Intelligent technology helps protect tigers and leopards in Northeast China

In November 2025, infrared cameras in Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park captured a rare family: a wild Siberian tiger accompanied by her five cubs, which is the country's first documented case of wild tiger quintuplets.

Behind the footage is an intelligent, integrated space–air–ground monitoring system that provided real-time monitoring of wildlife.

Chen Xiaocai, an official with the park administration, explained that each layer of the system serves a different purpose. Satellites monitor forests, water and other natural resources, while drones support ground patrols and assist with wildlife tracking.

On the ground, infrared cameras track wildlife movements, monitor human activity and environmental conditions and provide early warnings of potential human–wildlife conflict, Chen said.

More than 20,000 infrared cameras have been installed across an area exceeding 10,000 square kilometers, covering the core areas where the park's tigers and leopards are spotted, according to Chen.

The system has so far recorded more than 30,000 tiger detections and over 40,000 leopard detections, with recognition accuracy exceeding 90 percent, according to local statistics.

Beyond identifying species, the system uses artificial intelligence to distinguish individual animals, said Sun Pengyu, who works for Jishi Media, a Changchun-based cultural and technological company involved in developing the system.

Each tiger and leopard has unique markings on its abdomen and shoulder areas, much like human fingerprints, Sun explained.

The system selects key frames from the footage and extracts distinctive features to create an "ID" for each animal.

Each animal's record includes the location where it was first detected, its estimated age and sex, and all previously captured images and footage.

The technology has transformed wildlife monitoring from periodic manual data collection to real-time, intelligent monitoring powered by big data, Sun said.

Surveys conducted in the late 1990s estimated that only 12 to 16 wild Siberian tigers remained in China after years of habitat degradation and human disturbance.

Hunting restrictions, the establishment of protected areas and habitat restoration helped lay the groundwork for recovery.

The formal establishment of Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park in 2021 strengthened those efforts by bringing conservation across a large forest landscape under a national park framework.

Since 2017, the park's wild Siberian tiger population has grown from 27 to 72, while its wild Amur leopard population has increased from 42 to 115.

Conservation efforts also cross national borders. China and Russia have carried out conservation cooperation along the border, which Chen said sets a model for international cooperation in biodiversity conservation.

The park shares tiger and leopard monitoring and research data with its Russian counterparts to build a joint database, using common standards to identify individual animals, he said.

Cooperation also includes wildlife protection and law enforcement, animal rescue, and disease prevention and control, he added.