Extracurricular activity "in the footsteps of the snow leopard." Chance plays with man

The snow leopard (irbis; Latin names - Uncia uncia and Panthera uncia) is a mammal from the cat family that lives in the mountains of Central Asia. Among large cats, the snow leopard is the only permanent inhabitant of the highlands. The snow leopard's habitat includes parts of the territories of 13 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The snow leopard's range in Russia is 2-3% of the current world range. In Russia, the snow leopard is found in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Khakassia, Tyva and the Altai Republic, in the Eastern Sayan Mountains, in particular on the Tunkinskie Goltsy and Munku-Sardyk ridges.

Despite the external similarity with a leopard (in English, the snow leopard is called "Snow Leopard" - snow leopard), the relationship between it and the snow leopard is not very close, and besides, the size of the snow leopard is noticeably smaller. However, the snow leopard is much stronger and is considered the most ferocious predator of the cat family.

The main coat color is light gray, appearing white in contrast to the black spots. This coloring perfectly camouflages the animal in its natural habitat - among dark rocks, stones, white snow and ice. The spots are shaped like rosettes, inside which there may be an even smaller spot. In this respect, the snow leopard is similar to the jaguar. In the area of ​​the head, neck and limbs, the rosettes turn into black strokes. The coat is very thick and long (up to 55 mm) and serves as protection from the cold in harsh conditions. climatic conditions. From head to tail, the snow leopard measures 140 cm, the tail itself is 90-100 cm long. If we compare the length of the tail and body, then of all the cats the snow leopard has the longest a long tail, it makes up more than three-quarters of the body length. The snow leopard's tail serves as a balance when jumping. The length of the jump during hunting is up to 14-15 meters. The weight of an adult snow leopard can reach 100 kg.

The snow leopard is a predator that lives and hunts alone. Each snow leopard lives within the boundaries of a strictly defined individual territory. Hunts in most cases before sunset and in the morning at dawn. In the wild, snow leopards mainly feed on ungulates: blue sheep, Siberian mountain goats, ibexes, argali, tars, takins, serows, gorals, roe deer, deer, musk deer, deer, and wild boars. In addition, from time to time they feed on small animals atypical for their diet, such as ground squirrels, pikas and birds (chukars, snowcocks, pheasants). In Russia, the main food for the snow leopard is the mountain goat, and in some places also deer, roe deer, argali, and reindeer. As a rule, the snow leopard sneaks up on its prey unnoticed and jumps on it with lightning speed. He often uses high stones for this in order to unexpectedly throw the victim to the ground by jumping from above and kill him. At the end of summer, autumn and early winter, snow leopards often hunt in families of 2-3 individuals, which are formed by a female with her cubs. The snow leopard is able to cope with prey three times its mass.

There is a recorded case of 2 snow leopards successfully hunting a 2-year-old Tien Shan brown bear. Snow leopards consume plant food - green parts of plants, grass, etc. - in addition to their meat diet only in the summer. Snow leopards do not emit a loud calling roar, characteristic of large cats, but purr like small ones. During the rut, animals make sounds similar to a bass meow. An adult snow leopard, like most other felines, has 30 teeth. Leopard cubs (snow leopard cubs) are born blind and helpless, but after about 6-8 days they begin to see. The weight of a newborn leopard is about 500 grams with a length of up to 30 cm. The maximum known life expectancy in nature is 13 years.

Life expectancy in captivity is usually about 21 years, but a female is known to have lived for 28 years. Illegal but financially attractive hunting for snow leopard fur has significantly reduced its population. On the black markets of Asia, the skin of this beast can fetch up to 60 thousand dollars. In all countries of its existence, the snow leopard is placed under state protection, but poaching still threatens it. Recently, the number of snow leopards has increased slightly and today ranges from 3,500 to 7,500 individuals, after only a thousand remained in the 1960s. The largest population of snow leopards is in China, where there are between 2,000 and 5,000 individuals. In Russia there are 150-200 snow leopards.

