#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Today the Putoransky reserve celebrates its 32nd birthday. The reserve is the largest in Russia among the mountainous ones: its area is 250 thousand square meters. Due to the fact that the plateau was not seriously influenced by humans and retained its exceptional beauty, since 2010 the territory of Putorana within the boundaries of the reserve has become a UNESCO World Natural and Cultural Heritage Site.
In many ways, this was achieved thanks to the work of specialists who devoted many years to northern nature. One of these enthusiasts, Boris Pavlov, is called the inspirer and organizer of the Taimyr protected network.
Doctor of Biological Sciences, head of the scientific department of the Taimyr Nature Reserves directorate Leonid Kolpashchikov calls Boris Pavlov his teacher:
“During his school years, Boris read the works of Alfred Brehm and decided to devote his life to the study of animals. His peer friends dreamed of becoming artists, pilots, engineers, doctors, teachers – he wanted to be only a zoologist.
One day he read about the rose gull. The bird of extraordinary color captured his soul. He understood: he had to go to the North. The bird could be seen only there”, recalls Leonid Kolpashchikov.
After graduating from the institute in 1957, Boris Pavlov really asked to go to the farthest North, to Taimyr, where, by the way, there was a colony of rose gulls, as well as huge herds of wild reindeer.
In 1974, Boris defended his dissertation for the candidate of biological sciences degree.
“Since that time, research has intensified to study the resources of the commercial fauna, the number and protection of rare animals in Taimyr: red-breasted goose, bighorn sheep, musk ox and others”, notes Leonid Kolpashchikov.
And it is Pavlov who is called the inspirer and the main initiator of the Putoransky and the Purinsky reserves projects development. His contribution to the study of the Taimyr population of wild reindeer, the largest in Eurasia, was especially significant. Now it is considered the most studied among the large commercial populations of reindeer and caribou in the world, and management methods are recognized as the most successful. By the way, the population of the reindeer in Finland is equal to the people’s population of the country. And the Taimyrian reindeer differs from, for example, the reindeer of Norway who has got short legs and bigger shape.
In addition, the researcher made a contribution to the outstanding experiment of the 20th century – the re-acclimatization of the musk ox in Taimyr. He is the author of over 200 scientific papers and the most valuable book – Hunting in the Yenisey North.
For high achievements Boris Pavlov was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples, he was awarded the title of laureate of the USSR Council of Ministers Prize.
Earlier the Taimyr Nature Reserves directorate told how the reindeer migrates. In addition, we wrote that scientists are studying the dynamics of vegetation near Norilsk.
Text: Mikhail Tuaev, Photo: zapovedsever.ru and open sources
