We’ve been really excited to follow two female snow leopard: Tenger and her daughter Zaraa and now, for the first time, we are watching this snow leopard cub ‘leave the nest!’ The timing of Zaraa’s apparent separation from her mother is occurring around the time of year when we believe snow leopards begin breeding. This makes us speculate whether …
Category: Follow The Cats
Tenger and Her Daughter Zaraa Part Ways
Since late last autumn, the Snow Leopard Trust has been following a Mother-Daughter pair through our long-term ecological study in Mongolia. Zaraa, who is a little less than two years old, has been traveling so close to her mother Tenger that their GPS location markers are often times on top of each other. In the …
Aztai's Long Walk
We recently got an update from Koustubh, our Regional Field Biologist, about the latest trek that the wild cat Aztai made in Mongolia: Couldn’t resist the temptation of sharing this exciting episode of Mr. Aztai and his long walk. He seems to be fond of taking these long walks almost periodically, though the frequency is …
A Snow Leopard Romance for Valentine's Day
With Tsagaan fitted with an improved GPS tracking collar this past September, we have learned a remarkable amount of information on his recent whereabouts. His home range overlaps with that of Khashaa, Tenger and Zara (the three females in our research study) and his GPS locations show him visiting all of them more than once …
Snow doesn't stop snow leopard research
Dear blog readers, thanks for a great year. Here is an end-of-the-year update about our long-term snow leopard study in the South Gobi, Mongolia. November marked one of the coldest months in South Gobi with mercury dipping to abysmal limits. Field work became increasingly difficult and our camp remained under thick cover of snow. Despite …
Possible Snow Leopard Romance
On September 18, 2010, our team caught up with Tsagaan, one of the large adult males we have been following for two years. Tsagaan was re-collared in March 2010. Unfortunately, his collar never switched on and we received no GPS locations from it during the last 8 months. Thankfully, this time around we were able …
Stunning Sharable Snow Leopard Photos
For your viewing pleasure, straight from our base camp in Mongolia. You might have seen some great photos of snow leopards in zoos, but these are wild cats! Amazing. The cat in the snow–that’s Aztai and we have been following him for 2 years.
Snow Leopard F4 Has New Official Name
F4, the female snow leopard who joined our long-term study October 15, 2010 and who turned out to be Zaraa’s mom (!) now has an official new name, Tenger. Here is how Bayara, our Mongolia Country Director, describes the meaning of Tenger: ‘Tenger” means Sky, but still holds the meaning of spirit and power. Mongolians respect …
The Incredible Tale of the Snow Leopard Named Supermom
The story of the snow leopard called Supermom is nothing short of spectacular (and how could it not be, with a name like that!). To appreciate the story, you first must remember that not long ago snow leopards were called “the ghost of the Himalayas” because so few people had seen them. With your help, …
Follow the Cats: Aztai Returns from the Dead
The past several weeks have had many of our scientists on their toes. Just a few weeks after Zara ventured into the “badlands,” it was Aztai’s turn. After taking off from his home range on what seemed like one of his usual forays, he spent two days around a hillock right in the middle of …