The story of the snow leopard called Supermom is nothing short of spectacular (and how could it not be, with a name like that!).
To appreciate the story, you first must remember that not long ago snow leopards were called “the ghost of the Himalayas” because so few people had seen them. With your help, we started putting out remote sensor cameras – determined to capture this “ghost” on film.
Our camera efforts were rewarded. One stupendous snow leopard with an “S” shaped spot pattern caught our attention from all the thousands of photographs we collected. Orjan, our lead researcher, dubbed this snow leopard “Superman.”
Superman made the rounds among our cameras, and we began to speculate about this cat. In June 2009, Orjan reported “It seems as if Tsagaan, a collared cat, is avoiding part of the mountain range north of his home range, which would point towards Superman being a rival male.”
Then one summer’s day, for the first time during our study, our cameras captured a mother snow leopard with three cubs. This is quite an astonishing feat for a wild snow leopard! Then, as we compared photographs, we saw Superman’s telltale “S” shape and learned that Superman was actually a Supermom!
The story doesn’t end there. As you know, our team has been hard at work placing GPS radio collars on snow leopards. This fall, they placed a collar on their 8th snow leopard—only the second female to join the tracking study.
For the first time ever, a herder named Ganaa was present. He was given the honor of naming this new cat. In a hopeful sign of increased tolerance for snow leopards in the area, he decided to give this cat the name of his only daughter – Khashaa.
Back at base camp we examined the photos of Khashaa and there again was that telltale “S.” So now Superman has not only transformed into Supermom, but into Khashaa: a precious symbol of hope for all snow leopards in Mongolia.