Located in Siberia, Lake Baikal is the largest, deepest, and richest freshwater lake in terms of biodiversity in the world. The annual Baikal Ice Marathon offers competitors from around the globe the opportunity to race across the frozen surface with the goal to help keep the water clean. One of the top 25 adventure marathons in the world, the Baikal Ice Marathon is both psychologically and physically demanding. The event is held at the start of March, when practically the entire lake is covered in ice. It is a long, cold, lonely 42.2-kilometre trail across the barren white landscape where progress is marked only by checkpoints positioned at 5 kilometre intervals. The vast open spaces, the bright rays of the sun, and the incredible, breathtaking beauty of the landscape help the hundred...
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Once believed nearly extinct in China, the Siberian tiger, the largest member of the cat family, is making a comeback, the result of a decade-long effort to restore its natural habitat by banning logging, hunting and trapping. Chinese have been amazed not only by the apparent growth of the tiger population but also by how far the felines have spread. It made headlines around China this year when tigers were seen near Jiamusi, a city 140 miles from the Russian border. In China, the number of Siberian tigers living in the wild (far smaller than those in captivity) has been listed in government statistics at between 18 and 22 for some years. Nobody knows the exact number, because the Chinese don't have tracking collars on the tigers, but there could be as many as 40 now and that the popul...
Read MoreThe World Wildlife Fund said recently that at least 19 Siberian (Amur) tigers were killed by poachers in Russia since 2012. Body parts and skeletons of 19 dead tigers were discovered during seven criminal investigations by Russian authorities.There are only several hundred Amur tigers remaining in the wild, and most live in Russia’s Far East. Habitat destruction from logging and some development has reduced their historic range. Additionally, human activities such as poaching have contributed to their status as critically endangered. Poaching is driven by demand for tiger bones and other body parts for use in Chinese ‘medicine’ which is sometimes nothing more than superstition. In other words, consuming tiger parts has never been scientifically proven to have any medical benefits whatsoev
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