Scientists wanted to carry out genotyping of Red Book Saker Falcons in Altai Altai Territory. Thus, Russian ornithologists could save the Red Book predator from complete extinction. This is reported on the official website of Altai State University.
Increasing the number of the Saker Falcon in Altai and returning it to its natural environment is the primary goal of all work, since the number of birds is decreasing every year. According to experts, this happens for several reasons: poachers catch predators and resell them to the Middle East for falconry, and Saker Falcons also die due to lack of food and dangerous power lines. As a result, in 2021, ornithologists were able to find only two nests of the rarest bird in the region.
The Altai-Falcon University Laboratory proposed a way to restore the number of falcons of this species. According to the director of the Zoological Center IBB AltSU, Professor Sergei Snigirev, this can be done by creating a genotypic cadastre of the Saker falcon.
will shorten the time for issuing a CITES certificate (CITES, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora). “And genotyping will help to exclude interspecific hybrids of the Falconidae family from the breeding plan,” the specialist concluded.
In November, it became known that dozens of Red Book Saker Falcons would be sent free in the Saylyugem National Park in Altai. Before that, they will be equipped with GPS sensors.
Earlier, a Russian photographer took pictures of rare gyrfalcones, considered to be the largest falcons. He was able to capture the predators playing hide and seek.