Wildlife photographer Farzin and polar explorer Inge traveled to the North Pole, and put up a snow leopard flag. Thanks to Farzin and Inge, our friends at Snow Leopard Trust UK, snow leopards have now made it to the North Pole (in a way).
News & Stories
A New Snow Leopard Was Collared in Mongolian Mining Region
On April 25th, 2010 a sixth snow leopard (temporarily dubbed M8 ) was collared near our base camp. He joins Aztai, Tsagaan, Shonkhor, Saikhan and Devekh. Through our GPS radio collaring study we have been able to map the core home ranges of these snow leopards.
Tost Mountains Important to Herding Families
Tost and Tosonbumba Mountains are not only important for snow leopard and biodiversity conservation, but are also home to 233 herder families. These families do not want mining extraction in their region either. We are working with them to sort out legal options for making the Tost Mountains a recognized protected area. Our Mongolia staff …
Base Camp Goes Green
The base camp for our Mongolia long term study is going green with a huge donation of solar panels from Wildlife Conservation Network’s Solar Panel Project. Thanks to the Turner Foundation and Cat Life Foundation, these panels are being shipped to Mongolia right now. We can’t wait for this big gift to arrive!
Just How Many Mining Permits Are There in The South Gobi?
The Gobi is home to large mineral deposits. As of October 2009, South Gobi province accounted for 12% (560) of the total licenses (4521) that have been issued so far. This distinguishes the province as having the most licenses issued for mining. Out of 560 licenses in South Gobi, Gurvantes Soum–where the Tost Mountains are …
Why it is so important to protect Mongolia's Tost Mountains from mining
Despite Studies dating back to the early 1980’s in other parts of Central Asia, snow leopards remain one of the least studies of the big cats. The Snow Leopard Trust choose the Tost-Tosonbomba Mountains to locate our first ever comprehensive research initiative due to the high density of snow leopards and the conservation importance of …
New Snow Leopard Joins Long Term Study in Mongolia
In the evening of April 25th, PhD student and field researcher Orjan brought a new snow leopard into our long term collaring study. Called M8 for now, the male snow leopard weighs 34 kg and appears to be about two years old. Orjan thinks that M8 might be one of Supermom’s “cubs”, or perhaps previous …
New Big Cats, New Little Cats
Orjan is a Swedish PhD student who works at the base camp of our long-term research project in Mongolia. These are his adventures… It’s been a while since my last post, and a lot has happened in camp. I had some very busy days with the German film crew, and I think that they got …
Follow the Cats Update: Orjan Checks the Clusters while the Cats are on Patrol
We have had a rare fortnight with no new snow leopard collared! The law of averages seems to be catching up after so many weeks where there have been at least one–and sometimes even two–snow leopards collared within a single night. Orjan is wondering if they have figured out his strategy. The truth is that …
Mining Permits in Mongolia Threaten Snow Leopard Habitat and Local Communities
We have recently discovered that mining interests in Mongolia’s South Gobi could threaten the snow leopards we are studying. There are 92 mining permits now covering nearly all of the South Gobi’s Tost Mountains. This area is home to Aztai, Tsagaan, Supermom and dozens of other snow leopards we have come to know over the …