The Russian Academy of Sciences’ Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution has published a new English language monograph titled Study and Monitoring of Big Cats in Russia (2019) that contains recommendations on how to observe big cats in their natural surroundings and habitats.

The monograph analyses and summarises virtually all available sources of literature on the monitoring of big predators in the modern world. Its authors focus on remote and non-invasive methods of studying animals in their natural surroundings.

The book explores all fieldwork methods for the collection of data on felines listed in the Red Data Book, as well as advanced data processing options. Its authors discuss various methods for collecting biological samples. They also provide detailed methodological recommendations for working with GPS collar data and information provided by automatic photo-and-video camera traps. They show how to process samples collected for molecular and molecular genetic research.  They outline the results obtained during projects to study and monitor big cats, including Persian (Caucasian) and Far Eastern leopards, snow leopards and Amur tigers, as part of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Permanent Expedition to Study Animals Listed in the Russian Red Data Book and Other Important Wildlife in Russia.

The monograph’s authors: Vyacheslav Rozhnov, Anna Yachmennikova, Sergei Naidenko, Jose Antonio Hernandez-Blanco, Maria Chistopolova, Pavel Sorokin, Dmitry Dobrynin, Oksana Sukhova, Andrei Poyarkov, Natalia Dronova, Sergei Trepet, Alim Pkhitikov, Rustam Pshegusov and Magomed-Rasul Magomedov.