The famous leopard is known to many thanks to the wonderful poem, which very vividly describes the duel between the hero of the poem and this formidable predator. In fact, “leopard” is an outdated name for a special subspecies of leopard - Central Asian, whose original range covered the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia and the mountain systems of Turkmenistan and Iran. In the Caucasus, the leopard was quite widespread until recently and occupied almost all mountain territories, but due to intensive extermination in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, its numbers sharply decreased, and by now it has disappeared here. The Central Asian leopard is listed not only in the Red Book of Russia (category 1 - an endangered species from the territory of Russia), but also in the International Red Book.
This is a beautiful and graceful cat, and its body (without tail) can reach a length of 180 cm, and its average weight is 35 - 40 kg. The camouflage coloring allows the predator to sneak up on the prey unnoticed at a minimum distance of up to 2 m, but sufficient for a swift final jump. The leopard's footprint is rounded and very similar to that of a domestic cat, but measuring 12x12 cm. This large cat perfectly climbs steep rocks and trees, jumps up to 3 m in height, and up to 6 m in length. The main prey is representatives of ungulates (deer , roe deer, aurochs), and during the period of lack of food - hares, birds, small rodents. As a rule, a leopard lies in wait for its prey in ambush, often hiding on the lower branches of trees. The Central Asian leopard does not attack humans. The leopard prefers to stay in dense mountain forests at an altitude of 300 - 500 m above sea level. m., and does not rise high in the mountains, especially in winter.
To restore this rare animal on the planet in the Sochi National Park in 2010, not far from the Akhtsu gorge, the Center for Breeding and Rehabilitation of the Central Asian Leopard was created, where 4 leopards were initially delivered from Turkmenistan and Iran.
It is assumed that in the future the breeding stock will be increased, and the offspring obtained from them will be released into the wild on the territory of the Caucasus Nature Reserve. The program to restore the leopard population in the Caucasus has become a unique project that has no analogues in the world practice of restoring populations of endangered animal species.
The center is closed to the general public.
Sochi National Park, created in 1983, became one of the country's first national parks.
The area of Sochi National Park is 190 thousand hectares
The main part of the environmental protection zone is occupied by forests (more than 180 thousand hectares), the rest of the territory is hayfields and pastures, roads, clearings, water, and estates. However, the park does not include the Black Sea water area. The tourist service area is about 13 thousand hectares. Administratively, the park is divided into 15 forest districts, united into three large territorial groups: Adler, Central and Lazarevskaya.
This is a large natural site where subtropical vegetation is adjacent to snow-covered mountain peaks. In the north-west it is limited by the mouths of the Shepsi and Magri rivers, in the south-east by the border with Abkhazia. The southern and northern borders became the Black Sea coast and the watershed line of the Main Caucasus Range.
An ordinary trip through the Sochi National Park can take several days, and to get around it completely, not even a week is enough. The park is divided into two zones. The majority consists of mountainous terrain with numerous streams, while the smaller foothill zone along the coast is characterized by a leveled landscape.
Prices in Sochi National Park 2019
- Entrance to Sochi National Park - 100 rubles;
- Climbing to the observation tower on Mount Akhun - 100 rubles.
In addition, a separate fee is charged when visiting some other sites of the National Park in Sochi. If the official website is not available, then you need to clarify the information directly with the park administration - in person or through the specified contacts. Finally, you can ask questions to Sochi experts and experienced tourists (form at the bottom of the page).
Animals of Sochi National Park
The fauna is extremely diverse. Representatives of about 70 species of mammals live in the park. Among them are brown bears, lynxes, chamois, deer, wild boars, roe deer, wolves, martens, otters, badgers, hares and many others.
The natural conditions of the Caucasus ensured the appearance of endemics (a fifth of mammals): the Caucasian grouse, the Promethean mouse, etc.
The rarest species, for example the Aesculapian snake, are listed in the International Red Book.
Plants of Sochi National Park
The predominant species is the eastern beech, the trunk of which can reach 50 meters in height. Oak plantations are common on the southern slopes of the mountains. Only in the Caucasus can you find a relict species - European chestnut. The lacy foliage of boxwoods gives the forest a fabulous look.