Approximately 2,000 snow leopards are kept in zoos around the world and successfully breed in captivity. The snow leopard has become a symbol of the city of Almaty and is depicted on its coat of arms. A stylized winged snow leopard is depicted on the coats of arms of Khakassia and Tatarstan. The snow leopard can also be seen on the coat of arms of the city of Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic. The coat of arms of Samarkand (Uzbekistan) depicts a white leopard.

The hockey club "Ak Bars" (translated from the Tatar language - "white leopard") - an ice hockey team from the city of Kazan, as well as the hockey club "Barys" - an ice hockey team from the city of Astana ( Kazakhstan).

Snow leopard tracks and sightings

The paw print of a snow leopard (irbis) is typically cat-like - round in shape without claw marks (Fig. 1 b). As a rule, they are not visible even on the front wall of the “glass” of the track in deep snow, which often happens with a lynx. The differences in the impressions of the front and hind paws are the same as in other cats. The footprint of the front paw is wider, as if slightly flattened.

In a particular case, on the road surface, on top of which the night powder was laid, the dimensions of a very clear print of the front paw were: width - 10.5, length - 8.5 cm; the rear ones are 10.2 and 10.5 cm, respectively. Of course, each individual print has its own characteristics, which depends primarily on the nature of the snow or soil, and on how far the fingers of the animal’s very elastic paw extend. But deviations of this kind still do not obscure the distinct differences in the configuration of the prints of the front and hind legs snow leopard

It is clear that during census work, when the task of individual recognition of individuals arises, measurements are needed with an exact indication of exactly which trace was measured. Comparison of results is complicated by the fact that snow in snow leopard habitats usually does not retain clear imprints: it is predominantly either granular or dry, crumbling. In addition, the tracks themselves in the highlands are quickly “processed” by the sun and wind.

1. Imprints of the callous pads of the right front paw of a lynx (a), a snow leopard (b) and a Western leopard (c), depicted on the same scale (dimensions are given in the text).

Snow leopard sightings

In the practice of tracking the tracks of other large cats, for example a tiger, the main attention is usually paid to measuring the least variable element of the track - the impression of the large plantar pad or “heel”. When taking into account the snow leopard, due to the above-mentioned properties of snow in the highlands, the value of this indicator increases even more.

The sizes of the “heels” on the impressions of the snow leopard’s front and hind paws differ less than the overall sizes of the tracks. In the footprint taken as an example, the width of the “heel” of the front paw was 7.2 cm, the width of the rear paw was 6.5 cm. But in most cases, you have to deal not with separate prints of the front and hind paws, but with their overlap in one track fossa.

Such combined prints are almost circular (the length is usually only slightly greater than the width); their diameter at the edges of the pads, as a rule, is no more than 11 cm, occasionally up to 11.5-12 cm in the largest specimens. Most measurements fall within the range of 9-10 cm, while the width of the “heel” is 6-7, rarely 8 cm. It is rarely possible to reliably determine the sex of an animal based on the size of the footprint, as well as on other characteristics.

Nevertheless, the size differences in the tracks of different-sex individuals are undeniable, as evidenced by encounters of females with cubs. The typical value of the track diameter for them corresponds to the lower limit of the indicated interval - 9, the width of the “heel” - 6-6.5 cm. It is interesting that the track of a young-of-the-year snow leopard already in the middle of winter, that is, at the age of a little more than six months, is slightly inferior in the size of the female's footprint. In a particular case, the diameter of the imprint of such an animal accompanying the mother was 8 cm with a “heel” width of 5.7 cm.

The differences in the results for the female and the calf were about 1 cm (the entire print), and even less for the width of the “heel”. The largest tracks of single animals, close to the upper limit of the given range of values, can be considered without great risk to belong to males. On loose snow, the snow leopard's footprint is much larger than the impression measured along the edges of the pads. The imprint of the latter is, as it were, inscribed in an oval left in the snow by the lush pubescence of the paw. The width of this oval exceeds the diameter of the track by 1.5 times or even slightly more (in a particular case, with a snow layer of 5 cm, the values ​​obtained were 9 and 14.5 cm, respectively).

