The Russian Geographical Society, or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection with research programs in fields including oceanography, ethnography, ecology and statistics.

Richard Otto Maack was a Russian naturalist, geographer, and anthropologist. He is most known for his exploration of the Russian Far East and Siberia, particularly the Ussuri and Amur River valleys. He wrote some of the first scientific descriptions of the natural history of remote Siberia and collected many biological specimens, many of which were original type specimens of previously unknown species.