Rare and valuable species listed in the Red Book of Russia (Lipsky tulip, etc.) are also found here.
Leopards in Sochi National Park
The Leopard Rehabilitation Center in the Caucasus, opened in 2009, is located in the vicinity of the village of Monastery, not far from the Akhtsu Gorge. This is the first specialized complex in Russia for breeding large predators.
The Central Asian leopard was listed in the national Red Book in 2001. This is one of the largest subspecies of leopards in the world. Massive poaching in the 1950s brought it to the brink of extinction. The center's specialists are trying to prevent this from happening.
During the existence of the center, 14 kittens were born in Sochi National Park. The first grown leopards were released into the wild in 2016. The center is closed to the general public, but broadcasts are available online on the website (may be interrupted).
Sights of Sochi National Park
The territory of Sochi Park contains not only natural, but also cultural and historical treasures of the region: dolmens and megaliths, cave sites, fortresses. Target places for most tourists are waterfalls, canyons and gorges, caves, mineral springs, lakes, Yew-boxwood grove, observation decks, picnic meadows, historical monuments and a thematic museum. The Sochi Arboretum is also under the management of the National Park.
Waterfalls of Sochi National Park
More than a hundred river waterfalls, falling from a height of 2 to 72 meters, are available to tourists in the National Park.
The Devil's Gate Canyon, 14 km from Adler, has good transport accessibility. The height of the rocks above the Khosta riverbed in this canyon reaches 50 meters.
Caves in Sochi National Park
Sochi National Park contains more than 300 natural caves. The longest is the Vorontsov cave system, 11,720 meters; excursions are held for tourists, several halls and grottoes are available.
The Akhshtyrskaya cave near the village of the same name is of greatest value for historical research. Previously, it was even closed as a “unique monument of primitive architecture,” but is now equipped and open for excursions.
Located in the Lazarevsky district, the Tiger Cave is formed by layered limestones, which gives it a “striped” color.
Recently, residents of the mountainous regions of North Ossetia began to encounter a large spotted leopard, the existence of which they had previously heard only from their grandfathers. As is known, the last Central Asian leopard in the North Caucasus was shot in the upper reaches of the Sunzha River back in 1949.
Alania inspector Marat Sakiev: Sooner or later camera traps will capture the leopard. Photo: Vladimir Anosov/RG
RG correspondents visited the Alania National Park, where they saw with their own eyes evidence that the leopard had indeed returned here. This means much more for the conservation of the region’s biological resources than it might seem at first glance.
Just last year, several of these amazing graceful cats were released in the Caucasus Biosphere Reserve (in the Sochi region, on the border with Abkhazia) in accordance with a special program for restoring the leopard population, approved by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources. However, according to scientists (they monitor the movements of animals using collars with GPS sensors), all of them are still located on the territory of the biosphere reserve. This means that the leopards that were seen in Ossetia came from Georgia.
While the shaking SUV was taking reporters to the borders of the national park, spread over almost 55 thousand hectares, the mountains behind the glass grew higher and higher until they finally supported the sky. Our guide was the leading researcher of the national park, candidate of biological sciences Konstantin Popov. He devoted most of his life to the study of plants and animals living in the Caucasus mountains, and there are few people who know this area as well as he does.
In Ossetian, a leopard is called a ferank, and the history of relationships with this animal was reflected even in the culture of the Alans, says Popov. - It is no coincidence that a stylized leopard is represented on the coat of arms of North Ossetia, and in the Middle Ages it was believed that a warrior in a leopard skin was invulnerable. The reason for the disappearance of the leopard in the Caucasus (as well as its reappearance) lies not simply in the killing of individuals. The problem of protecting ungulates in the region, which are its food supply, arises. If there are enough of them, the leopard will return and begin to live in mountainous Ossetia.
And already in “Alania” we met the rangers and hunters who had recently encountered the Central Asian leopard. One of them is an employee of the Kazbek Gamaonov National Park.