The length of the oval of the depression exceeds the length of the impression even more, but here the measurements are less indicative, since in the forward and backward directions the fossa of the trace, without sharp boundaries, closes with the drag and the drag (Fig. 2 a). The snow leopard's footprint is clearly larger than the lynx's: there is little or no overlap between the extreme values ​​of individual measurements.

So, if the diameter of the combined imprint of a snow leopard, as a rule, is not less than 8, and more often 9-10 cm, then in a lynx, with rare exceptions, it is no more than 8 cm. The differences in the width of the “heel” are even sharper: snow leopard - 6 or more, lynx - no more than 5.5 cm (in adult animals).

2. Track chains of a snow leopard (a) and a lynx (b):
on the snow, the hard substrate is barely powdered;

It was noted above that even in a young snow leopard the width of the “heel” is close to 6 cm. The lynx's oval oval is relatively smaller; its diameter exceeds the diameter of the pad imprint by no more than 1.3-1.4 times. However, in nature, dimensional differences are not always clear enough; features in the configuration of callosal pads or crumbs is more expressive (Fig. 1 a, b). The lynx track, compared to the snow leopard track, is much more “long-toed” and “thin-toed,” and the plantar crumb is not so massive, occupying a clearly smaller proportion of the entire paw print.

In contrast to the graceful, elongated prints of the lynx's toe pads, those of the snow leopard are blunt and rounded. It is curious that in the Central Asian leopard (leopard), judging by observations in Armenia, with a larger total size of the footprint, the area of ​​the “heel” is still relatively smaller, and the toe impressions are noticeably more elongated than those of the snow leopard (Fig. 1c). It is useful to pay attention to this, since in the south of Tajikistan the ranges of these cats were in contact in the recent past. The outlines of the large plantar cushion in the snow leopard are more angular than in the lynx, with more clearly expressed trilobulation - the emerging division of the cushion at its rear edge into three approximately equal parts, separated by narrow longitudinal depressions.

The latter is characteristic of all cats, but in the snow leopard it manifests itself especially sharply: on the clear prints of its paws, the imprints of grooves cutting the contour of the pillow are always clearly visible. In addition to the listed features, when comparing the tracks of a snow leopard and a lynx, the latter clearly shows a relatively greater forward extension of the pad of the third (longest) toe.

This determines the characteristic asymmetry of the entire print of its paw, which is only barely visible in the snow leopard (Fig. 1, A, B). The differences in the structure of the finger pads of the two species can be expressed quantitatively: if in the lynx the ratio of the width to the length of the impression of the third finger pad is close to 0.55 (0.5-0.6), then in the snow leopard it is 0.7 (up to 0. 75).

2 a. Track chains of a snow leopard (c) and a lynx (b):
with a snow height of 10-20 cm (dimensions are given in the text).

Snow Leopard Jumping

Snow leopard jumps down the slope in deep snow areas are usually 2-3 m long. In this case, paw prints, if they are distinguishable, are grouped in closely spaced “fours”. When chasing prey, the jumps become larger, especially in the initial phase of the chase.

However, the ten-meter jumps often mentioned in the literature have never been seen. In a specific case, during a hunt for a mountain goat, their length down a slope of 25-30° was consistently: 3.25-6.60-3.82-3.24-2.80-1.64 m. The second jump in this series was the longest we have ever seen. In the other two cases, jumping maximum length in one hunt they were third in a row.

In general, jumps over 6 m were recorded three times, all of them were directed down the slope. If the snow leopard is lucky when hunting, it overtakes its prey within the first two to three dozen meters of the chase. At the site of a successful hunt, where there was a struggle, there remain one or two areas with trampled snow and a small amount of blood, torn hair, broken and dented bushes.

All this usually happens near some kind of shelter: rock ledges and crevices, boulders, thickets of bushes. Having taken possession of the prey (most often a mountain goat), the snow leopard, as a rule, begins to eat it right at the site of the final fight. Large prey is not dragged or moved only a short distance down the slope.

