The Khakassky Reserve's research staff jointly with the conservation department went on a 35-day scientific expedition to the Pozarym Federal Nature Reserve, which is located in the Tashtypsky District of Khakassia. The expedition has also involved visiting experts, including Viktor Lukarevsky, leading researcher from the Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve, and Pavel Vlasenko, mammalogist and doctoral candidate at Tomsk State University.

The expedition is aimed at studying the composition, numbers and spatial distribution of animal populations in the reserve during the winter, check the installed camera traps, track the Siberian ibex population and study winter paths of animals using snow tracks.

During previous expeditions, researchers discovered a new habitat of the Siberian ibex which is the leopard’s main food source. The January expedition is aimed at better understanding the ibex’s population in this territory and checking whether snow leopards can also live there.

The Pozarym Reserve has the total area of over 253,000 hectares and links mountainous and taiga areas of the Khakassky Reserve with the specially protected areas of Alta and Sayany. The mountainous terrain, with an elevation gain of up to 1 km, makes the area difficult to access. Research work in the reserve involves the Khakassia branch of the Russian Geographical Society, the Khakassky State Nature Reserve, the Sayano-Shushensky State Nature Biosphere Reserve, the government of the Republic of Khakassia and the Strana Zapovednaya National Foundation.