From Dream to Reality
Snow Leopard Trust has launched a new, long-term study of snow leopards with the establishment of the J. Tserendeleg Snow Leopard Research Center in Mongolia’s South Gobi Province.
The
first long-term study of snow leopards has been launched with the establishment of the
J. Tserendeleg Snow Leopard Research Center! The center is located in Mongolia, in the South Gobi Province, the country's best cat habitat, and an area where we have been working for more than a decade.
The research center currently consists of three gers (yurts) and is already
home to international scientists and graduate students from Mongolia, India,
Sweden, the US, and Argentina. This team has wasted no time and is already busy conducting camera trap and genetic studies.
The most ambitious undertaking this year will be the initiation of GPS collaring
of snow leopards in July. The new generation of collars the team will deploy
uses satellite phone technology to uplink multiple GPS locations a day for each
collared cat.
The findings from this collaring
project will add greatly to our knowledge of snow leopards, especially
when viewed in conjunction with a similar study that will be initiated
by the Snow Leopard Conservancy elsewhere in Mongolia later this
summer. The two studies are complimentary and will share data for the
betterment of the species.
The center will be staffed year-round, and several
local residents will be employed to provide logistical support and serve as
field assistants on the various study components. Over the next 10 to 15 years the center is expected to grow and
eventually include an information center for local people and tourists, as well
as a larger training and education center that will host scientists and graduate students
from around the region.
The facility was named in honor of one of Mongolia’s
most respected conservationists, the late J. Tserendeleg, who was instrumental
in establishing the first radio-collaring study of snow leopards in Mongolia in the
early 1990s in collaboration with George Schaller and Tom McCarthy.
The study is a collaborative effort of the Snow Leopard
Trust, Snow Leopard Conservation Fund, the Mongolian Ministry of Nature and
Environment, the Mongolian Institute of Biology, Felidae Conservation Fund,
Panthera, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
