![base camp (small) [1600x1200]](https://i0.wp.com/snowleopard.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/base-camp-small.jpg?resize=200%2C133 "base camp (small) [1600x1200]")
Orjan is a Swedish PhD student who works at the base camp of our long-term research project in Mongolia. These are his adventures…
All collars are out, all hunting sites have been checked, and I think that I have found a new area for collaring in the autumn. I don’t know why I haven’t thought about this place earlier – it is a valley crossing Tost where the mountain range is the narrowest. The snow leopards have a stretch of only about three km to cross the valley if they want to stick to steep mountains. During the five months that Tsagaan’s collar worked properly, he crossed the valley 20 times!
I have checked the valley and found eight rocks with very fresh scent marks (urine). I am pretty sure that we will find the snow leopards if they try to cross the valley.
Now to the title of the post. A few days ago three Mongolians working for National Geographic came to camp. They were out to find information about “The Mongolian Death Worm.” At first I thought that I heard wrong but no, they were looking for a death worm and thought that perhaps I knew something about it. This Death Worm is supposed to be 40-80 cm long, brownish coloured, and lives underground. Both the head and the tail resemble a big hole lined with big fangs – making the worm look like a pipe. With teeth.
The worm is also extremely poisonous and spit an acid poison that will kill a camel (or human) within minutes. To make matters worse, it has a bad temper. If one makes it angry, the worm will change colour and turn red, or blue. If it gets really angry, it will scream like roaring thunder and then explode – spreading the poison through the air.
This all sounds a bit too good (or rather bad) to be true, but apparently there are lots of stories about the worm, and if National Geographic is making a documentary about it, I suppose that they believe that there is some truth behind the stories. Oyuna’s mother is the only living witness I know of; she claims that she saw one when she was young.
Well, that’s it. No more fieldwork until I get a shotgun, some potassium or other substrate of high pH, and an umbrella (in tough cloth – preferably acid-proof). I have packed to cope with an extreme climate, but I wasn’t prepared for exploding Death Worms. And the cats can change the sand in their litter box themselves. There will be no more digging for me.
Image Courtesy of SLT/Nature Conservation Foundation.
Orjan, thanks for the great updates! You are doing very important research…and Gurvantes is such a beautiful place! I worked with the Gobi Gurvan Saikhan park office in Dalanzadgad from 2003 to 2005 as a Peace Corps volunteer. In 2004, several community members and I saw a snow leopard on the edge of the mountains by Bayandalai. It had actually come down from the mountains to catch a white-tailed gazelle. It was such an amazing experience, but I realized the cat put itself into a very vulnerable situation. The Snow Leopard Trust, park specialists, and community groups were working hard to protect the snow leopards. I can’t imagine the difficulties you are all facing with the increase in mining and this past winter’s dzud conditions. Keep up the excellent work!
Where is the owner’s contact us section because i cant seem to find the form, prehaps the admin might want to make it more easier to see.