Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution. A.N. Severtsov (IPEE) of the Russian Academy of Sciences published the results of tracking three Persian leopards, which were released into the wild in the summer.
Male Leo and females Khosta and Laura were born in the Sochi National Park at the Caucasus Leopard Recovery Center in 2020. In mid-July of this year, they were released into the wild on the territory of North Ossetia. The cats were wearing GPS collars that allow you to determine the location of the animal once an hour and transmit data on its activity.
According to IPEE RAS, these wild cats have almost completely mastered the space of the Turmon forest. They gradually form habitats where nuclear zones can be distinguished (places where the probability of meeting an animal is highest).
“At the moment we can say that the ranges of the three leopards overlap by more than 50%. At the same time, the nuclear zones of the sites of females do not overlap at all, and the nuclear zones of the female Khosta and the male Leo overlap by more than 75%. In other words, the sisters Hosta and Laura separated after graduation and have little to do with each other. But the female Hosta is somewhat interested in the behavior of the male Leo and prefers to stay close to him and his habitat, ”the website of the scientific institute reports.
So, Laura mastered an area of more than 160 square meters. km and continues to expand the boundaries of its site. The cat has decided on a comfort zone - it is located at an altitude of at least 1000 m above sea level.
At Khosta, the habitat occupies a little more than 150 square meters. km, and Leo chose a territory of more than twice as large (370.7 sq. km), which is typical for males.
“Leo, like Khosta, prefers altitudes below 1000 m above sea level,” the IPEE RAS noted.
Leopards successfully prey on their natural prey species. The diet is based on badgers, foxes, raccoon dogs, jackals, roe deer and red deer.
“Of the three leopards, the female Laura most fully utilizes her prey, she is not too lazy to travel the longest distances in search of her roe deer, unlike Khosta and Leo, who spend their forces more carefully in search of victims. The longest breaks between hunts were noted by us for the female Khosta,” the institute said in a statement.
Leopards released in North Ossetia are the basis for the formation of the core of a new population. Theoretically, at least 50 leopards should live on the territory of the Russian Caucasus.
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