of this rare predator in Russia.

“Yury Dunishenko is a walking encyclopaedia of unique knowledge. Now that the book has come out, anybody can have access to his stories without attending his lectures about tigers in Khabarovsk or Vladivostok. Despite Yury being an accomplished author, he never wrote a fully fledged book about Amur tigers before. It should be noted that the book does not stop at describing the tigers inhabiting the Khabarovsk Territory, where Yury is based. Readers will also learn about the tigers in the Primorye Territory, the Jewish Autonomous Region and the Amur Region. I was kindly given the opportunity to tell their stories. The main idea behind the book was to show that tigers deserve to live on this planet and that their home, the south of the Far East, is worth visiting at least once – and perhaps it is worth moving there,” Sergei Aramilev said.

The book’s science editor, Mikhail Tiunov (DSc in Biology), the lead research fellow of the mammalogy lab at the Biodiversity Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Far Eastern Branch, noted that the book stands out thanks to a “seamless combination of commonly known and under-reported facts about Amur tigers.”

“Besides the fact that the book is flawlessly written and will be an easy and entertaining read for both adults and children, it contains a great deal of fascinating information about Amur tigers that used to be known mostly to the people studying the tiger and other big cats. This project will by all means contribute to popularising this animal and nature conservation in general, for which I am grateful to the authors,” said Mikhail Tiunov.        

The electronic copy of the book is currently available here