3. Here is a snow leopard, jumping down from a ledge
down the slope, turned sharply and left
there is an imprint of a fluffy tail in the snow.

However, the predator can drag a sheep 200-300 m, and easily carries small prey (marmot, tolai hare). The victim may have visible bites in the throat and neck with damage to the vertebrae; claw marks on the chest, sides, muzzle.

The predator eats primarily the meat on the thighs and in the area of ​​the shoulder blades, and rips off the skin as if with a stocking; does not chew large bones, and leaves the limbs below the hock and carpal joints intact. Usually, scavengers also get the stomach with its contents and intestines. There were no cases of snow leopards covering their prey or attempts to camouflage it.

Animal beds

Animal roosts can be found both in places with a good view and in shelters among stone ruins, bush thickets, and at the foot of rock walls. For long-term rest, mainly the second type of beds are used. Perches on rocky ledges, on open ridges dominating the surrounding area, attract snow leopards primarily as vantage points. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that the animals’ routes do not pass such points, regardless of whether the snow leopards lie down there or only pause to inspect the adjacent slopes. Traces of sitting animals were also noted in such places.

The snow leopard's footprints are enclosed in a smooth semicircle left in the snow by its tucked tail. When lying down, the length of the spot melting under the animal’s body is 65-72, width - 40-45 cm. If the snow leopard changed its position, the size of the bed can increase 1.5-2 times (in a particular case, 85-125 cm). As an example of a snow leopard's shelter, we give its description made on January 24, 1988. on the right bank slope of the river valley. Chon-Kyzyl-Su. The snow leopard, apparently a large male, settled down to rest on a narrow ledge of the slope at the lower edge of a large open stone placer. From here a spruce forest stretched down the slope. The animal lay down in a small semi-grotto formed by stone slabs and a fragment of a fallen tree trunk sandwiched between them. Directly in front of the resting place stood a tall spruce tree about 40cm thick.

At the bottom of the recess there is a platform with a noticeable slope, covered with dry pine needles and spruce branches; there was no snow here. The niche went half a meter under the “roof”, its height was 25-30 cm. At the edge of the bed, where the animal touched the snow, its surface was densely icy. The clear tracks of the front paws imprinted here also became icy. Descending from this bed into the valley, the snow leopard walked for several hundred meters along a continuous spruce forest, passing through its rather dense clumps.

It was strange to see the footprint of a typically high-mountain animal in what was essentially a taiga environment. Meanwhile, animals visit the Tien Shan spruce belt quite often in winter. They periodically cross wide valleys, regardless of large differences in elevation or the boundaries of vertical landscape belts. However, the main routes of snow leopards still flow in the highlands. Ridges and spurs serve as guiding lines for animals.

Even more than along mountain ridges, snow leopards love to walk along the foothills of rocky massifs. Indicative in this regard is the increase in marking activity (frequency of scratching) of animals precisely along the path along linear landmarks. Individual individuals have their own favorite routes and repeat them regularly. At the same time, they can follow their previous trail if it is preserved in the snow. One day, a fresh snow leopard track led us to a scrape left by the same or another animal a few days earlier. But more often than not, animals do not strictly adhere to the same path, so the snow leopard, unlike, for example, a tiger, does not form clear, well-trodden paths. Animals that move in winter in pairs or larger groups (usually broods) do not follow each other for a long time.

Snow leopards disperse, moving on a parallel course, and when hunting they undertake complex maneuvers, sometimes taking an advantageous position for hunting at a distance from their partner. There have been numerous cases where a lynx followed the trail of a snow leopard. The possibility of such superimposition of trace chains once again emphasizes the care with which one must treat the recognition of traces of these cats in areas where they live together.

The VI volunteer expedition “In the Footsteps of the Snow Leopard” has ended in Altai. The group included about 20 volunteers from different regions of Russia. For the first time, winning students took part in the project All-Russian competition“In the footsteps of the snow leopard”, organized by the Russian Schoolchildren Movement. As a prize, the finalists received trips to the Altai Mountains, the habitat of the snow leopard.

