The gap in the number of Northeast tigers between China and Russia is dramatic: Russia has 700, while China's count is surprisingly low!

The number of Siberian tigers in Russia has stabilized at around 750, while the number of wild Siberian tigers in China remains at 70. This comparison highlights the significant differences in the population recovery paths of the two countries.

As a transboundary species, the Siberian tiger originally roamed across the Sino-Russian border area. Both sides established a joint protected area called “Home of Big Cats” through a cross-border protection agreement signed in 2024, covering nearly 17,000 square kilometers. This cooperation allows tiger populations to cross borders freely for genetic exchange but also emphasizes the disparity in population sizes between the two countries.

A century and a half ago, after the Qing government signed a treaty with Russia in 1858, a large area of northeastern land was ceded to Russian control. Since then, the Siberian tiger has become a shared species between the two countries, with Russians referring to it as the Amur tiger. By the end of the 19th century, there were about 800 in Russia, while the northeastern region of China had close to 2,000. The original forest areas of Changbai Mountain and the Greater Khingan Range provided ample wild boar and deer prey, with almost no large natural enemies interfering.

In the early 20th century, development activities in Russia’s Far East accelerated, and large-scale hunting once resulted in annual losses of around 150 tigers. By around 1935, Soviet investigation teams found that the wild population had dropped to below 30, forcing many individuals to migrate into China. At this point, the Soviet Union quickly listed the Siberian tiger as a key national protected species, implementing strict hunting bans and anti-poaching measures, which allowed the population to slowly rise from its low point.

On the Chinese side, the situation changed as a large number of people migrated to the northeast to cultivate land in the early 20th century, gradually occupying the tiger’s habitat with farmland and settlements.

Conflicts arose between the top predator, the Siberian tiger, and human activities. By 1957, the population had declined from the original two thousand to about 200. In the following decades, China was in the early stages of national construction, and conservation efforts started relatively late, only gradually advancing after 1972 when it was listed in the international endangered species catalog and formally designated as a protected animal in 1976.

When a Sino-foreign joint investigation team entered northeastern China in 1999, the on-site data showed fewer than 16 individuals, a result that directly accelerated the implementation of subsequent conservation policies in China.

Since then, China has begun to establish a system of nature reserves, solidify patrol responsibilities, enhance public awareness, and implement targeted interventions for the Siberian tiger. When the pilot project for the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park was launched in 2015, there were only about 27 wild Siberian tigers within the park. In 2017, it officially integrated 19 existing protected areas in Jilin and Heilongjiang, covering a total area of over 14,000 square kilometers.

During the construction of the park, management departments recruited thousands of ecological caretakers, deployed infrared cameras, drones, and satellite remote sensing technology, and built a comprehensive monitoring system to track tiger movements in real-time. The recovery of prey populations became a key factor, with measures such as closing certain mining rights, restoring ecological corridors, and compensating for human-tiger conflict losses leading to a more than doubling of major food sources like wild boar, sika deer, and roe deer compared to the pilot’s early stage, directly supporting tiger reproduction.

In 2023, the park recorded over 20 new cubs, with breeding families exceeding 8, and the cub survival rate increased from 33% in 2015 to nearly 50%.

Currently, the number of wild Siberian tigers living stably in the park has reached 70, with their range expanding to 11,000 square kilometers, accounting for nearly 80% of the park’s total area, and there are even images showing tiger groups moving deep into the Changbai Mountain area.

At the same time, Russia has continued to optimize its conservation strategies, maintaining a new target of at least 700 tigers, focusing on law enforcement in multi-purpose forest areas, and reducing road traffic interference with tiger groups. A nationwide census conducted from 2021 to 2022 showed a population of 751 to 787, including over 200 cubs, with the latest announcement in 2025 confirming more than 750.

The gap in population numbers between the two countries mainly stems from differences in the timing of conservation efforts, habitat size, and population density. Russia’s conservation actions began in the 1930s, relying on contiguous protected areas like the Sikhote-Alin, covering tens of thousands of square kilometers and characterized by low population density, allowing the population to steadily grow in a relatively closed environment.

In China, early development led to habitat fragmentation, and recovery efforts concentrated along the border area. However, rapid rebound was achieved through intensive habitat restoration and technological monitoring. In terms of approach, Russia emphasizes preventive large-scale protection, while China focuses on precise interventions and ecological corridor connectivity, creating complementary models in cross-border cooperation.

After the signing of the Sino-Russian cross-border protected area agreement in 2024, both sides jointly conducted border tiger population surveys, standardized monitoring methods, and shared data, resulting in a significant increase in tiger sightings, with over 3,000 records in one year.

In the park, a female tiger gave birth to two litters totaling 5 cubs within two years, marking a significant improvement in reproductive capacity. Russian authorities also confirmed that the population within their territory remains high, and figures released at the 2025 Eastern Economic Forum further validate the stability of the population structure.

These measures have led the Siberian tiger population from the brink of extinction to a stable recovery, expanding its distribution range in Northeast Asia and promoting the balance of the entire forest ecosystem. Associated species such as brown bears and minks benefit, and biodiversity indicators are gradually rising.

Today, the activity range of tigers and leopards continues to expand, and cross-border cooperation has formed a replicable model, providing a transnational pathway for the recovery of large felines globally. The ecological impacts are gradually becoming apparent, as the return of tiger populations promotes the regulation of prey populations, reduces forest pests and diseases, and enables surrounding communities to gain benefits through ecological tourism, with a noticeable decline in human-tiger conflict incidents.

The efforts of China and Russia in protecting the Siberian tiger demonstrate that population recovery requires long-term habitat management and international collaboration.

Despite the disparity in numbers, the shared gene pool and joint monitoring allow both countries’ populations to benefit together. In the future, by further enhancing the connectivity of protected areas, the traces of Siberian tigers in the Changbai Mountain and Greater Khingan Range will become even more frequent.