Specialists from Land of the Leopard National Park in the Primorye Territory have obtained striking footage of a snow leopard, listed in the Red Data Book. The footage shows a male leopard Poltavsky (Leo 77M), who used to live outside the national park’s territory some time ago, now decided to revisit his former home. The animal owes his name to the adjacent Poltavsky Wildlife Refuge, frequented by him.

A camera trap photographed the leopard in the national park’s northern section, used by leopards to develop new territories elsewhere.

In this video, six-year-old Leo 77M strikes a beautiful pose on a cliff near a steep abyss, as if deliberately posing for the camera.

“In this video, the leopard is not just relaxing, he has settled down comfortably on this observation deck, where there are views of the surrounding pristine forest and good acoustics. This is important to predators in the wild. However, onlookers might get the impression that the leopard really enjoys meditating and admiring the surrounding beauty,” said Yekaterina Blidchenko, a staffer with the Research Department at Land of the Leopard National Park.

It is hardly surprising that Poltavsky has showed up in the national park. His vast habitat allows him to roam the neighbouring wildlife sanctuary and to visit the park now and then. The snow leopard population continues to grow steadily on the protected territory, and it has increased from a critical 35 animals in the early 21^st century to 121 today.