ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

WINTER ECOLOGY OF THE AMUR TIGER (A.G. Yudakov, I.G. Nicolaev - first edition 1987, second edition 2012)

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INTRODUCTION

Tigers feature in many books. Most of these were written by hunters, who wrote about the hunt on one particular animal. Some books were written by naturalists. These books had a bit of overview, but most writers had zero or very limited personal experience. The number of monographs written by biologists with a lot of experience is very limited.  

In 1969, A.G. Yudakov and I.G. Nikolaev were asked to conduct a survey of the Amur tiger in the Primorski Krai. In the summer of that year, they drove around a significant portion of Primorski Krai on a motorcycle. In the following winter, they selected routes to perform more intensive surveys. These routes became the center of a thorough study of tigers in the following three (...) winters.

The monograph that followed their study was published many years later. The reason is A.G. Yudakov died in a freak accident shortly after the study was concluded. His field notes were in (a kind of) shorthand and the question was who would be able to tranform his notes into an article or book. Nikolaev did what had to be done, but it took a lot of time. When the monograph was finally published in 1987, it didn't reach those unable to read Russian. A great pity, as Miquelle himself (in his foreword), when he went to Russia in 1992, wrote he was " ... startled to realize the breadth and depth of work that had been accumulated by Sovjet ecologists and biologists ... " (pp. 3).

Miquelle spent many days with Igor Nikolaev in the field. He slowly came to learn this man really 'knew' tigers. The reason is he had spent a lot of time tracking tigers:

" ... I learned over time that one of the fundamental differences today between western and Russian ... biologists is that Russians are still willing to earn their data the hard way through long, intensive field investigations. There is still a strong emphasis on natural history studies there, with the belief that knowledge comes with time in the field observing your subject and the environment it inhabits, a concept being lost in the western world of wildlife biology where statistics and models are replacing field-based knowledge ... " (pp. 4).

How much encouragement to read this monograph, only the second on the Amur tiger, do you need?

Anything to add? Yes. This monography was earned the hard way and it oozes through the words and tables all the time. Every word is a result of first-hand experience. The experience of two able and dedicated men who knew everything you would want to know about wild Amur tigers. The English translation is a treat you will not forget. Remember every dime is going to wild Amur tigers and those who study and protect them.

I will add more when I've finished the book. Won't take long. Reply