For the first time, the expedition took place in the Saylyugem National Park; previously it took place on the Chikhachev Ridge. At the final press conference, the organizers, partners and participants of the socio-ecological project in the Altai Republic shared their impressions and proposals for the conservation of the snow leopard.

61 individuals officially live in Russia, 35 in Altai, of which 15 - 17 are in Sailyugem National Park. Volunteers saw one of the snow leopards with their own eyes. In the Chagan-Bayan tract, expedition members observed how a snow leopard guarded a hunted female Altai mountain sheep.

• We made sure that rare animals feel protected in Sailyugemsky Park. During one day of field trip, we saw on the slope a large herd of argali, listed in the Red Book, there were about 100 of them. Then we noticed five black vultures, also listed in the Red Book, soaring in the sky. And at that moment the inspector national park I saw a snow leopard! We looked at him for about 15 minutes, and he posed for us. This meeting will be remembered for a lifetime,” shared Mikhail Metelev, a participant in the Russian Schoolchildren Movement from the Sverdlovsk Region.

The role of children in the expedition is educational: to inform peers about the importance of preserving the snow leopard not only in their own, but also in other regions of Russia, noted Nikolai Maleshin, deputy director of the Central Black Earth Nature Reserve, who is participating in the project for the second time. Police methods alone cannot preserve the snow leopard in Russia, Alexander Karnaukhov, senior project curator of the Altai-Sayan branch of WWF, continued this topic: it is necessary environmental education the younger generation, attracting young specialists - perhaps some of the students will devote their lives to the study and conservation of the snow leopard and join the ranks of Russian leopard experts.

During the expedition, volunteers visited monitoring sites in the Sarzhemata, Kamtytugem and Bayan-Chagan tracts. We learned to identify tracks and places of activity of the snow leopard, checked camera traps and installed another one - we donated an automatic registration camera to the park. The head of the expedition “In the Footsteps of the Snow Leopard,” Igor Pautov, noted that volunteers are ready to cooperate with Sailyugem Park, but there is no urgent need for this:

• The park has established systems for monitoring and protecting rare species, which we saw during the expedition, in contrast to the Chikhachev Ridge, which is not part of any protected areas and, as a result, is not protected by anyone. Our task is to organize volunteer assistance in preserving the snow leopard in this territory. We believe that it is necessary to create a buffer (protection zone) of the Altai Nature Reserve.

Participants and organizers of the project sent an open letter to representatives of government agencies and the public, in which they identified the main threats to the snow leopard and argali populations on the Chikhachev Ridge. In addition to creating a buffer zone, recommendations include: introducing a moratorium on the extraction of Siberian mountain goat, the main source of food for the snow leopard, in this territory, the cancellation of mining permits and the regulation of tourism in the habitats of rare animals. The organizers plan to send proposals for the conservation of the snow leopard in Altai to the special representative of the President Russian Federation on issues of environmental protection, ecology and transport Sergei Ivanov.

Press service of the Sailyugemsky National Park

Photo by Evgeny Strebkov

Project Manager: Sannikova Irina Valerievna, Khakass Republican Branch of the Russian Geographical Society

about the project:

The main goal of the project is to study the status of populations throughout the habitat of the snow leopard (irbis) in Russia, identify key reproductive nuclei and groups and develop the scientific basis for the long-term conservation of the snow leopard in southern Siberia in Russia. Expeditionary work is carried out in the mountainous regions of Altai-Sayan.

Tasks:

1. Search for traces of the life activity of the snow leopard, carry out work to count the number and clarify the boundaries of the distribution of the Siberian goat, check the established winter period camera traps.

2. Organization and development of the State Federal Reserve “Pozarym” on the territory of the Republic of Khakassia in order to preserve rare and endangered species of animals, primarily the snow leopard (irbis).

