The Amur tiger in the USSR

It is evident that the analysis of the factors determining the distribution of the species, and the evaluation of conservation perspectives, must be based upon correct understanding of the limits of the areas permanently inhabited by the animals. [...] Later Arsenjev, whose data are tabulated by S. I. Ognev (1935) considered the middle stream of the Gur r ive r t lowing' somewhat to the south of the Gorin r iver to be the north-eastern boundary of the distr ibution of the tiger on the right bank of the Amur river. [...] The existence in the past of settled groupings of aninals in the north-western part of Mati Hingan in China (49'-5I'N) is doubtful because conifer/broad-leaved forests inhabited by the Amur tigers are concentrated in the south-east of the mountain mass, near the valley of the Sungari river. [...] The rapid growth of the population and the economic development of Èhe area in the second half of the Iast century stimulated the tiger hunt. [...] Data on the frequency of tiger tracks since I96I-62 have been recorded every year by the staff of the Sikhote-Alin and Lazovski reserves and are presenÈed in Table I. The number of observaÈions per year depends not only on the number of animals but also on the nurnber of human visits to the reserves, the durability of the snow cover etc.