Up close with the rare Siberian snow tigers

Operation Snow Tiger follows wild animal biologist Liz Bonnin and an international team of scientists on an expedition to Russia's Far East, documenting one of the world's rarest and most mysterious animals - the Siberian tiger.

Siberian tigers are the same colour as their Indian cousins - white tigers are circus-bred mutants.

Numbers have declined dramatically in the last two decades and Russian scientists believe only 300 or so of these big cats remain in the wild.

In the 50 years of the BBC Natural History Unit, it is the first time they have been able to film Siberian tigers in the wild.

For the wildlife cameraman's account of how the pictures were shot, read his blog here.

Watch Operation Snow Tiger on Sunday 9 June at 20:00 BST or catch it later on the BBC iPlayer.