Site of the world’s most comprehensive snow leopard study, critical link in a network of Protected Areas and home to more than a dozen of these elusive cats – Mongolia’s Tost Mountains are a unique and irreplaceable snow leopard stronghold.

Site of the world’s most comprehensive snow leopard study, critical link in a network of Protected Areas and home to more than a dozen of these elusive cats – Mongolia’s Tost Mountains are a unique and irreplaceable snow leopard stronghold.
Three years after her landmark victory for snow leopards, our Mongolia Program Director Bayara Agvaantseren narrates how the only Protected Area in the world dedicated exclusively to these cats was created against all odds.
Ten wildlife rangers from various protected areas and provinces of Kyrgyzstan were recognized and rewarded for outstanding service at the annual Ranger Rewards Ceremony in Bishkek on World Wildlife Day. The total reward sum was 115,000 Kyrgyz Som (ca. 1,650 US$). The ten honored rangers had successfully apprehended and brought to justice poachers or illegal …
Supported by small grants from Snow Leopard Trust donors, local community members in Mongolia put their own conservation ideas into action.
Follow field researcher Sherry Young, Wildlife Ranger Urmat Sokolov and their horses Padiera and Caramel as they cross frozen rivers and climb precipitous slopes to install camera traps to monitor snow leopards and their prey in Kyrgyzstan’s Sarychat Ertash Reserve.
A camera trap study in South Gobi’s Khorkh mountain range confirmed the presence of snow leopards along with lynx, ibex and argali.
Around 60% of the world’s snow leopard habitat are in China. Yet, in China as in other countries, robust population estimates to guide snow leopard conservation efforts remain scarce. But there are efforts underway to change that – most recently through two workshops on survey and analysis methods held in Beijing.
To identify the culprit, snow leopard researcher Devika Rathore channels her inner Sherlock in this field tale from Lahaul, India.
The Snow Leopard Trust’s research team is currently tracking a record nine wild snow leopards in Mongolia’s Tost Mountains with GPS collars. Here’s a look at these nine cats and what we know about them.
This fall, Snow Leopard Trust researchers have set up camera traps across the entire Kyrgyz Ala-Too mountain range to see how many snow leopards live in this habitat near the country’s capital, Bishkek. Research Associate Suraiya Luecke shares some of the team’s experiences from the field with us.