At the Leopard Recovery Center of the Sochi National Park, examinations have been completed for 5 animals preparing for release into nature. After two years of training at the Center, leopards received all the necessary skills for an independent life. Before release, each animal was equipped with a satellite collar, which will allow monitoring their movement and assessing adaptation. The exact place of release for each predator will be determined in the near future.
What happened?
On July 22, at the Leopard Recovery Center of the Sochi National Park, satellite collars were put on five leopards. This is a great milestone both for the Center and for the leopards themselves. For young predators, this is a ticket to the wild. Before receiving a collar, every leopard has undergone rigorous testing and exams. At the moment, 3 females and 2 males are prepared for release into the wild: Agura, Aibga, Kodor (parents Alous and Cheri), as well as Laba and Baksan (parents Zadig and Andrea). Surprisingly, all 5 graduates from both couples were born on the same day - 06/03/2018.
How does it happen?
First, the animals are immobilized by injecting veterinary drugs through syringes loaded into long-range rifles. After that, scientists promptly collect all the necessary information about a specific individual: weight, size and other parameters of the animal, check claws, fangs, take blood and fur for analysis, photograph patterns of spots on the skin of leopards. All this data is necessary in order to make sure that the animals are healthy, as well as to provide the data for the creation of the so-called "leopard passport". Thanks to such passports, in the future, it is possible to accurately identify an animal by traces of its vital activity or photographs from camera traps.
Why are the exams necessary?
The final exams took place from July 3 to July 19. During this time, experts from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution. A.N. Severtsov RAS (IPEE RAS) and their colleagues from the Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories A.K. Tembotov RAS and from the Moscow Zoo observed the behavior of animals. Before being released into the wild, it is necessary to test the hunting skills of young leopards, to assess their psychological stability, and to make sure that the animals avoid humans and livestock. This data is crucial both for the safety of the animal itself and for the humans living in close proximity. Minimizing conflicts between man and leopard and good neighborly relations are one of the key topics in the Program for the reintroduction of the Central Asian leopard in the Caucasus.
“Four leopards passed the exams with excellent marks,” explains Anna Yachmennikova, an expert of the assessment group, Ph.D., senior researcher at IPEE RAS, “The female Aibga, in our opinion, can potentially become a conflict animal, since stable avoidance of humans was not noted in her. The final decision on this leopard will be made by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources. "
Why are the collars necessary?
The satellite collars, which World Fund for Nature Russia acquired with financial support from VTB Bank, allow scientists to quickly receive information on the whereabouts and movements of the animal, and, most
importantly, provides information about a successful hunt. As a rule, after catching a large animal, the leopard does not go far and stays near it for a long time until it eats it. “If the signal goes from approximately one place for a long enough time (48 hours or more), then this indicates that the leopard has successfully hunted and is nearby,” explains Valery Shmunk, Director of the World Fund for Nature -Russia Representation in the Russian Caucasus ecoregion. - After the predator moves away, a monitoring group is put forward to the identified cluster of locations (the place where many signals from the collar came from), which, following the traces of the leopard's presence, can be used to retrieve a lot of information: who the leopard was hunting, was the prey large, and after analysis, the leopard droppings provide information about the condition and health of the spotted cat and its nutritional structure, etc. "
Despite its impressive appearance, the collar weighs less than 3% of the body weight of a leopard and, according to research, does not interfere with the animal in daily life and hunting.
What’s next?
Now the animals will have to get used to the collars within 2-3 weeks. At this time, the members of the Working Group on the implementation of the Leopard Restoration Program in the Caucasus will determine the exact dates and places of release of specific leopards. “Preliminarily, we can say that one of the releases will take place in the Caucasian Reserve, and the second - in North Ossetia-Alania. When determining the locations, the relationship between newly released cats and those who already live in the region will be taken into account, ”explains Natalya Dronova, chief coordinator of World Fund for Nature -Russia conservation projects. To date, the males Akhun (release of 2016) and Artek (release of 2018) live in the Caucasian Reserve, and Volna (release of 2018) has successfully settled in North Ossetia.
References
By the 1950s, only a few leopards survived in the Caucasus. And in the 1960s, the Central Asian leopard was completely exterminated in the Russian Caucasus. In 2005, experts from World Fund for Nature Russia and IPEE RAS developed a program for the restoration (reintroduction) of the Central Asian leopard in the Caucasus.
The program for the restoration (reintroduction) of the Persian leopard in the Caucasus is being implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia with the participation of the Sochi National Park, the Caucasus Nature Reserve, the World Fund for Nature, IPEE RAS, A.K. Tembotov Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories RAS, Moscow Zoo, as well as with the assistance of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA).
Related materials: Another release of Central Asian leopards into the wild in the North Caucasus will take place in August
Kuban 24 (report on TV): In Sochi, the life of five leopards will be monitored using satellite collars