Two Siberian Tigers (also known as Amur Tigers), Boris and Svetlaya, were astonishingly reunited despite vast distances separating the two. The pair was raised together and released separately into the wild in Russia, but hundreds of miles could not keep them apart.
When scientists released the orphaned cubs 120 miles apart into the far reaches of the forest in the far east of Russia, they never expected Boris and Svetlaya to find each other again. The Siberian Tigers fought against all odds to find each other again and reunite, and they eventually had a litter of cubs together. Their release and wild “love story” are part of a potentially revolutionary conservation effort for the endangered species.
The Siberian Tiger pair
Boris and Svetlaya were rescued at around three to five months old in the Sikhote-Alin mountains. This is the natural habitat of the tiger species, which is the largest wild cat on Earth.
The two were raised in captivity until they were 18 months old and ready to be sent out into the forest. Boris and Svetlaya were released far from each other because of the conservation team’s goal of evenly distributing the recovering species throughout the Pri-Amur region along the Russia-China border.
The scientists tracked the pair, and, after over a year, something remarkable happened. Boris walked over 120 miles in a straight line to where Svetlaya had settled in the forest. Six months later, Svetlaya gave birth to their litter, which along with another set of Siberian Tiger cubs, were among the first known ones to be born in the Pri-Amur region since the 1970s.
Cinderella and her prince markers of success
Another of these endangered tigers, Zalushka, Russian for Cinderella, found a wild mate shortly after her release. She was found in the wild a few years prior to when Boris and Svetlaya were discovered. When she was released, an unknown male Siberian Tiger showed up on a camera trap in the vicinity of where Zalushka had been set free. The pair ended up having the first litter in the Pri-Amur region in fifty years.
The encounter baffled scientists, as such a chance encounter was an extremely unlikely scenario in the expansive Russian forest.
“Cinderella’s prince showed up and they lived happily ever after,” said Dale Miquelle, lead tiger scientist for the Wildlife Conservation Society and an author of the study.
The offspring of Zalushka, Boris, and Svetlaya are proof that raising tiger cubs in captivity and releasing them into the region along the Russia-China border can be an effective method in the conservation and rehabilitation of this endangered species. Scientists have raised thirteen orphaned cubs so far, introducing them to live prey while in captivity to help prepare them for a life in the wilderness.
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