The initial stage of the snow leopard survey in the Altai Republic, which was executed with the support of the Interregional Association "Irbis" was concluded in the most inaccessible snow leopard habitat in the region—the Argut River valley.

The participants, who were employees of the Sailugemsky National Park, examined 29 camera traps and installed five new cameras.

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A total of five tracks of single snow leopards were recorded, with the majority being recent, indicating that the irbises are currently in a period of heightened activity, as the rutting season for these felines typically commences in February. The presence of numerous urine marks and fresh scrapes on trees was observed, suggesting that snow leopards utilize diverse markers to demarcate their territory and facilitate communication.

Denis Gulyaev, the coordinator of the irbis count in the Altai Republic and the Deputy Director of the Sailugemsky National Park, provided commentary on the findings.

In addition, the participants registered a female with two kittens and the tracks of two adult snow leopard next to each other— it is difficult to say whether it was a female with an adult kitten or a female and a male during the rutting season.

Experts are analyzing thousands of frames of automatic cameras from Argut and sharing only one video so far. The nighttime footage shows a female snow leopard in the Argut cluster of the Sailugem National Park. Due to the features of the camera trap, the night video is very short, but the female and three kittens are clearly visible. The kittens are playful, they feel good, they are already in their second year of life and they will soon be separated from their mother.

In total, according to data from 2024, the presence of at least 4 female snow leopards has been confirmed in the Argut River Valley— in the Sailugem National Park and adjacent areas. three kittens, and three families with two kittens.

The participants of the expeditions to the Argut River valley noted a high number of wild ungulates — maral, Siberian ibex, musk deer, which is typical for specially protected natural areas where regular patrols are conducted.

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In hard-to-reach areas, which can only be reached once every few months to check camera traps, we lose automatic cameras every year. Firstly, camera traps are broken by brown bears, whose numbers are very high. Club-footed people usually gnaw, break or collapse cameras so that it is impossible to find the devices. The most annoying thing is that we are losing some valuable personnel. Some cameras are turned off by ibex or marals. Ungulates approach video traps and rub their horns, sides, and muzzle against them, and simply collapse the camera traps, shifting the angle, making it difficult to get the right shots.

Denis Gulyaev, coordinator of snow leopard registration in the Altai Republic, Deputy director of Sailyugemsky National Park, noted.