Researchers have retrieved unique footage of the elusive snow leopards using motion-sensor cameras in the Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve. A new video shows a young female leopard basking in the sun as spring draws closer. The animal stopped to relax at a marking spot and spent almost two hours on a warm slope. When the camera trap was activated, the ambient air temperature was minus 23 degrees Celsius and later rose to minus two degrees Celsius.

Camera traps monitor snow leopards in the Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve under a programme to protect and study their population. Representatives of the Khakassia branch of the Russian Geographical Society are actively involved in the programme.