This happened just a couple of months ago. On that slope over there,” Kazbek Gamaonov pointed to the neighboring mountain, “I saw some kind of massive cat and at first I thought it was a lynx. It was about 800 meters away, so I immediately took out my binoculars and started looking. It turned out that it was not a lynx at all: the tail was long, the paws were more powerful, the color was spotted, and there were no “tassels” on the ears. At that second I couldn’t believe my eyes - there hadn’t been a Feranka here for a long time! Only my grandfather saw him live! I looked through binoculars and kept thinking: is this really the same leopard or is it just me?
This happened a few months ago,” recalls the local state inspector of the national park, Marat Sakiev. - We were walking around the territory, choosing suitable places for camera traps and salt marshes, when suddenly a spotted skin and a long narrow shadow flashed between the trees very close. Everyone, of course, was on alert, immediately grabbed their guns... And after a few steps they saw a torn to pieces. I know how wolves, lynxes and bears kill game. There was a completely different “handwriting” here. It looks like we accidentally ran into a Ferank. He noticed us, most likely, a long time ago, but we didn’t notice him and continued to move forward. The leopard had just caught the tur and did not want to leave it, so it hesitated for a long time. And it turned out that he let people get too close. We picked up the carcass of the tour and headed back. Finally, I was convinced that it was a ferank who killed the aurochs, only at home, after examining the marks from the fangs.
“A stylized leopard is even depicted on the coat of arms of North Ossetia, and in the old days it was believed that a warrior in leopard skin was invulnerable.”
If hunters and rangers had already encountered a leopard several times in the mountains of the Alanya National Park, but did not have time to photograph it, then the automatic camera traps worked, and the cautious cat was still captured by the camera lenses. This happened at the Gizeldonskaya hydroelectric power station in the Prigorodny district, near the village of Koban, just 25 kilometers from Vladikavkaz. After this, rangers of the national park began to actively install camera traps on trails where the Central Asian leopard could presumably appear.
Together with Alania inspector Marat Sakiev, we set off to check one of these traps. Alas, we were unlucky: there were traces of a bear, a wild boar, and the camera also recorded several wild piglets, but this time the cautious feranc was not caught on camera.
Sooner or later, camera traps will pick up a leopard, if it walks here,” says Sakiev, installing new equipment on a tree. “And this will be very important evidence for us, since it will help us find out the routes of movement of the beast.”
According to scientists, now it is in North Ossetia that favorable conditions have been created for the restoration of the population of the Central Asian leopard, which is included in the Red Books of Russia and North Ossetia - Alania. It is no coincidence that it began to appear here, coming from the territories of Georgia and Iran.
The fact is that in recent years we have increased the number of small ungulates, which are the leopard’s food supply, says Konstantin Popov, leading researcher at Alania, Candidate of Biological Sciences. - Restoring the number of chamois, aurochs and other animals in the Alania National Park and the North Ossetian Nature Reserve located to the east is a very long and painstaking work. But in the end, we are moving towards exactly the goal we talked about: it is important not only to release leopards in the Caucasus, but also to create conditions for them to hunt and live. Only in this case they will not leave for long and will gain a foothold in the territory of North Ossetia.
Second only to the tiger
The Central Asian leopard is the fourth largest cat on the planet, second only to the tiger, lion and jaguar. This is the largest leopard in the world. It usually weighs more than 50 kilograms and has a body length of 170 centimeters, if you do not take into account the size of the leopard’s tail, which is larger than that of other cats. This is due to the habitat and the need to make jumps of six to seven meters in length. The Central Asian leopard is often confused with the snow leopard, which lives in the mountains of Central Asia and has a slightly different color. However, these are two different lines of development of the cat family. Now in Iran, scientists count 600 individuals of the Central Asian leopard.
Marat Gatsiev, director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Alania National Park":
Now, within the framework of the state Program for the restoration (reintroduction) of the Central Asian leopard, several individuals have been prepared for release into the wild, and the territory of our national park is considered by a working group of scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences as the most suitable for this. Previously, as is known, several Central Asian leopards were released in the Caucasus Biosphere Reserve, and scientists are now monitoring them. I hope that the next stage of the program for restoring the population of this wonderful animal in the Caucasus will take place in North Ossetia.
thanks for the help
Journalists from the Krasnodar branch of Rossiyskaya Gazeta express their gratitude to the director of the Alania National Park, Marat Gatsiev, for his assistance in preparing the material.
