4/18/2023 0 Comments Magicprefs for snow leopard![]() ![]() In the partial range survey carried out in 2016, researchers confirmed 41 snow leopards and eight litters of kittens, totaling 19 young, says Karnaukhov. Then they have to wait.Ĭlimbing Mountains and Combating Poachers to Save Snow Leopards Counting Russian LeopardsĬurrently, in Russia, it is thought that there are between 70 and 90 snow leopards, or Panthera uncia, making up only one to two percent of the worldwide population. In a few days, Malikov would make the bone-jarring, two-hour drive on his ATV back up this remote, rocky riverbed, pound a stake into the frozen ground, and set up the trap. Too low and they worried a bush might obscure shots of the cat. Too high up the hill and they feared clouds and shadows would trigger a picture, filling the memory card with pretty, but useless, landscapes. Their findings will help clarify global numbers-an integral part of a heated debate among scientists that will determine whether the cats remain on the endangered list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), or whether they are moved to being only “threatened.”Ĭoming back down the slope, the two scientists debated where they will put the trap, a camouflaged, weatherproof plastic box crammed with camera, motion sensor, memory card, insulation, and enough AA batteries for a couple of months. Using this combination of genetic material and camera traps, which biologists use to laboriously identify individual cats by their unique spot patterns, the Russian biologists hope to get a fuller understanding of the world’s northern-most group of the endangered predator. He will send this and other samples to Moscow for DNA analysis. Pulling out a small baggie, he picked it up and pocketed it. Just above the rock, Karnaukhov found snow leopard scat. “Right at this spot, we're going to put up a camera trap,” he says, “and get a better idea of who lives here.”ĭenis Malikov, a biologist and assistant director of the national park, pulled out a GPS unit and entered yet another data point for Russia’s first ever full-range snow leopard census. Karnaukhov looked up from the rock and examined the landscape with a trained eye, seeing it from the point of view of the endangered cat describing the animal’s movements from its tracks. ( Watch skiers come face-to-face with a snow leopard.) “This is how he makes it clear to other snow leopards that he lives here,” says Karnaukhov, who goes by Sasha. “Here you can see the small scratch marks of the snow leopard,” says Alexander Karnaukhov, a biologist and snow leopard specialist with the World Wildlife Fund Russia, dragging his fingers over the rock in the Sailyugem National Park. It circled it, sniffed for other snow leopards, and clawed four parallel white lines. The snow leopard leapt down the slope and bounded over to a rusty red rock standing near the frozen watering hole. ![]() But its prey had moved on and were now slowly foraging up a trail clearly carved into a peak on the other side of the windswept valley. In the hot months, a spring ran here, feeding the braided waters of the river and attracting game. Just above the light blue ice of the river, the cat stopped. ![]() It padded confidently toward its quarry through deep snow on wide, insulated feet, watchfully moving down an eroded draw above the frozen Chaganburgazy River. With its gray coat and black spots, the big cat was nearly invisible against the rock of this arid landscape. ![]() Southern Siberia, RussiaThe snow leopard scented the herd of Siberian ibex on the strong wind blasting over the ridgeline at more than 11,000 feet, high in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia, on Russia’s remote border with Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan. ![]()
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