A pair of curious snow leopard cubs give a poorly hidden camera trap in the Russian wilderness a severe mauling.
Footage recorded in Saylyugemsky National Park on the mountainous border with Mongolia shows the pair apparently fascinated by the high-tech kit.
As they inspect it front and back, they sniff and paw at it before one decides to discover if it would be good to eat and they rip away a segment like a pair of bored teenagers.
Meanwhile, unknown to the cubs, its sister camera on the other side of the clearing records their every move.
Baffled park officials say snow leopards outdo wolverines and even bears when it comes to roughing up the expensive cameras, used to establish wildlife numbers.
A statement from the park obtained by Newsflash said: “Two snow leopard cubs sniff, bite, and then completely tear off part of the automatic camera.
“This video was received by employees of the Sailyugem National Park during a snow leopard count on the Yuzhno-Chuysky ridge as part of the all-Russian snow leopard count, which is supported by the Interregional Irbis Association.”
Park deputy director Denis Gulyaev, coordinator of the snow leopard registration in Russia, explained: “Animals, including bears and wolverines, have already broken the camera traps of the Sailyugem National Park more than once.
“But in recent months there has simply been some kind of invasion of snow leopards – snow leopards have got into the habit of gnawing and destroying automatic cameras.
“This time, for the first time, I see cats completely breaking out part of the chambers and chewing it in half.
“At first, when I approached the camera, I thought that it was a bear or even a person who had done it.
“But the camera that we had prudently installed opposite filmed the crime scene.
“It turned out that the camera trap was of interest to two grown-up snow leopard kittens.
“The camera also caught the mother right away, but she behaved more decently.
“We found the memory card of the camera trap nearby, there is a tooth mark on it, but in general it is not damaged, and thanks for that.”
Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN’s) Red List of Threatened Species.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
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