Sikhote-Alin

Lore & Background

The name Sikhote-Alin may be Manchu for 'coastal ridge' or Nanai for 'foresty mountains.' In the 1910s and 1920s, the range was extensively explored by Russian geographer and naturalist Vladimir Arsenyev, who described his adventures in several books, notably Dersu Uzala (1923), which was turned into an Oscar-winning film by Akira Kurosawa in 1975. Largely due to his exploration and advocacy, the large Sikhote-Alin and Lazo wildlife refuges were set up in 1935 to preserve the region's unusual wildlife.

Reader's Guide

The Sikhote-Alin range holds significant ecological and historical importance. It is a temperate zone where species typical of northern taiga, such as reindeer and the Ussuri brown bear, coexist with the Amur tiger, Amur leopard, and Asiatic black bear. The region has very few wolves due to competition with tigers. It is the only known habitat of Sikhotealinia, the only living member of the beetle family Jurodidae, described as the 'most mysterious representatives of beetles.' The longest-lived tree in the region is a millennium-old Japanese yew. On 12 February 1947, one of the largest meteorite showers in recent history occurred here, raining many tons of metal over an elliptical area of about 1.3 square kilometers. In 2001, UNESCO placed 'Central Sikhote-Alin' onto the World Heritage List, citing its importance for endangered species such as the scaly-sided merganser, Blakiston's fish-owl, and the Amur tiger. The site was expanded in 2018 by including Bikin National Park under the name 'Bikin River Valley.' The core zone can only be explored in the company of rangers.

Did You Know?

• The Sikhote-Alin meteorite shower on 12 February 1947 created craters, the largest being 26 meters in diameter.
• The highest peak, Tordoki Yani, rises to 2,077 meters and is the source of the river Anyuy.