Leonardo DiCaprio Survives Plane Emergency, Saves Tigers

Don't call Leonardo DiCaprio a lightweight. The eco-minded actor, whose plane was forced to make an emergency landing yesterday after one of its engines failed, has donated $1 million to the World Wildlife Fund for tiger conservation, prompting Russia's Vladimir Putin to dub DiCaprio a "real man."

Indeed, Leo's brush with danger en route to the International Tiger Conservation Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia (and a second plane-related scare caused by "strong winds"), didn't dampen the star's resolve to help prevent tigers from becoming extinct in the wild. The species is in dire danger — only 3,200 tigers remain in the wild — as a result of poaching and habitat destruction.

In addition to DiCaprio's generosity, the tiger summit triggered another positive outcome: Representatives from 13 countries, including Putin and China's Wen Jiabao, pledged to work to double the world's tiger population by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.

--Della Watson