Work progress:

Field work lasted 20 days. During this time, the valley of the Karatosh River was examined. The snow leopard research was carried out in several stages. The first stage was field work, during which traces of the leopard’s life activity were searched for and sent for genetic analysis. After they were discovered, the number of snow leopards was determined by the traditional method - tracking, that is, by following tracks. They were carefully measured, then the information was entered into a database, after analysis of which scientists were able to estimate the preliminary number of animals in a certain area. At the third stage of research, special automatic cameras (so-called camera traps) were used. Then the snow leopards were identified by their individual color, after which a passport was drawn up for each of them. In addition, a grant from the Russian Geographical Society made it possible to organize and conduct the fourth stage. For the first time in Russia, a collar that allows tracking the movement of an animal using a satellite was placed on a snow leopard in March 2011. The fifth stage is analytical, during which all the information received was analyzed and threats to the existence of this species were identified.

results:

All available observation methods are summarized, and on their basis a method for studying the snow leopard is developed.

An assessment of the number of snow leopards was carried out. It was concluded that the actual number of snow leopards is significantly less than previously thought. According to scientists, 9 leopards permanently live on the territory of the Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve, and taking into account leopards from other territories that periodically enter this territory, 15 individuals. Over the past three years, the snow leopards have raised six kittens, which lived with their mothers for up to a year and a half, and then left.

The creation of the Pozarym nature reserve was initiated - the first federal reserve in Southern Siberia. By order of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation V. Putin dated December 8, 2011 No. 2210-r “On the establishment of a state natural reserve federal significance“Pozarym” established the “Pozarym” nature reserve with total area 253 thousand hectares, located in the Tashtypsky district of the Republic of Khakassia, on the border with the Republic of Tyva. With its advent, federal specially protected areas were united into a single environmental network. natural areas the republics of Altai, Tyva and Khakassia, as well as the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

So far in Russia there are not many examples of voluntary (volunteer) activities in the field of nature conservation and ecology. All the more interesting is the participation of our fellow countrymen in unusual scientific research, organized thousands of kilometers from Kursk - in Altai along the border with Mongolia. A Kuryan, a traveler, a good known to readers newspaper “Friend for a Friend”, Deputy Director for Protection of the Central Black Earth Biosphere Reserve named after V.V. Alekhine.

Chance plays with man

Many people believe that social networks are wasted and unproductive time. However, they sometimes contain incredible information finds and announcements that can change your life. Watching news on the Internet, noticed to a bright photograph of a minibus storming a rocky river, with the image of a snow leopard.

Nearby is an announcement about free places in an expedition group of volunteers going to the border with Mongolia to search for traces of the owner of the mountain peaks - the snow leopard, or snow leopard. Without a moment of doubt, I filled out the registration card and sent it to the specified address.

Reference: This type of predatory mammal has several names: Irbis, or snow leopard, or snow leopard (lat. Uncia uncia, according to another classification - lat. Panthera uncia). Russian fur merchants adopted the word “irbis” from hunters in Asia back in the 17th century. In Tuva this animal was called irbish, in Semirechye it was called ilbers, to the east of Alma-Ata in the areas bordering China - irviz. In Turkic language - irbiz. This word has taken root in the Russian language. In the 18th century, but obviously earlier, in Siberia, and then in Semirechye and in Central Asia the word “leopard,” which was used to call a leopard, began to be applied in popular usage to the snow leopard (Uncia uncia). Due to the similarities between both species, it was only natural. The term “leopard” itself remained with the leopard (Panthera pardus).

The next day in the evening they called from Novosibirsk. The interlocutor, introducing himself as the expedition leader Igor Pautov, reported a positive decision on my candidacy and its approval by the Altai State Nature Reserve. There was very little left to do - buy a train ticket to Moscow and a plane ticket to Novosibirsk, get a pass to the border zone, travel 1000 km from the capital of Siberia to the Mongolian border, turning there towards Tyva. After 60 kilometers of complete off-road terrain, overcoming swamps and mountain rivers, reach the Boguty River, rise to an altitude above 3600 meters above sea level. Then experience dizziness from lack of oxygen and slight nausea from altitude sickness, find camera traps set by previous expeditions in the scatterings of stones on sharp ridge ridges covered with ice and snow Quite a bit, isn’t it?

