HARBIN, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A China-Russia joint study has shown that 40 percent of Siberian tigers living in the two countries more frequently cross the border in recent years.
According to the newly published report, automated cameras set up in China's Laoye Mountains and a neighboring leopards park in Russia have captured images of 45 adult Siberian tigers and 89 adult Amur leopards between 2013 and 2015.
Over the period, 42 percent of tigers and 17 percent of leopards were captured frequently crossing the border.
The research was launched in 2014 by the Feline Research Institute of China's Northeast Forestry University, Russia's Land of the Leopard National Park, Russian Academy of Sciences and the World Wildlife Fund (Russia's Far East Office). It aims to study species variation and conservation genetics of Siberian tigers and Amur leopards.
The research studied the Siberian tigers and leopards near the China-Russia border, including their population, distribution, migration and genetic characteristics, helping to build cross-border migration corridors for the rare beast.
The results have been published on the website of UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Siberian tigers, also known as Amur tigers, mainly live in east Russia, northeast China and northern parts of the Korean Peninsula. No more than 500 Siberian tigers are believed to live in the wild, including around 20 in China.
