In a rare and remarkable sighting, a snow leopard has been filmed using a standard mobile phone. The footage was captured by Vadim Nemtsov, a volunteer with the "On the Trail of the Snow Leopard" movement, during an expedition to check and install automatic cameras in the buffer zone of the Ubsunur Hollow Nature Reserve.

The video shows the snow leopard walking calmly up a mountainside, seemingly unaware of the people standing at the base of the rocky slope. While the video quality is modest, the distinctive coat of the rare predator is clearly visible, demonstrating how the irbis almost merges with the surrounding terrain. This natural camouflage helps snow leopards hunt and maintain their status as one of the world’s most elusive felines.

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Our reserve staff have studied the footage. The animal in the video is likely a female snow leopard named Bayara. She inhabits this exact area; we have recorded her here before, but now we’ve managed to film her with a mobile phone! I am proud of my rangers and immensely grateful for the support from the volunteers of the 'On the Trail of the Snow Leopard' movement and the 'Irbis' Association. The resources of protected areas are limited, so people and material support are crucial aids in our nature conservation work

Diinmei Balban-ool, Director of the Ubsunur Hollow Nature Reserve.

The expedition to the Mongun-Taiginsky District of the Republic of Tyva, which ran from 5th to 12th July, was supported by the Interregional Association "Irbis." It marked the first time in the history of the Ubsunur Hollow Reserve that volunteers from the movement participated in snow leopard monitoring efforts. These volunteers have for years been monitoring the snow leopard on the Altai section of the Chikhacheva Ridge in the neighbouring Altai Republic, in partnership with the Altai and Sailugemsky Nature Reserves.

Participants from Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Barnaul, and St. Petersburg, alongside reserve staff, covered eight high-mountain routes. They installed 18 new solar-powered camera traps in locations where fresh snow leopard tracks were found and checked previously installed cameras.

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On the Tyvan part of the Chikhacheva Ridge, we discovered more signs of snow leopard activity—paw prints, scrapes, and claw marks—than on the Altai side. However, the population of Siberian ibex, the snow leopard’s primary prey, was very low. During the expedition, we encountered only eight ibex. The predator’s food base is very scarce. The amount of livestock, including yaks, here is much greater than in Altai. This increases the risk of snow leopards attacking domestic animals due to a lack of natural prey

explained Igor Pautov, Head of the "On the Trail of the Snow Leopard" expedition and Strategic Development Advisor for the "Irbis" Association.

Expedition members also noted the near-total absence of marmots, which are also hunted by snow leopards. During their routes, the volunteers recorded Altai snowcocks, rock ptarmigans, cinereous vultures, roe deer, and musk deer.

Future plans for the "Irbis" Association, the volunteers, and the Ubsunur Hollow Reserve include sharing information on individual snow leopards, deploying professional remote systems with full-frame cameras, and expanding the use of solar-powered camera traps.