Katon-Karagai State National Natural Park is a picturesque mountainous territory in the east of Kazakhstan. Natural vegetation is represented by a large number of higher vascular plants, mosses, lichens, fungi. Dense forests are the property of the national park. They perform a climate-regulating, soil-protecting, water-regulating role. The fauna is rich in diversity: 68 species of mammals, 282 species of birds, 3 species of amphibians, 6 species of reptiles, 17 species of fish, more than 10 thousand invertebrates. Five species of mammals – snow leopard, manul, stone marten, Altai mountain sheep and Ikonnikov’s moth, and about 30 species of birds are listed in the Red Book of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Snow leopard (UNCIA uncia) until the early 1990s, traces of the life activity of snow leopards were regularly found along the left bank of the Bukhtarma on the ridges of Sarymsakty, Tarbagataysky, South Altai, Kurchumsky. According to the research in the article “Observations of some mammal species of the upper and middle reaches of the Bukhtarma River”, senior researcher of the Department of Science, Environmental Monitoring and Information of the Katon-Karagai State National Nature Park Vorobyov Vladimir Mikhailovich on the Sarymsakty ridge, visual encounters with the leopard occurred several times. In July 1958, in the vicinity of the Kyzyl Kum pass, a leopard was observed lying on a stone not reacting to people. In 1960, a case of leopard extraction was known on the Sarymsakty ridge in the watershed saddle between the Sarymsakty and Stanovaya rivers. In the second half of August 1987, a hunting leopard was observed on the southern side of the Sarymsakty ridge at the headwaters of the Stanovaya River, in the middle of a marmot colony. Noticing the people, the animal disappeared into the nearest rocks, the marmots raised a hysterical whistle, it seemed that they all got out of their holes. In December 1990, a walking leopard was observed in the upper reaches of the Tautekeli River on the crest of one of the spurs of the Sarymsakty ridge. At the beginning of the winter of 1991, traces of the beast were found twice on the Kurchum ridge and on the Alatai pass – both tracks led across the road in the direction of the upper reaches of the Sorvenok River. In the second half of winter, when crossing the gorge of the Tautekeli River (a tributary of the Kara-Kaba), a snow leopard got into a trap set for a lynx, went into the mountains with the trap and was lost. Until 1991, snow leopard tracks were regularly encountered when crossing the gorges of the Tautekeli and Sarymsakty rivers, in the vicinity of the Obaly Pass. In the winter of 1992, on the Southern Altai ridge along the upper border of the mountain taiga, in the area of Lake Kara-Kol, the remains of musk deer, extracted by the snow leopard, were found – the beast ate the rear part of the carcass and went to the upper reaches of the ridge. After that, the traces of the snow leopard appeared only in the winter of 2008-2009 and were found throughout the snowy period in the upper reaches of the Sarymsakty River basin. In the fall of 2009, the traces of the life of the snow leopard disappeared again. On the Tautekeli River (a tributary of the Bukhtarma River) at the junction of the Southern Altai and Altai Tarbagatai ridges, there is a large wintering Siberian ibex in these places near the village of Arshaty, a snow leopard was recorded on December 11, 2014 by a photo trap (Chelyshev, 2014) installed by employees of the Katon-Karagai National Park.
– Photo traps have been installed on the territory of the Katon-Karagai National Park for the detection of birds. In December 2014, the image of the first leopard was recorded on the Southern Altai Ridge. From 2015-2016, there were images of bears, wolves, wild boars, deer, lynx, sable, foxes, hares, squirrels, marmots, Siberian mountain goats, listed in the Red Book of snow leopard, manul, Altai vultures, eagles. In March 2019 , at the initiative of local individual entrepreneurs G. Shaimardanov and K. Akhmetov’s GNPP bought cameras, binoculars, laptops, photo traps, items for photo traps, batteries, clothes for specialists. Within the framework of the UN development program, in October 2019, 30 photos of traps, thermal sensors-traps were donated to the Katon-Karagai GNPP,” says Erik Kassymov, Head of the Department of Animal Protection and Reproduction of the Katon-Karagai State National Natural Park.
To carry out work on the control of wild birds and the identification of animals listed in the Red Book, the specialists of the department, together with inspectors, created photo traps on the territory of the Altai, Arshatinsky, Chingistai forests. A photo trap has been installed on the Sarymsakty ridge since 2017.