On January 19, it became known about the death of the female Central Asian leopard Victoria, who was returned to the territory of the Caucasus Nature Reserve on December 28, 2017. The state program for restoring the population of her species brought Victoria to the ridge of Mount Akhtsarkhva, where the first release of three leopards took place in July 2016.
Scientists assessed the condition of the food supply in this area and were confident that the leopard would be able to survive the winter safely. Yuga.ru figured out what happened and how to return these beautiful cats to the Caucasus mountains.
Details of death
This was Victoria's second release into the wild. She and two males, Akhun and Killy, were released into the wild from the Leopard Recovery Center in July 2016. All animals were wearing satellite collars so that scientists could observe their movements and study their behavior in the wild.
And then, almost a year and a half later, in November 2017, Victoria was discovered by residents of the Abkhazian village of Lykhny: she was stealing chickens from the villagers. The leopard fell into a trap set by the villagers. The animal was immobilized, and a subsequent genetic analysis confirmed that it was indeed a female leopard released on the territory of the Caucasus Nature Reserve. Further veterinary examination showed the animal to be in excellent condition.
According to the press service of WWF Russia, Victoria successfully passed re-certification at the Sochi Leopard Recovery Center in the Caucasus and, according to scientists, should have survived the winter well - especially if she remains on the territory of the reserve. Victoria showed good results and coped with all the tests, including a test of a wild animal’s natural fear of humans.
The female leopard was released in the same area as when she first left the Caucasus Leopard Recovery Center in Sochi. During the examination, the cat was already wearing a satellite collar, which allowed scientists to ensure that it did not approach populated areas.
The release was observed by specialists from the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, the Caucasus State Natural Biosphere Reserve, the Leopard Recovery Center in the Caucasus, the Caucasus Nature Center ANO, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Moscow Zoo, as well as, at the special invitation of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Vadim Khintba, a resident of a village in Abkhazia, who reported the location of the leopard in November.
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Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Chief Researcher of the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve
“No one has yet canceled natural selection in nature, so we would like all the animals that we released to be alive. But this does not happen and cannot be. Therefore, losses are inevitable, and there will be more to come. We don’t know how many animals die naturally, how many puppies die, how many adults die. Therefore, all this is accumulating, and we have very little experience - only three animals were released. If only 30 were released, there would be some statistics, we could talk about something out loud.
The analysis is carried out by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation together with the Moscow Zoo. There will be official information. I can’t even guess what she will say, because this is a very complex question. But I can only say one thing: a loss is a loss.
If Victoria had died while hunting, there would have been an injury, it would have been immediately visible, but the initial examination did not show this. And no pathology of internal organs was shown. Perhaps an internal genetic analysis will show something, they will do a full examination and find out what happened. Then we will know in order to avoid mistakes in the future when preparing, feeding, or anything else. We don't have any reliable information yet.
Candidate of Biological Sciences, member of the field monitoring group for the movements and life activities of Central Asian leopards in the Caucasus
— Victoria has no external or internal signs of damage. Therefore, samples of brain and heart tissue were taken and taken away for diagnostics. All this lasts for more than one week, so we do not yet have data on any physiological problems in Victoria’s body. An autopsy was performed in Sochi, where the body remained, and tissues were taken to Moscow for analysis in the laboratory of the Moscow Zoo. The clear cause of death has not yet been established. She was found emaciated, but we don't know what caused her to not hunt.
The leopard is a perfect predator, absolutely adapted to life in the wild, it has no enemies, a forest full of animals: roe deer, wild boar, and smaller animals. In principle, if a hunt is not specifically organized for him, then he is quite comfortable being here. This is its historical habitat, it has always lived here, people exterminated it in their time.
The leopard is not only strong, but also smart, avoiding encounters with bears. If a leopard is sitting on prey that it has killed, and a bear appears, the leopard simply quietly moves away and abandons this prey. And as much as we have been observing, for more than a year and a half, we have never seen open clashes or conflict situations between a leopard and a bear. But we regularly record that leopards are leaving this place. There are no obvious causes of death, so we are waiting for the results.
