Aside from a few rough estimates of habitat and population size, almost nothing is known about the distribution, relative abundance, or population trends of snow leopards in China. A new Google Challenge Grant from the Google.org Fund of Tides Foundation will enable the Trust to improve this situation. The grant is funding analysis to create …
News & Stories
China, At the Center of It All
By Charudutt Mishra, PhD, Science and Conservation Director It is almost impossible to overstate China’s importance for snow leopard conservation. This single country contains over a million square kilometers of snow leopard habitat—about 60% of the species’ global range—and is home to an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 cats. The Trust has recently begun working in …
Where is Shonkhor off to?
This week the news is mostly about Shonkhor. He has continued his roving ways with a trip to some smaller mountains on the outskirts of Toson Bumba (~14 km/9 miles west of the main mountain range). It’ll be interesting to see if he heads back to his usual area or continues further west to explore …
More perplexing news about Itgel
We pinpointed the location of Itgel’s collar to a spot near the top of a mountain in Toson Bumba. This seemed an unlikely spot for a snow leopard to die or be caught in a trap set for wolves, so it seemed to support our earlier notion that Itgel had finally managed to slip his …
Big cat skin trade in China continues
The BBC recently published an alarming article about the continued big cat skin trade in China. Buying and selling big cat skins is illegal in China, but a recent undercover investigation revealed the relative ease with which one can acquire big cat skins, which are sold as “luxury items”. Here’s an excerpt: “Covert filming by …
Saikhan and Shonkhor stop for a bite, Aztai on patrol
This week’s map looks quite a bit like last week’s. Saikhan (green) is still in hanging out in the core of Aztai’s (yellow) home range and appears to have made at least one kill; he was at the same location from October 22nd to 24th, and at a second location from the 25th-26th. Shonkhor (purple) …
Shonkhor explores, Aztai feeds
The last two weeks must have been the calm before the storm, as the cats are on the move again. Saikhan left the Tost Mountains on October 16th, made a brief visit to Toson Bumba very near the area where Itgel was captured, before showing up practically on top of the research camp on October …
Koustubh Awarded Grant for Field Training Kit
Koustubh Sharma, Regional Field Biologist for the Trust, recently was awarded a Rufford Small Grant for Nature Conservation. It will help fund the development and implementation of a field training tool kit including a set of field equipment (for demonstration), and friendly audio-visual materials including presentations, spreadsheets, necessary software and manuals/booklets to promote snow leopard …
Bayara Wins Wild Cat Conservation Prize
We are thrilled to announce that Bayarjargal (Bayara) Agvaantseren, our Mongolia Country Director, has won the prestigious 2009 Rabinowitz-Kaplan Prize for the Next Generation in Wild Cat Conservation. The $25,000 prize awarded by Panthera, recognizes Bayara’s tireless efforts to protect snow leopard at both a local and national level in Mongolia. Wonderful achievement, Bayara!
Shonkhor has the vapors
The cats were pretty quiet again this week. Shonkhor continues to be a bit ‘bolder’ in his explorations than we’ve seen in the past. He visited the corridor area in the western Tost mountains and also ventured about 5km further west in Toson Bumba than we’ve seen him go before.