A snow leopard crouches low to the ground on a barren, snow-covered rocky ledge. This image, along with a sequence of other pictures showing the cat in its natural environment, was a thrilling discovery for SUNY-ESF biologist James Gibbs.

This marked the first time the rare snow leopard was photographed in the Altai Mountains near the Russia-Mongolia border.

Gibbs saw clues that snow leopards were in the area, such as scratch marks on trees and droppings, but it was the photographs that confirmed their existence, he said.

‘You can’t really get the world excited about a scar or a scrape,’ Gibbs said. ‘But a photograph is much more powerful than any math, statistic or data.’

Gibbs said he believes the photographs offer hope that the endangered snow leopards in the area could make a comeback if human factors such as hunting and poaching can be controlled.

The cameras that potentially caught two different snow leopards were supplied by the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry thanks to a $20,000 grant from Panthera, an organization that specializes in the protection of wild cat species.

The pictures were taken at a site called Chikhachyova Ridge in the Altai Republic of southern Russia between Oct. 26 and 30, according to a Dec. 2 ESF press release.

‘All of those cameras are still in place,’ Gibbs said. ‘We should be hearing soon if any more of the animals were sighted.’

James Arrigoni is one of three graduate students from ESF who were able to go on the expedition. The expedition often involved hiking 25 kilometers a day in the cold, barren grasslands and up steep, rocky slopes, avoiding the sensitive border areas between Russia and Mongolia. He accompanied Gibbs to Siberia last summer to install the cameras.

‘These cameras are much more accurate ways to survey populations,’ he said. ‘They can accurately recognize individuals by coloration patterns in the fur, and they can get population metrics.’

Gibbs also said it could be difficult to check cameras at an elevation of 4,000 meters, where temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. He said they are ‘part of a larger project that is moving ahead on many fronts.’

The project Gibbs referred to was the international survey of the argali sheep, the world’s largest wild sheep and a key prey source for snow leopards, which originally brought him and his team to the isolated Altai Republic.

The population assessment was organized through the Altai Project, an association working with international exchanges and nonprofit organizations to strengthen conservation measures, such as anti-poaching in the Altai region, according to its website.

Jacqueline Frair, an ESF wildlife ecologist who assisted Gibbs, said despite outsiders coming in to hunt the sheep, involvement of powerful countries can raise awareness.

‘Just having Americans there was a very political move to get local support for conservation,’ she said.

Other animals caught by the same cameras include rare Pallas’ cats, ibexes, wolves, lynxes, grizzly bears and giant vultures.

Gibbs said the Altai region is vital to protect.

‘These transboundary areas are important because they’ve never been conducive for economic development, so they tend to have a lot of wildlife that has been killed off elsewhere,’ he said.

Gibbs said he thinks it’s necessary to sustain all aspects of the expedition, including the alternative livelihoods, the anti-poaching and the biological surveys because they work together to reinforce conservation. He said he also hopes ESF’s involvement with the Altai Project will continue in the future.

‘Right now we are all madly writing grants for sustaining this effort for next year,’ he said. ‘So far we have been quite successful.’

smhazlit@syr.edu 

Published on January 22, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Shannon: smhazlit@syr.edu