A seminar on post-mortem examinations of wild animals was held at Land of the Leopard National Park to study potential diseases that Far Eastern leopards and Amur tigers could get from coming into contact with infected animals. Scientists have been collecting data about dead animals in the national park since 2013. However, this is the first year visiting veterinary studies of small mammals at Land of the Leopard have been organised together with researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

During the seminar scientists were taught about the techniques used when carrying out post-mortem examination techniques. During practical exercises, the scientists did an autopsy on small mammals that had been found no longer alive in the national park. The specialists described their anatomical features then followed by selecting biological material for special laboratory research.

“These examinations are crucial for fundamental research and for a complex approach to the conservation of rare species,” said Yekaterina Blidchenko, Land of the Leopard researcher and zoologist at the Tiger Centre. “It is important to understand what kind of diseases could be carried in the national park, what their dynamics are plus how we could prevent contagious pandemics. This research will help us identify the reasons behind why an animal has died. Such studies are not so common in Russia’s specially protected areas but veterinary examinations of wild animals should not be underestimated compared to other sorts of monitoring investigations.”