A team of Russian experts on the study and conservation of the snow leopard left the village of Kosh-Agach in high-terrain vehicles on July 22.

Specialists from Sailugemsky National Park (Altai Republic), representatives of the Interregional Association "Irbis" and volunteers will have to overcome hundreds of kilometers through off-road and high mountains to the Gobi Desert. Then experts on the snow leopard from Mongolia will join the work of scientists. The international team will work in the mountains of the Mongolian Gobi Desert until the middle of August.

The project is being implemented with the support of the Irbis Association.

Sailugem National Park staff regularly exchange information with environmental organizations in the north of Mongolia working in the territories bordering the National Park, have repeatedly visited these places on experience-sharing expeditions and are well aware of habits, abundance, and distribution of snow leopards in these areas.

“

During the current expedition, the Sailugem National Park staff will spend two weeks studying the experience of their colleagues in the very south of Mongolia, where the snow leopard lives in conditions that are not quite typical of it — in the desert mountains. Gobi, Toast National Park. We will share with our Mongolian colleagues ideas, methods, and tricks that we use to study snow leopards in the Altai Mountains. Thanks to the cooperation with the Irbis Association, the staff of the protected areas have already studied the experience of colleagues from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and India. This knowledge and experience will be useful for understanding the biology of the rare predator and, possibly, new ideas for its conservation.

Denis Malikov, director of Sailyugemsky National Park.

The head of the Interregional Association "Irbis" Daria Petrova, in turn, noted that one of the main tasks of the organization is to support scientific expeditions and research.

“

This time the expedition is of special interest- we are going to study a rare phenomenon— snow leopards in the desert. We are glad to have fruitful cooperation with our Mongolian colleagues and the friendly atmosphere that prevails during our joint research.