– On the night of October 29, 2020, the snow leopard was photographed for the third time. This is the first photo trap of a snow leopard on the Sarymsakty ridge. In March 2021, during the next inspection, for the first time, a video of a snow leopard was recorded in a photo trap on the territory of the Arshatinsky forestry of the Uryl branch. On April 6, 2021, during the next inspection of the photo trap created by the Altai branch in the Altai Forestry, it was found that bears, moose, Altai vultures, squirrels, rabbits, wolves, lynxes, goats and snow leopards were trapped, – says Erik Kasymov.
Creating a photo trap requires a lot of physical effort, special physical training from specialists, especially in the winter months. It is not easy to go out to photo traps without protective equipment, to search for animal trails in the wild, walking on rocks and stone peaks at an altitude of 2000-3000 meters.
На снимке: охотовед – биолог Амир Базилов
– The snow leopard was filmed on Mount Sarybet, we have 4-5 photo frames from the photo trap that we installed there. There are a lot of rare red-book animals and birds in them. They are mainly placed on mountain and forest animal trails, as well as on rocks. Observation of animals is carried out using binoculars. When we make a detour where snow leopards walk, it is impossible to ride a horse there. We leave the horses with the inspector, and we ourselves go up on foot in a group of 3-4 people. We have to have mountaineering skills, we walk animal trails. We observe safety precautions, when a person comes face to face with a predator, he must slowly go back without provoking the beast. The beast itself does not attack a person unless it is unexpectedly frightened. We had no accidents with the rangers.
Once I met a bear, at a distance of 70-100 meters. The animals themselves feel the smell of a person and leave. Only poachers smear themselves with fat and use other tricks, huntsmen do not do this. Every day inspectors go up to the mountains, look and report on the situation. Recently, we took a photo of a trap where three brown bears, all of different colors, passed along the same path, with an interval of approximately 10-15 minutes between them. During the day, bears lie down in the shade, in the evening they go out to feed on roots. Any hunting activity is prohibited in our National Nature Park,” says hunting biologist Amir Bazilov.
На снимке: бурый медведь
The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a forest animal, a mammal of the bear family, one of the largest predators. A brown bear can be distinguished from other predators by its appearance: the coat on its skin is uniformly brown, rarely dark purple-brown, the hair is thick and elongated, therefore it is called a “brown bear”.
Previously, the beast was distributed throughout Europe, in the south the range reached the northwest of Africa, in the east through Siberia and China it reached Japan, in North America from Alaska to the north of Mexico. Currently, its population has been preserved in Western Europe, the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian Mountains, the Alps, the Apennines, Finland (the national animal), Scandinavia, Central Europe, the Carpathians, Near Asia, Palestine, from northern Iraq and Iran to northern China and the Korean Peninsula, Japan on the island of Hokkaido, North America, Alaska, western Canada, northwestern USA, Russia, eastern, southeastern, southern Kazakhstan.
In the Kazakh language, the mother bear is called “kirekey”, and the offspring are called “konzhyk”, “apanak” (up to 1 year). Brown bears are larger than males. There are light spots on the neck and chest of bears, which disappear with age. When a brown bear moves, it waddles from one foot to the other.
The largest male brown bear weighs 450 kg, and the largest female weighs 220 kg. The average body length of a brown bear is 160-200 cm, the weight is 80-250 kg, it has a thick neck, a large head, a short tail 12-16 cm long.
The canines of the brown bear are flat and convex, the incisors are very well developed. The brown bear climbs the trunk of a tree well, lives mainly in the same territory and moves in the foothills due to the change of seasons. Sleeps 5-7 months in winter, arranges dens in the forest or in caves. The length of the brown bear’s den is 90-150 cm, width 50-100 cm and depth 50 cm, covered with grass inside. When the bear goes into hibernation, he puts his hind paws on his chest, and holds his muzzle with his front paws. In this regard, there is a misconception among people that when a bear falls asleep, it sucks its paw, in fact this is not the case.
A brown bear reaches puberty at the age of 3-4 years, finds a mate in May-June, and in January-February two cubs usually already appear (very rarely 1 or 3 cubs). Cubs are weak at birth weighing 0.5 kg, their eardrum opens after 14 days, their eyes after 30-32 days. Cubs survive on their own only after 4-6 months of breastfeeding. After 5-7 months of sucking, the cubs first feed on larvae and pupae of insects, and from 7 months they begin to show predatory behavior. Basically, the brown bear feeds on the fruits and seeds of about 160 plant species. The bear is active in the morning and evening.
