Scientists noted the stability of wild animal populations in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve

The press service of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve reported on the results of winter route surveys of animals living in this specially protected natural area. In total, the accountants walked 250 km.

Initially, it was planned that the reserve staff would walk 400 km. However, due to the low-snow winter, some of the routes passing through the coastal tundra could not be covered.

Nevertheless, participants in the field work on accounting for background animal species and assessing their distribution in the territory noted the stability of populations of most species. In particular, the number of sable in recent years has remained at the level of just over 3,000 individuals. Wolves remain a small species. There are about a dozen of them in the reserve. The moose population is also stable. This year, scientists have counted over 300 individuals.

"The decline in the number of white hare has continued. This year, only 19 thousand individuals were counted, last year – 56 thousand, and at the peak of the hare population, which was observed in 2022, - 107 thousand," the message says.

Scientists emphasize that such fluctuations are an ordinary natural process. "With a high population density, hares do not have enough natural food. Mortality is increasing and the birth rate is decreasing. Females do not give birth to 7-8, but 2-3 hares. Then the number increases again," the press service noted.

During winter route surveys, the number of animals is calculated from their tracks in the snow, and the data obtained from all sections of the biosphere reserve are processed using a special technique. This method of estimating relative abundance is considered the most reliable and is widely used in Russian nature reserves.