New photos of leopard taken in Mangistau region

In 2024, the implementation of an international cross-border project for the study and protection of the Central Asian leopard with the support of grants from National Geographic and the Segré Foundation and the participation of Conservation X Labs. The main contractor of the Project in Kazakhstan is the public Foundation "Center for the Study and Conservation of Biodiversity" (BRCC) with the participation of the Kazakhstan Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity (ACBK).
In September 2024, employees of the Ustyurt State Nature Reserve (Mangystau region, Kazakhstan), after a long break, checked the camera traps previously installed within the framework of this Project. The main result: for the first time after February 2022, the presence of another male Asian leopard was confirmed in 4 different areas (tracts) of the reserve in the period from January 8 to August 25, 2024. The photographs at our disposal allow us to establish in advance that this is not the same specimen that was noted on the territory of the reserve in February 2022.

Photo of leopard from a camera trap on the territory of Ustyurt Natural Reserve, Mangistau region, Kazakhstan. 18.04.2024 г.

Also good news came from colleagues from the regional natural park “Kyzylsai”: on September 19, 2024 in one of its clusters a photo of a leopard was also received on a camera trap.

Photo of a leopard from a camera trap in the Kyzylsai Nature Park, Mangistau Region, Kazakhstan. 19.09.2024 г.

The straight line distance from the leopard photo-fixation site on August 25 in the Ustyurt Reserve to the leopard photo-fixation site in the Kyzylsai Nature Park on September 19 is about 210 km. The photo and video materials at our disposal do not yet allow us to individually identify leopards recorded on the territory of the Reserve and the Nature Park. Therefore, considering the distance (about 210 km in a straight line) and relatively short time interval (about 3 weeks), we can assume two variants of events: either the leopard has moved such a significant distance from the south to the north, or two different leopards are currently present on the territory of Mangistau region.