National Geographic: Tigers of the Snow Page #3

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He said, "Thank God",

we have the telemetry equipment to

check on whether or not Olga is there

and so we know, exactly,

when she's left the den site.

Without that it, it'd simply be a,

a suicide mission to walk in there.'

The fading radio signal indicates

that Olga has left her den.

But if she returns

she would probably attack instantly.

They test flares

they hope would drive Olga off.

Protecting a den is one

of the rare circumstances

when a Siberian will turn man-killer.

Night is the time when tigers

are most alert and aggressive.

Their night vision is far superior

to humans.

The signal from Olga - once faint -

is getting louder.

The team must quickly

be in and out of the den.

"Yeah this is it. This is it, Bart."

"Yeah, yeah, we've got the spot.

"Do you see a cat?"

"Yeah."

Gloves soaked with tiger urine

are worn

so the mother will not detect

their intrusion and reject her cubs.

"Get away."

It's a healthy male.

Two months old, the cub already

weighs about 13 pounds.

"Dale, I'm still getting a signal

and it's really not that weak

right now,

we're probably going to

have to hurry, if you can."

Unlike other cats, tiger kittens

never learn to purr.

An ear tag is inserted

for future identification.

They christen the cub Sasha.

"I'm getting a signal,

we're going to have to hurry,

she's back,

she's come back over the ridge."

Their daring has set a new precedent.

For the first time ever,

scientists have examined and

returned a cub to a den in the wild.

In towns and villages throughout

coastal Siberia,

people have learned to live

with the idea of tigers.

But attacks have happened

and some are afraid.

In the village of Guyvaron,

however, one man is happy to

have tigers in his own backyard.

Maurice Hornocker and Howard Quigley

are working with a Russian biologist

who has two orphaned cubs

in captivity.

"That's a big male tiger."

Victor Yudin has raised the cubs

from infancy.

Victor is the author of a definitive

natural history of the Russian wolf.

But he soon learned that Kuchur, the tiger...

...and Niurka, the tigress,

are different animals indeed.

"To study tigers in captivity

is absolutely necessary,

because many of their biological

traits cannot be learned in the wild.

Comparing the results

of the tiger studies

that were done in captivity

and in the wild

helps us to develop the methods

of how to preserve the tiger

as a species in reserves

like Sikhote-Alin."

The young tigers have

outgrown their cages,

and so, with the support of the

Hornocker Wildlife Institute

an enclosure is built

in the adjacent woods.

Though a far cry from the hundreds

of square miles

a tiger in the wild would roam,

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