Out today! Tigers Between Empires by Jonathan C. Slaght. Thanks Macmillan Audio for the #gifted alc! This book follows the founding of the Siberian Tiger Project after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its efforts to save the big cats who roam the Amur River Basin. Led by Dale Miquelle and Zhenya Smirnov, the group spent over 30 years working to protect and save the elusive tigers and their habitat. They captured, collared, and released over 114 tigers, observing and studying their movements, how they hunt, mating rituals, and how mother tigers raise their cubs.
This is an amazing story of the dedication and perseverance of the researchers, scientists, and veterinarians who worked for the project. They battled bureaucracy, harsh weather, brutal terrain, and poachers in an effort to save the species from the brink of extinction. This is riveting story pulled me right in and didn’t let go. Slaght, who also narrates the audiobook, crafts a fascinating story. He writes with a deep caring for the people and the animals. I became really invested in the lives of Dale and his coworkers and especially the lives of the tigers. I learned a lot of the tigers, their territory which lies along the border of Russia and China, and the hardships the dedicated professionals of the project dealt with. Although Siberian tigers, also known as Amur tigers, are apex predators, their lives and ecosystems are extremely fragile. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves animals, is interested in animal conservation, or who’s looking for a an absorbing and unforgettable story of success against all odds. This is a great choice if you’re looking for a Nonfiction November read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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About the Author
Jonathan C. Slaght is the author of Owls of the Eastern Ice, which won the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and the Minnesota Book Award for General Nonfiction and was long-listed for the National Book Award. He is the regional director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Temperate Asia Program, where he oversees strategic conservation planning in China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Russia, and Central Asia. He published an annotated translation of Across the Ussuri Kray by Vladimir Arsenyev and cotranslated Winter Ecology of the Amur Tiger by A. G. Yudakov and I. G. Nikolaev. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and Scientific American, and on the BBC and NPR. He lives in Minneapolis.
