An article about our project to conserve wild cats of Kazakhstan in Selevinia magazine

The next issue of the zoological journal-annual of Kazakhstan and Central Asia "Selevinia" for 2023 has been published. This is the first scientific zoological journal in the Kazakhstan-Central Asian region, published since 1993. The archive of journal issues and rules for authors are available on the journal's website: https://selevinia.kz/.

This issue contains a report on the progress of the project on the study and protection of the Central Asian leopard Panthera pardus tulliana in Kazakhstan, which is being implemented by BRCC in 2023-2025 with the participation of ACBK. The publication contains information about the prerequisites for the implementation of this project and the current status of the Central Asian leopard in Kazakhstan; about the goals, objectives and main results of the project for 2023.

In particular, the presence of another, at least the fourth in the last 20 years, leopard specimen in 2022-2023 on the territory of the Mangistau region was confirmed; as a result of successful cooperation with the Border Service of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the first model passages for ungulates were equipped in the border wire fences on the sections of the state border of Kazakhstan with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan; Direct contacts have been initiated between representatives of the Border Services of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan with the participation of official and public environmental organizations of the two countries, which opens up the prospect of solving the problem of cross-border migration and improving the condition of populations of ungulates, which are the basis of the leopard's food base.

Photo of the pronghorn leopard from a camera trap installed on the territory of the Ustyurt GPZ. 17.02.2022

The complete 31 issues of the Selevinia magazine for 2023, including the publication "Project for the study and protection of the Near Asian leopard Panthera pardus tulliana in Kazakhstan in 2023-2025: first results and prospects", is available on the journal's website: https://selevinia.kz/.

In addition, the same 2023 issue of Selevinia contains another short report on a two-time attack on children by an injured golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos in the Mangistau region of Kazakhstan in 2021-2022, by members of the Leopard Research and Conservation Project team in Kazakhstan. The authors reasonably suggest that the injuries were probably sustained by the golden eagle when it fell into a trap set at a den and rendered its hunting of natural prey ineffective. The lack of fear of humans is probably due to the bird's prolonged captivity. The combination of these factors apparently caused the golden eagle to attack children.

Traumatized golden eagle at the moment of its return to its natural habitat in Karakiyan district of Mangistau region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The absence of terminal phalanges of fingers with claws on the left paw is visible. Photo by B. Kozhashev