#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The Taimyr Nature Reserves united directorate held 2024 under the auspices of the Putorana snow sheep (bighorn). Before the New Year, experts presented a preliminary report on the data obtained during expeditions to the Putorana plateau.
These expeditions were financed by the Nornickel company in the direction of Biological Diversity.
The attention to this animal is not accidental: in the latest edition of the Red Book of the Russian Federation, the category of its rarity status (‘a species declining in numbers and (or) distribution’) has been changed for the bighorn sheep.
As experts said, the first trial count of the bighorn sheep population on the Putorana plateau took place in 1977: 1500 individuals were counted. Subsequently, according to experts’ estimates, this number grew. It was decided to verify the optimistic data in the course of large-scale research. In 2016, thanks to a grant from Nornickel’s charitable program World of New Opportunities, the Let’s Save the Bighorn Sheep Together conservation project was implemented. Taimyr Nature Reserves directorate developed and tested a methodology for aerial survey of snow sheep on the Putorana plateau. As part of the strategy for preserving the region’s ecosystems and biological diversity in 2022, Nornickel supported the initiative to study the rare and endemic subspecies with a declining population. Taimyr Nature Reserves and Nornickel jointly developed a program to study the Putorana subspecies of snow sheep, designed for the period 2023-2025, and began its systematic implementation.
As experts noted when summing up the interim results, most likely, the number of Putorana bighorn sheep does not exceed one thousand. Currently, the data on the total number of the subspecies in the habitat is being summarized. Scientists plan to make the final calculations in 2025.
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Text: Maria Sokolova, Photo: Taimyr Nature Reserves