All this is sad, and I feel incredibly sorry for Victoria, but in fact, nothing terrible happened. Of course, it would be nice for us to understand the reasons.
Historical excursion
The story of the disappearance of this powerful and beautiful cat in our area is sad.
The Central Asian leopard is one of the largest leopard subspecies in the world. Before the serious development of natural territories by humans, the leopard was widespread in the Caucasus and occupied a habitat between the Caspian and Black Seas. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the conflict between man and leopard became increasingly acute; it was allowed to kill it at any time of the year and by any means, including snares and poisoned baits. The ungulates that the leopard fed on were also destroyed.
After the revolution, the last refuge of the leopard was destroyed - the reliably protected mountain-forest territory "Grand-Ducal Kuban Hunt". In 1924, the Caucasian Nature Reserve was established on these lands, but mass poaching continued in the 1920s - 1930s and during the Great Patriotic War.
By the 1950s, only a few leopards survived in the Caucasus, and it can be said that the species was completely exterminated from the wild nature of the North Caucasus. Today, leopards only occasionally enter the Russian Caucasus through the Transcaucasian republics from Northern Iran.
60 years after the disappearance of the leopard, scientists are deciding to take an ambitious step - to return the predator to the mountains of the Russian part of the North Caucasus. And since 2007, on the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a program has begun to restore the Central Asian leopard in the Caucasus.
Return of the Leopard
The only way to return the leopard to the Russian Caucasus is through reintroduction, the recreation of a population that has completely disappeared in this area. Selected pairs of Central Asian leopards are required to produce offspring in captivity, and most importantly, to prepare the born kittens for independent life in the natural environment. Scientists believe that for a sustainable population, the number of leopards in the Caucasus must be at least 50 individuals. For this purpose, a Leopard Rehabilitation Center in the Caucasus was built on the territory of the Sochi National Park.
From 2009 to 2012, leopards were brought to Sochi from Turkmenistan, Iran, and the Lisbon Zoo. The first kittens appeared at the Leopard Recovery Center in July 2013. In total, 14 kittens were born here from 2013 to 2017.
The center itself covers an area of 12 hectares, there are 27 enclosures for keeping, breeding and training leopards.
What's next
The main and most encouraging news at the moment is that according to the forecasts of scientists at the Sochi National Park, in 2018, from three to five leopards born and raised in Sochi will be released into the Caucasus Mountains.
Professor Kudaktin talks about immediate plans to release leopards into the wild:
- Immediate actions: four individuals - three females and one male - are being prepared for release into the wild, undergoing testing, after which they will pass an exam. There are five individuals living in total, but most likely four will be tested, because there is a suspicion that not all will pass it. There are hopes that the females will be released as long as they behave the most actively, and while their educational qualifications are very good.
Now the question is being decided - to put everyone in one place or to separate them into groups. But most likely, they will be released into one place in order to create some kind of stable, at least small, population group that will live in some place. We already have a signal field where our animals left marks, so it will be easier for those following, and even easier for those following them. Various types of difficulties will appear before the kittens arrive. When the kittens reach the age of puberty, then we can say that the process has gone in an irreversible direction, since they will be self-reproducing animals fully adapted to the wild.
Therefore, when we released three individuals - two males and one female - we did not expect much result. We just watched, worked out the methodology, what would come of it.
As planned last time, we want to release them at the end of May - early June, when the maximum number of newborn young animals among artiodactyls, the grass is low, and the living conditions are the best. And winter is far away. At this time, leopards have the most optimal conditions for successful hunting and feeding, and it is easiest to adapt to the environment.
All individuals will be released at the age of two years, after the moment of severance of family ties, which occurs at the age of one and a half years. The female no longer looks after the leopard anyway; he is already an adult. And this time is the best, because he does not yet have his own signal-biological field, his brain is also slowed down, he is not very prone to large migrations. And the older ones, three years or more, begin to migrate widely, and it is more difficult to observe them and predict their further behavior.
Two years is the optimal age when they can hunt on their own, do everything, they no longer need their mother, but they do not yet have their own territory and can stay in place. And older people can go further to Elbrus. Males can generally make large migration trips. It happened with us too - the males began to walk back and forth, and the female lived in one place for almost a whole year.
