"Can you imagine searching an area the size of Wales, in freezing temperatures and very mountainous terrain to find 500 or so tigers? Well this is exactly what more than 1,000 researchers from WWF and a number of its partner organisations spent several months doing in the Russian Far East last year."

"Why? Well the Russian Far East is the home of the Amur tiger (also known as the Siberian tiger), one of the five types of tiger that still survive on planet Earth. Out of these five different sub-species, the Amur tiger is the biggest of them all – adult males can measure nearly three metres from nose to tip of tail and weigh about the same as seven 10-year-old children."

"Like all the remaining sub-species of tiger, the Amur tiger is highly endangered. For several decades the tigers here have been under the threat from poachers who want to kill them to supply the illegal trade in traditional Asian medicines or as hunting trophies. In addition illegal logging has destroyed much of the tiger's natural habitat."

"Because of all these threats, it is important for organisations like WWF, who are working to conserve Amur tigers, to keep check of how many tigers there are and where they are living. But exactly how do you count an animal that is continually on the move and not exactly keen to meet human beings?"

"The most accurate method of counting Amur tigers living in the wild is to track their paw prints in the snow – no easy task in an area that is entirely mountain and forest. But this is exactly what the researchers did, covering every square metre of this region by foot, skis and car."

"After spending months in the field, enduring sub-zero temperatures and harsh living conditions, the field workers recorded 4,100 tiger tracks. By mapping the location of these prints, and checking for any double counting, the field workers could estimate how many tigers live here."

"And the news was good! The field workers estimated that up to 417 tigers and 112 cubs are currently living in this region. The last survey to count them, in 1996, showed there were up to 371 adults and 105 cubs."

"The researchers say that this slight increase in numbers reflects the better counting methods used this time round rather than an actual rise in the population. However, for the first time this tiger population seems stable. So WWF is confident that the tactics being used to protect them are really working!"