Wild Siberian tiger footprints found in NE China mountains

BEIJING - The footprints of wild Siberian tigers were found in Northeast China's Greater Khingan Range by a Chinese research team recently, marking the first appearance of the trail of the rare species in the mountainous area in over 50 years.

The reappearance of these tigers was confirmed after discoveries of snow footprints and feces of tigers and following DNA identification tests, said the National Forestry and Grassland Administration Sunday.

The team led by Zhou Shaochun, a zoologist of the wildlife research institute of Heilongjiang Province, found footprints in the snow, suspected to be Siberian tiger tracks, in Beijicun national natural reserve on Dec 29, 2021.

Four feces samples were collected during footprint tracking and later proved to belong to Siberian tigers.

"The discovery comes more than 50 years after the last time the trail of Siberian tigers was found on record in the Greater Khingan Range," Zhang Minghai, an expert on wildlife and habitat protection at the Northeast Forestry University, said.

Along with the Lesser Khingan, the Greater Khingan is one of the most important virgin forest reserves in northeast China.

Although the recent finding does not mean the long-term settlement of Siberian tigers, it still reflects the improvement of wildlife habitats in the region and the restoration of food chains, said Zhang.

Zhang also noted the sound trend of expanding the distribution of such tigers in China.

Siberian tigers, also known as Amur or Manchurian tigers, mainly inhabit eastern Russia, Northeast China, and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, and are on China's first-class protection list.

The species were widely distributed in northeast China at the beginning of the 20th century, with the Greater Khingan Range as one of their prime habitats. However, a survey conducted from 1974 to 1976 showed the tigers had disappeared in the mountainous area due to various reasons.