They reach sexual maturity by the age of three. If we release this year, the female could potentially bear offspring in 2019.
Leopards will live in our mountains. We will win, the process has begun - the first cats are already in nature.
— Five more individuals are being prepared for release, but how many will be released is not yet clear. That is, leopards must pass appropriate tests for reaction towards humans, for success in hunting wild animals, dozens of tests that are developed for this. And only after all these tests a decision is made about release.
Now these five kittens are being trained in the enclosure complex at the Leopard Breeding Center. They do not communicate with humans; they have a special lifestyle that is aimed at minimizing contact with humans. Both in the process of feeding and in the process of immobilization. There are actually no people there; several employees release live game into the enclosure so that the leopard cannot see them. Our leopards, which were released for the first time, got themselves a large ungulate in the first week; Akhun actually got an adult male deer with antlers, weighing 10 kg each. I got him completely professionally, cutting his throat and arteries, avoiding sharp hooves and horns. The instincts of a wild animal do not go away, -
The lives of others
There are 540 leopards in the world today, of which 450 live in the wild, 2 leopards live in the Russian part of the Caucasus Mountains.
— There are probably still a number of leopards walking in the mountains, maybe two, maybe three. Maybe our males will go somewhere, maybe other males will come to our females. This is very good for us in the sense that we will receive some information.
We are constantly collecting data on leopards: we saw them in the Kodori Gorge, and in North Ossetia they were caught by a camera trap, and on our border with Karachay-Cherkessia, border guards saw them, and they saw them in Fisht, and in Dagestan. That is, leopards periodically appear in the Caucasus. Maybe interest in this leopard grew, and people began to look, call, and report. The more information we receive about where we saw animals, the more interest it will be for us, and based on this we will make a forecast - places that are more optimal for life, how to expand them. This whole process is permanent, long, not one day, unfortunately or fortunately, - , Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Chief Researcher of the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve.
The chances of meeting a leopard in the Krasnodar Territory and neighboring republics are extremely small, but they still exist.
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— Akhun was recently encountered in the central region of the reserve, away from the lake river. We also have information about him, but less than about the other leopard, because it is too difficult to access. There are basically no people there at all. Even if there are traces, there is no one to detect them.
The released kittens will have collars, and the same monitoring will be organized for them to track their movements, food and all that. Once the food runs out (it lasts 63 weeks), it has a self-resetting function - it unzips and beeps. We use these signals to find the collar.
Our two leopards came out wearing a collar for the entire prescribed period - and nothing happened. After the reset, we monitor the entire animal world, as they say. We informed the population of nearby villages and villages that you can meet a leopard in your forests, handed out instructions on how to behave with a leopard and what to do if you come across tracks, how to take the right photo, who to send it to, where to call - and all this works. In January we have now received at least three, and most likely four, reliable evidence of the discovery of leopard tracks. These are the foothill areas of Adygea between the settlements of Dakhovskaya and Novoprokhladny, the Sahrai valley, the left bank - here the modern presence of the leopard is reliably known. And we, knowing this situation, are already placing camera traps in this area in order to determine the area where these traces are most often found. If it snows, we can organize a trail count. Maybe we'll get lucky and stumble upon fresh leopard tracks. And today I started setting traps there, I’ll continue tomorrow.
Leopards have an individual pattern of spots. We have them photographed, so we can determine who it is by the spots, but we already presumably know from the spots that it is Killy, who was released in 2016.
The chance of meeting a leopard is minimal, but it does exist. Because Killi in Adygea was seen visually: once during the day, once at night on a thermal imaging camera. But these are all random encounters, the person is very lucky. But purposefully organizing visual observation, I think, is simply unrealistic.
Of course, surveillance cameras record leopards quite rarely, but leopards were regularly seen in Ossetia. In Dagestan, there are regularly reports of seeing a leopard; in 2015, they were even filmed on a phone camera - well, the man was lucky. But we still think that the Russian part of the Caucasus does not have its own leopards, its own permanent, breeding group. Most likely, these are migrants from Transcaucasia, - , Candidate of Biological Sciences, member of the field monitoring group for the movements and life activities of Central Asian leopards in the Caucasus.
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