Sometimes it feeds on small worms, snails, insects, small rodents, attacks roe deer, wild boars, deer. This is a very strong predator, dragging 400-500 kg of prey through the forest. He is very attentive, has a well-developed sense of smell, sees well only up close. He likes to destroy hives and anthills, to feed on them. His main enemy is a leopard.
Often the brown bear is called the “forest master”. In nature, a brown bear lives for 15-18 years.
Siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus – bearing musk) is a small artiodactyl deer, a prominent animal, a representative of the musk deer family. It lives on the northern slopes of the Sarymsakty, Altai Tarbagatai, Southern Altai ridges, in the basin of the right bank of the Bukhtarma in coniferous forests, on steep and rocky slopes of gorges in the middle reaches of the Belaya River and the lower reaches of the Lukina River. In winter, several individuals gather and feed on lichens, taking them from the lower branches, collecting them from trees felled by the wind. Musk deer is a resident of the remote taiga, avoids open places, walks easily, thanks to four developed, mobile hoof toes that move apart when moving through deep snow without falling through the crust. After the erosion of numbers from poaching in the 90s, musk deer is very slowly recovering. The main deterrent factor at present is most likely predators: lynx, owl.
На снимке: манул
Manul (Felis manul– is a predatory mammal of the feline family.
The first mention of meetings with manul in the Southern Altai, the Narym ridge and the Kurchum River is given by G.S. Karelin, who visited these regions in 1840 and in 1843. There was no data on the manul’s habitation in the Bukhtarma region (zInchenko, 2006). The first fuzzy night shot of the beast, presumably identified as a manul, was taken on April 12, 2013 on one of the spurs of the Sarymsakty ridge on a trap photo provided by Oleg Loginov. The second clear picture was taken by a camera trap in April 2015 on the Altai Tarbagatai ridge, in the Serbet tract (Chelyshev, 2015).
Manul is included in the Red Books of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and China.
На снимке: Алтайский улар
The Altai ular (Tetraogallus altaicus) is a species of bird in the order Galliformes, Pheasant family (Phasianidae). A rare sedentary species. It lives on the low-snow slopes of the highlands of the Sarymsakty, Altai Tarbagatai and Southern Altai ranges, at altitudes of 2300-3000 m, on the right bank of the Bukhtarma on steep rocky slopes between the village of Arshaty and the village of Ust-cHindagatui at altitudes of 1500-1800 m. In summer, the ulars roam widely in the highlands. In winter, flocks of up to two dozen live locally in areas devoid of snow cover. Adjacent racks are often located at a great distance from each other. Over 30 years of observations in the Tautekeli River gorge (Sarymsakty ridge), the number of birds ranged from 5 to 15, such a low number may be due to the low success of nesting and wintering due to harsh conditions.
На снимке: ива сетчатая
Net willow (Salix reticulata) is a species of creeping shrubs of the genus willow (Salix) of the willow family (Salicaceae), a highly hardy, resilient plant. Thick pubescence prevents cold air from damaging living cells, as it creates an air layer near the surface of the leaves. The plant wraps a fluffy fur coat around vulnerable young leaves and inflorescences. Up to 8 cm high, up to 30 cm wide. Due to its low growth, the spread on the ground surface allows it to survive the winter, hide under the snow. The lifespan of the net willow is up to 50 years. The plant overwinters without shelter at a temperature of – 50C. Flowering from May to June. The vertically standing inflorescence is bright red, turns yellow by the time of flowering. Each shoot has 2-3 leaves. The leaf is rounded, ellipsoid, solid, with slightly curved edges with a mesh pattern of veins on which there is a pile. The leaves fall off in August, changing color from dark green to yellow. A short summer makes photosynthesis more intense, a developed network of veins, transport arteries helps to quickly collect sugars and other nutrients, and redirect them to the roots. They strengthen the plant in stony soil, extract minerals, water, synthesize useful substances that will flow up through the xelem vessels, providing the leaves with everything necessary for life.
The distribution area is the southern and northern regions of Europe, Eastern Siberia, the Far East of Russia, the northern regions of Mongolia, the Rocky Mountains in the USA, almost the entire territory of Canada. It grows near streams and rivers, on rocky, gravelly surfaces, in rock cracks, Arctic and Alpine tundra.
