A wild baby snow leopard has been caught on camera! The BBC Natural History film crew set a trap camera in the mountains of Bhutan, and a young snow leopard walked right up to it and took a sniff. You can watch the adorable video on the BBC page.
News & Stories
The Nickname Sticks: "Khashaa" Becomes Khashaa
The newly collared female snow leopard in our study was tentatively nicknamed “Khashaa.” She got this nickname from Ganaa, a base camp neighbor who witnessed the cat being fitted with a collar. Once she became an official member of our study, she needed an official name, and Khashaa it officially is. We look forward to …
New Collaring System More Efficient, And Even Better for Snow Leopards
Orjan is a Swedish PhD student who works at the base camp of our long-term research project in Mongolia. These are his adventures… When we want to collar a snow leopard, we first have to restrain them using safe, non-harmful snares. All our snares are equipped with a small transmitter that sends out a VHF …
Tsagaan Fitted With A New Collar
Orjan is a Swedish PhD student who works at the base camp of our long-term research project in Mongolia. These are his adventures… This morning at 6.10 the trap surveillance system woke me up with the LED light indicating a “trap alarm” blinking. Whew, that siren is loud enough to cause a heart attack! I’m …
Surprise, A Female: New Snow Leopard Joins Study
Orjan is a Swedish PhD student who works at the base camp of our long-term research project in Mongolia. These are his adventures… Hi All, Yesterday we caught a new snow leopard, believe it or not it is a female!! She seems large (although we don’t have much to compare to yet, do we.) as …
A Herd of Cameras, and A Week-Long Training
Summer research efforts are still going strong. The team is busy collecting camera traps and will soon begin analyzing the data. While these cameras provide us with incredibly reliable information on population status and changes, they also help understand other demographic and behavioral traits of the snow leopards. We are also hoping to use the …
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 …
Solar Power Comes to Camp
The end result of many months of dedicated efforts to plan and deliver a complete solar power (PV) system to our research camp in Mongolia came online last week! An array of solar panels with a capacity of 2.38 Kilowatts is now providing electricity for lighting and electrical outlets to the gers (yurts) that make …
There's Something in the Air: Woodland Park's Snow Leopards Enjoy their New Favorite Cologne
(Photo courtesy of Steve Tracy) Do snow leopards enjoy the smell of Calvin Klein cologne? Judging by the way the cats at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo have reacted to a CK-scented trap camera, the answer is a resounding “yes.” The Trust will make use of the “cologne technique” this fall in Mongolia, where we hope …
Communities Rebuilding After Harshest Winter in Decades
Partnerships with communities living in snow leopard habitat are key to our conservation efforts and this year our partners in Mongolia are facing unprecedented challenges due to the harshest winter in decades. Over the winter herders in Mongolia lost more than 8.14 million livestock according the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and light Industry. That is …