Snow leopard surprise in eastern Mongolia

Snow leopard ascends a steep rocky slope

The recent discovery of a snow leopard in Mongolia’s Ikh Nart Nature Reserve—more than 250 km (155 miles) from the nearest known population—is one of the easternmost observations of the species and has big implications for understanding the species and improving conservation planning. Although Ikh Nart is in a region assessed to be a low-quality…

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2022 – Year in review and an invitation

Winter aronia berries.

Saying that a lot has happened this year is a wild understatement. At The Altai Project, we have launched a multi-year initiative in Central Asia and adjusted ways of working in Russia and Eurasia. We are continuously assessing and adapting as the waves of change roll over us.

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Kazakhstan taking steps to protect Snow leopards

The snow leopard is one of Kazakhstan’s rarest animals and a national symbol. Populations are scattered, stretching from high, rugged mountain range habitats in the east (administrative regions of East Kazakhstan and Almaty) to the south (administrative regions of Zhambyl and South Kazakhstan), complicating getting an accurate population count. Estimates place the number of snow…

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Fall 2017 Updates

Snow leopard making a scrape with its hind legs at a marking site

Earlier this summer, researchers obtained camera-trap photos of a mother with three adolescent kittens at her side traversing a hillside and strengthened their knowledge of 25+ individual cats in Altai Republic! 

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Graduate internship in snow leopard research

Enjoy this video created by The Altai Project’s 2016 intern, Audrey Jost. In it, she documents her collaboration with a local snow leopard expert and his team at Altaisky State Nature Reserve. You can read her article about her time in Altai here.

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