It has healing properties, young leaves and shoots are used for food, it is used as a multivitamin, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic among the peoples of the north. Decoctions treat colds, rheumatism, skin diseases, make wound-healing ointments. Aspirin was synthesized on the basis of salicylic acid in 1853, first obtained from willow bark. Shoots, leaves, roots are rich in natural anti-inflammatory agent, it is considered a source of vitamins, in particular vitamin C.
The ends and leaves of the branches are eaten by deer, in winter they dig willow branches out from under the snow. It is included in the diet of white partridges, hares.
На снимке: ива арктическая
Arctic willow (Salix arctica) is a species of deciduous stunted long-lived trees or shrubs from the genus Willow (Salix) of the willow family (salicaceae) with long, sinuous, creeping, brown branches, shiny green leaves. They are distributed in the northern, partially central regions of North America, Greenland, Northern Europe, the Far East (including Kamchatka), northern and northeastern regions of the European part of Russia, northern, less often central regions of Siberia. The northernmost tree in the world with a height of 10 cm – 2 m, leads a creeping lifestyle. It grows in the Arctic zone, on coastal mosses, forest edges and elfin thickets, snow-covered lawns, char and podholz belts, sometimes in the upper band of the forest belt of moss, moss-sedge, lichen, shrubby, spotted shrub-moss and swampy tundra, on mossy rocky and rocky slopes and their outcrops, slag fields, lava flows, in the upper reaches streams, highlands, up to 1700 m above sea level.
Ovate stipules are almost imperceptible, sometimes they develop into a wide upper leaf. The leaves are obovate or ovate, 1.5-5 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide, rounded at the tip, completely extreme, dark green shiny above, pale green hairy below.
The petioles are thick to the base, strongly expanded, 3-11 mm long. Men’s earrings are apical, 2-3 cm long, on long legs, bright pink; women’s earrings are 4-6 cm long, with gray boxes lowered. Bract scales are broad, dark red-brown or brown, blunt, with long hairs. The stamens are among two, free, glabrous; the ovary is dark red-brown, on a very short, whitish stem. The column is well developed, two-divided, up to 1 mm long, the stigmas are split, reddish. The fruit is a capsule 6-7 mm long .
In the North, it is almost the only source of vitamin C, the Yakuts call it “tea-talak” – a surrogate of tea. Eskimos use it for medical purposes, it softens toothache and stops bleeding, as fuel. Eskimos collect and bury the thick roots of the Arctic willow in the ground, in winter they remove the bark from them and use it as a seasoning with meat and fat.
Arctic willow buds are the main food source of the white partridge.
На снимке: гегемона лиловая
Hegemone lilac (Hegemone lilacina) is popularly called a blue light, a purple heat, an alpine rose.
A perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Kupalnitsa (Trollius) of the buttercup family (ranunculaceae). The plant is poisonous. It is listed in the Red Book of Buryatia. It is distributed over the high mountain ranges of Central Asia, Western China, Mongolia, Khakassia, Buryatia, Tuva, and the Altai Republic. In Kazakhstan, it is found in the Western Tien Shan, Tarbagatai, Altai, Zali, Dzungarian, Kyrgyz, Terskei and Kungei Alatau, Ketmen ridge.
Habitat conditions at an altitude of 2200 (Altai) to 3400 (Tien Shan) meters above sea level on mossy-sedge areas of snowfields, snow-covered meadows, stream banks, in moss-swampy tundra with a thick cover of moss and rare herbage. The purple hegemon blooms in May-July, bears fruit in August. Frost – resistant to -29 C.
The German-Russian botanist Alexander Andreevich Bunge in 1836 described this plant as a purple bathhouse, and in 1841 it was isolated into a separate genus Hegemone. Hegemon is the leader of Harith – the ancient Greek goddesses of graces, embodying a joyful, kind, eternally young beginning of life.
The flower of the bathing suit is whitish-light purple with a bright yellow stamen, single 3-5 cm in diameter, with numerous sepals. Sepals in the amount of 14-22, inversely ovate or ovoid, remaining with fruits. Rosette of leaves 5-7 cm, peduncle -10 cm. Petals-nectaries are greenish-yellow. The stem is straight or rising, not branched, 10-20 cm high, at the base is clothed with a brown vagina, bears petiolate basal five separate leaves, developing after flowering. The rhizome is shortened, densely planted with long cord-shaped lobes. The seeds are black, matte-shiny, almost triangular.
Автор – Дина Ораз.
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