Activities under the project The Snow Leopard: Mysterious and Vulnerable are carried out with grant support from the Russian Geographical Society. The goal of the project is to preserve and study snow leopard populations in the Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve, their northernmost habitat in Russia and the world.

All environmental and research activities under the project in the Sayano-Shushensky Reserve are conducted according to a schedule. Rangers from the rapid-response group regularly patrol on foot, by water and on horseback the areas of the reserve where the snow leopards live.

Researchers continue to study snow leopards in the reserve. Photos and video footage from trail cameras help them gather information about the elusive predators and monitor the life of snow leopards in the wild.

The female snow leopard in the reserve is now accompanied by two cubs born last year. The reserve staff already have video of the caring mother teaching the young leopards how adults hunt, in which the cubs are playing, and rare footage of her hunting, carrying an ibex kid in her mouth. The young show interest in camera traps, sometimes taking selfies and other times tearing them down in excitement.

In 2018-2019 two snow leopards, a male and a female, were brought to the reserve from Tajikistan with the support of the Russian Geographical Society under the federal programme The Snow Leopard: A Living Symbol of the Western Sayan Mountains. After the mating season, the female gave birth to two cubs in 2020. The monitoring of the snow leopard family continues.