Catching up with 3 Collared Cats, 1 Ibex and 14 Goats

Through these ongoing tracking efforts, we’re uncovering crucial insights about snow leopard behavior. Using GPS collars designed to detach after 20 months, our research teams can gather precise data about the movement of these elusive cats – from their preferred hunting grounds to the vast territories they roam. Once we retrieve these collars, they yield a treasure trove of information about their habits and movements that help shape our conservation strategies.

Read on to see what these elusive animals have been up to, including some uncommon behavior from a familiar cat.

M23 (represented by the brown/red dots)

We collared this male in May 2024 when we estimated him to be 5 to 7 years old. At the time of his collaring, he had some rather serious wounds that we think he sustained a month or so earlier, likely in a confrontation with another male snow leopard. He resides in the territory previously held by M20 combined with the western parts of Chingis’ old territory. We suspect that M20, the first snow leopard ever documented digging for water, may have died in an aggressive interaction with M23, who is currently moving and eating as normal. We found several ibex and argali that he hunted in autumn of 2024 and it appears as if his previous wounds do not hinder him.

M24 Angaragag (represented by the blue dots)

Angarag is a young male we collared in October 2024. We estimate he was about 2.5 years old at that time. He is roaming over a large part of Tost, seemingly in search of a vacant territory. You can see from the blue dots that he’s venturing into M23’s territory occasionally. Meanwhile, he’s growing larger and gaining experience, which will increase his chances of success should he try to oust another male from his territory.

F12 – Willian (represented by the pink dots)

You may remember we recollared F12 in October 2024. This is the third time we’ve tracked her. She was born in 2015 to Anu and is part of one of the family lines we’ve followed since the inception of this study. F12 gave birth to her third litter on the 21st of May 2023, most likely in the same cave that another female used as a den in 2017. Her three older cubs will separate from her very soon. We’re eager to see if F12 will reproduce again this spring and if she reuses the same den site.

F12 has held the same territory in which she settled in 2017-2018 which is the same area used by her grandmother, Inquisitive. In the last few months, she has made several excursions outside of her territory, mainly intruding into Presnel’s territory. We have recorded females exhibiting such behaviour when they are accompanied by older cubs prior to separation. It could be that she wants to show the cubs around or perhaps try to trigger their desire to disperse. It could also be that she is getting old and other females are trying to acquire her territory. We will see what happens in a few months when her cubs have left her.

IF10 Emma (not included in the map)

In October 2024, we collared a female ibex in the central mountains close to our old base camp. We are especially thrilled with this success as this is the most rugged part of Tost and we haven’t been able to study ibex in this region before. IF10 has maintained a relatively small home range so far and has made multiple passes by the waterhole we constructed last spring. While there’s no water in it now, it’s encouraging to see that we were correct in our decision to place it along an established ibex travel route.

14 Domestic Goats (not included in the map)

We approached 14 herder families about attaching GPS collars to their goats, and all agreed to participate. The herders actually manage the collars themselves. Essentially, we’re tracking the herd rather than the individual goat. If the herder needs to slaughter the collared goat, or if it dies, they put the collar on another goat. We are tracking the herds to see how far they go from camp and what habitat they use. These data will help us better understand how domestic goats influence the ecosystem, if ibex adjust how they use their mountain habitat when goats move in during winter, and if snow leopards adjust their movements in response to goat presence—whether avoiding or targeting them as potential prey.

Updates about collared animals not on air.

F18

We collared this female in May 2024. We estimated she was 4 to 5 years old and was roaming in search of a territory. The fact that a female in her prime was still roaming and had not yet settled suggests there is likely a shortage of available space for cats in this area. Unfortunately, we were only able to track her for two months before she died, likely as a result of an aggressive interaction with Presnel, another female snow leopard. (see below)

F15 Presnel

This well-known female was born in 2014 and belongs to the other family line we have followed almost since the inception of our study. Her grandmother Agnes and her mother Dagina were photographed on our remote cameras for the first time in 2009. Presnel still uses the same area where she settled in 2017. In 2022, she had a litter of three cubs who separated from her in early 2024. At that time, only two cubs remained. She gave birth to a new litter on the 30th of April, 2024. We do not yet know how many cubs she currently has. Her den was located in the reddish, wind-swept granite area that we commonly refer to as the crater. Presnel’s collar dropped off in mid-June as scheduled. We’re including her in this update because of what happened right before that.

In early June, Presnel killed a huge Argali male a couple of km from her den. Snow leopards usually stay very close to their kills to defend them from scavengers (read a paper about kill-site behavior here) but denning females have to nurse their cubs and therefore must leave the kills unattended. The argali was killed in a very narrow drainage area, just above a steep drop. While feeding, visibility was not more than 2-3 m in any direction. Another of our collared females, F18, found the argali two days after it was killed and stayed there for 5-10 hours. We think that Presnel was nursing her cubs when F18 found the kill and that when she returned, F18 was not able to detect her in time. We have GPS locations of both females at the kill simultaneously. After that, F18 moved about 15 km south and died four days later. The most likely explanation is that the two females fought and F18 died from her wounds.

While females are territorial, lethal interactions among them are far less common than for males. F18 was four years old and in her prime. She was likely the stronger cat facing an older, albeit more experienced Presnel. We presume Presnel could not abandon the kill as it was in her territory and she needed the food.

Presnel has turned out to be quite an interesting cat for several reasons, not least of which is her habit of sabotaging our study! This is the third collared animal we have lost to her (including two collared ibex females).

F17

We fitted a collar on this young female in May 2024 when we estimated her to be about 3-4 years old. Unfortunately, the collar malfunctioned just a few weeks after it was deployed. We think she resides in the area previously held by Dagina but can’t be certain at this time.

This comprehensive research examines the whole ecosystem in the study area, from the snow leopard at the top of the food chain down to its prey, both wild and domestic, as well as the interactions between people and the environment. This crucial information provides vital insights that help shape conservation strategies that promote coexistence between people and wildlife.

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Photo credits: SLCF-Mongolia

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.

Acton Family Giving, Bioparc Zoo de Doue la Fontaine, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, Idaho Falls Zoo at Tautphaus Park, John Ball Zoo, Kolmårdens Zoo, Korkeasaari Zoo, National Geographic Society, Nordens Ark, Parco Zoo Punta Verde, Play for Nature, Sabin Snow Leopard Fund, Tallinn Zoo, The Big Cat Sanctuary/Wildlife Heritage Foundation, Tulsa Zoo, 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.