While checking trail cameras, members of the monitoring team from the Amur Tiger Centre, the Centre for the Rehabilitation and Reintroduction of Tigers and Other Rare Animals and the Hunting Supervision Service of the Jewish Autonomous Region discovered images of a female tiger called Svetlaya with two cubs.  

The tiger cubs appeared to be about four or five months old; their gender has not yet been determined. Supposedly, their father is Grom, born to Svetlaya and Boris when Svetlaya had her first litter. Last year, Grom forced Boris out of the habitat they used to share.

Experts say that Grom is often caught on video “talking.” The newborn cubs on video also seem to be “talking” to their mother.

“It has become a good tradition for the reintroduced tigers to show off their offspring around New Year. Of course, we can only assume who their father is; however, their arrival is a big event in and of itself. Now the tigress faces the challenging task of preserving and raising her offspring. We believe in her because she has already managed to do this before. We can understand the cubs being angry: they used to be able to just sit by the den and wait for their mother to bring food. Now they have to follow her, enduring the harsh winter weather,” commented Sergei Aramilev, director of the Amur Tiger Centre.

Svetlaya and Boris had their first litter in the winter of 2016–2017 and the second in late 2019. According to Aramilev, once Svetlaya’s cubs reach maturity they will have to move to a different territory – presumably, to the Amur Region.

“The Jewish Autonomous Region is a big part of Amur tigers’ habitat. There is a steady population of more than 20 animals. The tigers that have been returned to the wild under the reintroduction programme have successfully adapted to the environment and female tigers regularly give birth. The tigers are well protected by the Hunting Supervision Service of the Jewish Autonomous Region, which has been confirmed by this gift from Svetlaya ahead of the Year of the Tiger. Svetlaya is rightly considered the founding mother of the tigers’ group in this region,” said Viktor Kuzmenko, director of the Centre for the Rehabilitation and Reintroduction of Tigers and Other Rare Animals.

Thanks to the reintroduction of several animals in the region with the aim of creating a stable group on the borders of the tigers’ historical habitat, the tiger population in the Jewish Autonomous Region has been growing steadily. Observing the Amur tigers through trail cameras is an important aspect of the tiger study. Expedition members not only retrieve data from the already installed devices, replace batteries and memory cards but also install new cameras on their trail.

Monitoring reintroduced animals helps to ensure that they feel at home in their new environment, and to obtain data about their interactions with the other tigers that never encountered humans before. The trail camera network in the Jewish Autonomous Region currently covers all the key areas of the tigers’ habitat, with more cameras added every now and then.