AltSU scientists help red book birds survive Siberian frosts

A sharp cold snap that came in the last days of November in Altai Krai is dangerous for birds, especially for birds kept in captivity or in artificially created conditions, where they are completely dependent on humans. There are more than 100 Saker Falcons from the Red Book of Saker Falcons in the laboratory of the nursery of rare birds "Altai-Falcon" of Altai State University. In nature, these unique inhabitants of the Altai-Sayan mountain knot and the Mongolian steppes begin to hunt more actively when cold weather sets in - additional calories help the birds not to freeze.

To help the birds survive this difficult time, employees of the Altai Falcon rare bird nursery are on duty around the clock. Every hour they give the birds warm food: chickens, chicken heads and necks. If the bird does not finish eating them, the remains of food are collected and a fresh portion is laid out.

“An additional increase in the volume of the diet and the frequency of feeding made it possible to preserve the livestock and avoid the death of birds from hypothermia,” said Director of the AltSU Zoological Center, Doctor of Biology, Professor Sergey Snigirev.

Speaking about the uniqueness of the nursery of rare birds, it should be noted that after the establishment of snow cover, scientists begin to process the results of expeditions or experiments in experimental areas. Keeping animals is the most difficult, labor-intensive activity. In addition, taking in the account the physiological and biological characteristics of wild birds taken from nature and placed in captivity or artificially created habitat.

— I am grateful to the staff of the nursery for their responsible and caring attitude towards their wards. A freezer purchased for the nursery a year ago allowed us to provide a supply of feed in such cases. Thanks to this, we are always ready to help our pets survive the winter and enter the breeding season (February-March) in good physiological condition. This is very important, because the university for the first time in Russia initiated selection and breeding work with various morphotypes of the Altai Saker Falcon. 22 breeding pairs and 38 young animals of the so-called repair group have been formed. These are birds born in 2020-2022, which will help increase the number of breeding birds by 95% in the future. Two years ago, the university’s property was only two breeding pairs. The rest of the livestock was rented from OOO “Altai-Falcon”. Having non-borrowed livestock is extremely important, because in the course of scientific activity we are working on fixing the phenotypic features of the so-called Altai gyrfalcon. These are dark-colored birds with transverse stripes on the neck and chest. We also started breeding a new breed – totaly black falcons. Before us, no one in the world tried to purposefully breed birds according to several morphotypes. If we succeed, we will be able to apply for the recognition of the black morph as a breed, as well as create a university brand in the field of biology. In addition, we will be able to start restoring the population of the Altai gyrfalcon in the area of ​​​​their original habitat - the territory of the Sailyugemsky National Park,”  Sergey Snigirev said.