Things are relatively quiet in the Gobi this week. All of our radio-collared cats are just ‘patrolling’ small areas. It’ll be interesting to see if Saikhan remains in that part of the Tost Mountains or heads off on another trek.
News & Stories
Itgel's collar found, but no Itgel
We just received word from Bayara that the Governor and his team were able to locate Itgel’s collar. There was no sign of Itgel, however, so it seems likely that he was finally able to push the collar over his head. He was a smaller cat and the collar was ill-fitting, so Orjan and I …
Heading East
Both Saikhan (green) and Shonkhor (purple) have continued their eastward movement. Shonkhor is now within 3.5 km of the site where Itgel was trapped, so hopefully he won’t run into any trouble with traps set for wolves in that area.
Saikhan heads east, Aztai takes it easy
After spending most of the past two weeks in the eastern part of the Toson Bumba Mountains, Itgel (orange) has moved nearly 15 km west, back towards the site where he was radio-collared. Saikhan (green) is continuing his eastward movement in the Tost Mountains, while Shonkhor (purple) has made repeated ~20 km movements back and …
Movement from Igtel, Meals for Shonkor and Saikhan
Itgel (the injured cat, shown in orange) remains in the eastern edge of the Toson Bumba Mountains. We’re getting uplinks from his collar more frequently, which indicates that he’s spending increasing amounts of time in open terrain and less time holed up in caves. After spending three days on what was likely a good meal, …
Weekly Cat Update: And the award for longest walk goes to….
We’re seeing a lot of movement from our radio-collared snow leopards this week. After visiting the area northwest of our research camp, the cats appear to be using a corridor to move between the Tost and Toson Bumba mountain ranges. Shonkhor has moved back to Toson Bumba to an area slightly further east than we’ve …
Support for Wild Snow Leopards Boosted by Apple’s Snow Leopard OS
[Snow Leopard Trust Press Release; Reposting/reprinting allowed] From the US to Germany to Sweden, the new Mac OS X is raising awareness—and donations—for snow leopard conservation. Seattle—The launch of the new Mac OS X is bringing much-needed awareness to one of the world’s most endangered big cats: the snow leopard of Central Asia. For months …
Weekly Cat Update: Saikhan trailing Aztai?
Cat movement 8-31-09 The most interesting movements we’re seeing this week are from Aztai and Saikhan. Saikhan has been moving around Aztai’s home range since August 21st and it appears that Aztai is “trailing” him. It’s impossible to tell how often the cats have direct encounters because the timing at which the collars collect …
Snow leopards, meet Snow Leopard (OS)
Coming soon! Hopefully this will really boost some awareness for wild snow leopards and showcase how beautiful they are. Here are a few catch-phases we came up with, feel free to use them: The snow leopard ran on earth long before it ran on computers Snow leopard: In stores now, but still endangered Snow leopard: …
Weekly Cat Update: Tsagaan's collar sends first uplink in a month
Well – a minor miracle has occurred! After not hearing from Tsagaan for over a month, his collar transmitted a location on August 23rd. He’s right back in his usual home range in the Tost Mountains. The most plausible explanation is that the collar had rotated sideways on his neck, which either interfered with the …