Orjan is a Swedish PhD student who works at the base camp of our long-term research project in Mongolia. These are his adventures…
There is still lots of snow in some parts of the mountains, particularly towards the western side. We tried to go to the area where Shonkhor lives to collect some cameras that have been out since last summer, and to check the canyons. When we had about five km left to my old campsite we had to turn around, and I got stuck with the motorbike in 40-60 cm of snow, and the snowfield seemed to continue throughout the valley that leads to the campsite.
Instead, we turned our focus towards the area where Devekh is spending most of his time.
The procedure to find a new area in Tost is not the same as back home. First, we identify an area that looks good, using the map program on the computer. Since we don’t have any paper maps of these areas, the first thing to do is to find a way to the area. Usually, this means that we set out on trails in the general direction that we want to go. We mark landmarks that are easy to recognize with our GPS units, and in the evening, when we have returned to camp, we check where we have been using the map program. We also mark settlements with particularly mean dogs so we can avoid being chased by them again. Usually, it takes two-three days just to find the area that we want to visit.
So far we have not passed step one – find a way to the area and avoid mean dogs. But we have gotten quite close to the area, and we found two settlements that we will try to avoid in the future. At one site, three dogs that seemed determined to not let us go chased us for a long time.
A German film crew will arrive in camp tomorrow. They will spend three weeks here to film material for a documentary about snow leopards and the ongoing work to save the species. We have all three gers up and the place is a lot more lively than usual.
Two weeks ago I found a place that felt as if it would attract snow leopards. There were no scrapes or detectable scent marks, but I was still pretty sure that the leopards couldn’t resist checking it out. It’s a 15 meter long ravine with vertical walls situated in the end of a valley.
In a moment of clarity I put a camera there to see if any cats used the place. The camera took pictures of three snow leopards, including Supermom, in just ten days time. If we don’t place a collar on a new snow leopard in the next three weeks, I will give Friday (our base camp cat) my entire ration of tuna for April.
Speaking of Friday, we think that she is pregnant. Friday is the friendliest cat I have ever met, and if her cubs are anything like her it would be worth the trouble of bringing them to your home. Besides, these cats are probably the closest you will come to having a real snow leopard. Except they will likely be small, brown, have normal sized tails, and no spots. But they will have been born in snow leopard camp and raised in snow leopard habitat.
Supermom was traveling alone in the trap camera pictures. Last time, at the end of November, we got pictures of her with all three cubs, so sometime between then and now they have left her to discover the mountain on their own. Maybe both Supermom and Friday will have small cubs soon…