This rare predator has not been recorded in Georgia since 2009, when it was last spotted in the Vashlovani National Park. Recently, the researchers from the NGO Nacres Species Conservation Center (Nacres) managed to get unique footage of this cat, the press service of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation reports.
The pictures were taken with a special camera trap, which in August 2021 was installed on the territory of the Tusheti National Park (the Kakheti region) at the initiative and financial support of the Caucasus Office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Specialists of the Leopard Restoration Center in the Caucasus of the Sochi National Park do not exclude the possibility that this individual could have come to Georgia from the territory of Russia, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation noted.
The Central Asian subspecies of the leopard has historically inhabited the territory from the North Caucasus to the Red Sea and from the Bosphorus to Pakistan, but in the 20th century, its areal has significantly decreased.
“In the Caucasus, the Central Asian leopard once occupied almost all mountain areas up to heights of about 4 thousand meters, and also lived in the floodplain forests of large rivers. The main reason for the almost complete disappearance of the subspecies in this area was the destruction of its habitats,” the ministry said.
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