Master of snowy peaks, hero of legends and tales

What beckons you to the sky-high heights

The place where volunteers work is the Chikhachev Ridge, where the borders of Russia and Mongolia, the Republics of Altai and Tyva meet. The social function of the project is unusual and reflects a completely new direction social activities, which is best defined by the term – citizen science.

This is a non-commercial project. Volunteers - people with an active lifestyle - not only participate in it, devoting their time to research in extreme conditions, but also act as sponsors. Contributions are aimed at direct expenses for the expedition and the organization of educational events. At the initial stage, with the help of volunteers, a UAZ-39625 all-wheel drive vehicle, 8 camera traps tracking snow leopards, a DJI Phantom 4 quadcopter, and a number of field household items, including tents, portable stoves and dishes, were purchased. The idea of ​​the project is to give conscious and caring citizens the opportunity to benefit their country and the planet as a whole, and make a feasible contribution to the conservation of the snow leopard. Volunteers assist professional researchers and academics in monitoring snow leopard numbers in Russia.

Expedition results: seven snow leopards

The fifth expedition that recently completed on the territory of the Chikhachev Ridge, which has already become legendary for its discoveries, involved 14 people. We had to climb from the height of the base camp of 2500 meters to 3200, and sometimes up to 3600 meters above sea level, overcoming difficult sections of stone pillars and placers on the ridges, and also experienced the difficult climate of the highlands.

The weather was kind at first: dry and sunny. But in the last two days of the expedition, the temperature dropped to -7°C, snow fell, and the wind was such that it tore one tent to shreds and overturned another, blowing several foam mats and a sleeping bag into the lake next door.

Over four walking days, groups of volunteers covered more than 100 kilometers in high altitude conditions, taking readings from 14 camera traps and installing two new ones. At the same time, the ridges themselves were examined for traces of the life activity of leopards, mainly the so-called scrapes that leopards leave in conspicuous places. About a hundred such traces were found, which indicates a fairly frequent visit by leopards to this territory.

The predators themselves, seeing them in person is a pipe dream for many scientists, were captured by camera traps; work now awaits the identification of the animals. Although it immediately became clear to specialists that on several passes the owner of the local mountains, the male Khorgai, was clearly identified. Our expedition brought news of five new young snow leopards in the survey area: three one-year-old kittens and two young males aged about four years. In total, camera traps installed by volunteers in May and checked in September recorded seven snow leopards.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the largest independent international conservation projects, uniting almost 5 million regular supporters and working in more than 100 countries, announced this sensation on its website. It is worth noting that scientific sensations are not that uncommon for volunteer expeditions. As an example, the situation with an equally rare predator – the wild cat manul.

His photos, obtained from an autonomous recorder during the second expedition “In the Footsteps of the Snow Leopard,” were published by many foreign publications after their publication by the Spanish editors Russia Today and The Siberian Times on their Internet resources. The articles touched on the issues of preserving this rare species. The photo story about the Pallas cat evoked a lively response from the audience, collecting more than 300 thousand likes.

To the point

Photo exhibition in Kursk

From October 12 to November 9, a photo exhibition is being held in the art gallery of the Kursk Regional Scientific Library named after N. N. Aseev

Public environmental organizations“Argali” and the “Lake Guardians” Club, the Ongudai forestry enterprise of the Altai Republic, the natural parks “Argut” and “Uch-Enmek”, with the support of the Altai-Sayan project WWF, conducted a joint research expedition to the valley of the Argut River

Argut (a hard-to-reach, wild corner of the Altai Mountains) is the habitat of one of the largest groups of snow leopards (irbis) in Russia. The main objectives of the expedition were: conducting a census of the number of snow leopards and the main species of ungulates in the Argut valley and its main tributaries, suppressing and analyzing the situation with poaching, as well as developing proposals for the conservation of the Argut group of snow leopards and the development of the Argut natural park.

The expedition participants covered a total of more than 800 km, mapped all registered traces of poaching; Several dozen snares and other poaching tools were removed.

