Eastern tur inhabit elevations between 1,000 and 4,000 m a.s.l. Although the mountains in their range can reach 5,000 m asl, Tur seldom rise above 3,500 m asl. They live in forests found up to 2,600 m, and in subalpine and alpine meadows and rocky talus slopes at higher elevations. Animals avoid thick forests on gentle slopes, but stay readily in open forests growing on steep precipitous slopes. During winter, the proportion of animals dwelling below timberline increases (Veinberg 1984). On average, 34% of Eastern tur lived in the forest throughout the year in Georgia (Ekvtimishvili 1952). Some forest-dwelling populations in Azerbaijan may be completely (Vereshchagin 1938), or more possibly semi-isolated from subalpine and alpine zones. In summer, adult males typically inhabit higher altitudes than females and young (Veinberg 1984). During the harsh winters, tur concentrate on sunny slopes; during the summer, animals expand their distribution to slopes of different exposures (Veinberg 1984, Zalikhanov 1967, Magomedovet al. 2001). Seasonal migrations rarely exceed 5 km (Veinberg 1984, Zalikhanov 1967). Eastern tur consume 256 plant species in Daghestan (Abdurakhamanov 1977).

Animals form mixed, adult male-female groups in November, just prior to rut. These disband by mid-January or the beginning of February at the latest and adult males and females live separately until the next rutting season (Veinberg 1984). Females give birth predominantly to just one kid (Veinberg 1984). Proportion of kids may exceed 20% in Azerbaijan (Kuliyev 1981) and Daghestan (Magomedovet al. 2001), but reach only 16.5% in North Ossetia, while yearlings make above 7% there (Veinberg 1984). Sex ratio favours males in protected populations (Weinberg 2002a). Mortality is about 60% in juveniles (Veinberg 1984), and about 20% in animals 1-9 years old, being higher in males than females (Magomedov et al. 2001).

Yearly changes of overall group size depends on the reproductive cycle. Rugged and precipitous terrain reduces group size (Veinberg 1984, Weinberg 2004). Mean group size also correlates with population density (Magomedovet al. 2001). Overall mean group size is below 10 in North Ossetia (Veinberg 1984), but reached ca. 78 in Azerbaijan (Kuliyev 1981). Average population density varies from 0.15 to 17 animals/km² (Weinberg 2002c).

Eastern Tur serve as prey to wolf Canis lupus and lynx Lynx lynx, and are also killed by snow avalanches. However, the significance of these factors differs along the species ranges. Snow avalanches cause most natural deaths among adult animals in the Central Caucasus (Veinberg 1984, Zalikhanov 1967) but not so in less snowy Daghestan, where wolf is the main natural enemy (Magomedov et al. 2001). Golden eagles Aquila chrysaetos and, supposedly, bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus hunt newborn and small juveniles (Magomedov et al. 2001, Veinberg 1984).

Eastern Tur coexist with Caucasus chamois Rupicapra r. caucasica on the northern slope in the Central Caucasus and on the southern slope in the Eastern Caucasus (mainly Azerbaijan), but the latter is much less numerous; in Daghestan and Chechnya, it is sympatric with the wild goat Capra aegagrus, which dominates in the forest but seldom rises above timberline (Weinberg 1999).

This species is endemic to the central and eastern part of the Great Caucasus along the borders of Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan between 800 and 4,000 m a.s.l. Its range on the north slope begins around the headwaters of the Baksan river east of Mount Elbrus (about 43º10’N, 42º30’E), or slightly more eastwards, at the headwaters of Bezengi river (43º03’N, 43º01’E) (Weinberg, Akkiev and Buchukuri 2010), which approximately corresponds to the headwaters of Inguri river on the south slope in Georgia, and stretches for some 500 km eastwards along both slopes of the Greater Caucasus up to eastern offshoots of Gyumyushlyu mountain of Babadagh mountain massif (40º57’N, 48º29’E). The range is much wider on the northern slope than on the southern slope due the peculiarities of topography. It is more or less continuous with separate locations mainly in the easternmost part of the range in Azerbaijan. Possible geographic barriers are major river valleys cutting across the range and hampering gene flow, like Ardon river valley in the narrowest part of the range in North Ossetia (42º45’N, 43º59’E), or Terek river valley in North Ossetia and Georgia (42º38’N, 44º38’E), and depressions between separate mountain massifs in Azerbaijan. The distribution is widest (up to 60 km) in Daghestan (Magomedov et al. 2001) because of the Caucasus Side Range being widest there, while being most narrow in North Ossetia (ca 12 km) (Weinberg 2002c).

It is included in Category III in the Georgian Red List (Decree 2014) and thus legally protected there. Hunting, including foreign trophy hunting, is forbidden in Georgia, but is permitted under license in Azerbaijan and Russia (Daghestan, North Ossetia). This species of Tur is found in several Nature Reserves: about 4,000 in Kabardino-Balkarian (Russia), 1,000 in North-Ossetian (Russia), 700 in Lagodekhi (Georgia), and 2,000 in Zakatala (Azerbaijan). Other protected areas with this species include Alania National Park (Russia), Tushetian and Kazbegi Strict Nature Reserves (Georgia), and Ilisu Nature Reserve with Kakh Sanctuary and Ismailly Nature Reserve together with a sanctuary of the same name, and the newly founded Shakhdagh National Park (Azerbaijan). Strangely enough, there are no nature reserves or national parks in Daghestan, the principal area of the species range harboring the largest part of the population.

Conservation measures proposed include:
1) create new reserves, particularly in Daghestan on the border with Georgia and Azerbaijan neighboring with Lagodekhi and Zakatala Nature Reserve respectively;

2) improve the effectiveness of existing protected areas for prevention poaching and human alteration of habitat;

3) strictly enforce protection measures outside the four-month hunting season; if controls are successful and the population responds, then

4) consider the possibility of increasing the annual hunting quota,

5) systematic population monitoring.