The first full-scale aerial count of wild ungulates was carried out at Land of the Leopard National Park, the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve and the protected zone of the national park. Experts from the research department surveyed the entire southwest of the Primorye Territory from a helicopter in order to calculate the density of the populations of sika deer, roe deer and boar.

The aerial count is considered one of the most trustworthy methods of estimating the population of wild ungulates. December 2019 is the first time in several years that Land of Leopard has had all the necessary conditions in place to conduct the count.

The total length of count routes exceeded 1,000 kilometres, with over 1,300 sika deer and about 300 boars recorded. During the flight, experts from Land of the Leopard also saw a tiger and two Far Eastern leopards.

“Thanks to this aerial count, for the first time since Land of the Leopard was established, we will have precise scientific data about the density of wild ungulate populations that we can use to calculate their real number,” says Yury Darman (PhD in Biology), deputy director for research at Land of the Leopard. “The results will be summed up at the end of the year.”