Vladimir K. Arsenyev (1872-1930) was a Russian naturalist who devoted thirty years to exploring the Russian Far East and describing the people and wildlife he encountered. His written works continue to inspire generations of Russians to explore and appreciate nature.

Jonathan C. Slaght is the Russia and Northeast Asia Coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Society and is the English-language editor of the Far-Eastern Journal of Ornithology. He studies Blakiston¿s fish owls, Amur tigers, and Siberian musk deer and writes a guest blog for Scientific American entitled "East of Siberia."