The first thing that surprised the expedition members was the abundance of wild ungulates, primarily the Siberian ibex and deer. Nowhere in Altai and Tyva does the density of these animals reach such high performance like here. During one day's route, each group often numbered 100-300 ibex and 10-20 deer. In total, during the field work more were taken into account 1200 Capricorns and about 150 marals. The main reasons for the high number of ungulates in the Argut valley, according to the head of the expedition M.Yu. Paltsyn, this is the lack of deep snow cover and inaccessibility of the territory . In addition to these species, Siberian roe deer and musk deer live here, as well as lynx and bear. The most common birds are the bearded vulture, the golden eagle, and the saker falcon. The expedition was able to note tracks of snow leopards only twice. Another group, working at the same time in Yungur and Koira, noted traces of another 3-4 animals there. Currently, the number of snow leopards in the middle part of Argut apparently does not exceed 20 individuals. For more accurate estimates The snow leopard population requires additional field work.

In the Shavlinsky reserve, where all types of hunting are prohibited, the expedition members were struck by the ubiquitous traces of poaching. The skins and heads of ibex caught by poachers are found at almost every step, and somewhat less often - the skins of deer and musk deer. Everywhere on the manes and in the logs there are old places for installing loops for musk deer, lynx, snow leopard, or the loops themselves. The frequency of encounters of these tools increases in the area of ​​rare shepherd sites. A huge bear trap with a powerful chain was found - an iron, painful death on the trail for any animal or person. According to local residents, regular commercial hunting takes place in Yungur and Koira.

Another common type of poaching here, for which rough terrain is not a hindrance, is hunting from a helicopter, when shooters are dropped right on the top of a mountain, and the helicopter catches up with ibex or deer rushing about in panic. According to local residents, each of these hunts is like a meat grinder, when several dozen animals are killed at once. The expedition also witnessed such a hunt, although on a much smaller scale. On February 21, during the transition from the river. Tety-Kazyk in the town of Kezek-Dyalan, they noticed a Mi-8 helicopter circling over Argut, and the next day on the watershed of the Big and Middle Ary-Yulov, where about 350-400 ibex are kept, they found fresh traces of a bloody poaching spree. Later, the expedition members learned that on the same day, the carcasses of three mountain goats were transported by helicopter to the village of Ust-Koksa, which soon ended up on the tables of game lovers in one of the restaurants in Novosibirsk. They say that this case is not uncommon, and meat from wild animals is supplied to Novosibirsk regularly. Thus, the Shavlinsky reserve is currently more of a fiefdom of poachers, where both local residents from the villages of Chibit, Dzhazator, Kurkure, Inegen and Tyungur, as well as visiting city lovers of fried game, antlers, skins and other trophies hunt. They shoot ibex, deer, bears, catch musk deer, sable, lynx and... the last surviving leopards with nooses and traps.

Created in 2003 with the support of WWF, the Argut Nature Park seeks to protect at least the lower reaches of the Argut with Shavla, Ary-Yulami, Elo and Oroktoy to the mouth of Koir. Natural Park“Argut” has enormous recreational potential, and its development
would solve not only the problem of unemployment among the local population, but also
saving the leopard.

At the moment, of all the possible scenarios for the socio-economic development of this territory of the Argut basin, the optimal path seems to be the development of the Argut natural park to a federal national park within the boundaries of the Shavlinsky reserve. The abundance of wild animals, colorful alpine landscapes, unique opportunities for mountain, water, equestrian tourism, mountaineering and rock climbing, the wealth of ancient archaeological sites and historical events associated with the Argut Valley, the preservation of the cultural traditions of the local population - all can contribute to the development of the national park. The appearance of Argut’s living legend, the snow leopard, is also extremely attractive. If the national park model is successfully implemented, economic benefits will accrue primarily to local residents, and not to the owners of restaurants in Novosibirsk and organizers of black safaris for new Russians. Federal support for the park and the opportunity to earn money from tourism will contribute to the development of an economically sustainable organization that will also replenish the republican budget.