As many of our supporters know, we’ve been using camera traps to survey snow leopard populations in Tost, Mongolia and the surrounding mountains since 2008. We rotate the cameras among the mountainous study areas at two- to three-month intervals throughout the year. In 2023, we installed 180 camera traps over 7,559 km2 – an area larger than Delaware – in snow leopard habitats of Tost Nature Reserve, Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, Sevrei, and Noyon. Thanks to your support, this long-term camera-trapping program has been a resounding success.
Our team and partners are conducting the time-intensive work of analyzing more than 8,400 images of snow leopards to identify different individuals. The early findings indicate that at least six cubs were born in Tost Nature Reserve in 2023. Special thanks goes out to the community rangers who helped set up these cameras. We can report that F12 “Willian,” a snow leopard we GPS-collared in 2022, gave birth to three cubs in spring 2023 (in the video above) and a yet-to-be-identified female also gave birth to three cubs.
Our team is conducting the world’s most comprehensive long-term ecological study on snow leopards in and around Tost Nature Reserve, employing state-of-the-art techniques such as GPS collaring and remote camera-trapping. This research has led to several groundbreaking scientific findings, filling in critical gaps in knowledge about this elusive species. It has produced unprecedented insights into the ecology and behavior of these endangered cats, ultimately informing conservation strategies to protect them.
The data from camera surveys help determine snow leopard population density and distribution, which we analyze to observe changes over time, understand what factors may be influencing those changes and how the data may differ between regions. Camera surveys are crucial in the global effort to reliably estimate the number of the world’s snow leopards, called PAWS (Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopards). This program was initiated with SLT’s support by the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program and is implemented in collaboration with all 12 snow leopard range country governments and more than 40 research and conservation organizations.
Once we have the final analysis of the individual snow leopards caught on camera in Tost we’ll share that information with you. As always, we can’t wait to see who and what our cameras revealed. Stay tuned!
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Acknowledgments:
This long-term ecological study is in collaboration with Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation in Mongolia and Snow Leopard Trust, with special thanks to the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism, the Government of Mongolia, and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences for their support.
We would also like to acknowledge:
National Geographic Society, Acton Family Giving, Bioparc Zoo de Doue la Fontaine, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, Idaho Falls Zoo at Tautphaus Park, John Ball Zoo, Kolmarden Zoo, Korkeasaari Zoo, Nordens Ark, Parco Zoo Punta Verde, Play for Nature, The Big Cat Sanctuary/Wildlife Heritage Foundation, Tulsa Zoo, Whitley Fund for Nature, Zoo Basel, Zoo Dresden, Zoo New England and the many incredible partners who have supported programs like our Long-term Ecological Study and research in Mongolia since it began in 2008. We could not do this work without you.
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing this interesting corner of our world.
Thank you so much for giving us insight into the lives of these wonderful creatures. I can’t imagine what life would be like without snow leopards.
So exciting to see! Keep up the great work you all are doing to save the Snow Leopards!