Field Update from May 8
It was cold to begin with, but with a bit more than a week left of this spring’s field season, it’s getting uncomfortably warm to hike uphill. The good news is we’ve collared two snow leopards. The not-so-great news is we’ve collared zero ibex.
I’ve deployed tiny temperature loggers in the eight snow leopard dens we have previously discovered. None of the dens are currently in use. If a female uses any of them later in summer, she will not notice the loggers. We want to understand how temperature differs inside the dens compared to the surroundings and how this affects the females when tending to their cubs. I’ve been to these dens before, but never visited all of them in a short period of time. It’s fascinating because now I can compare the sites and see if there are any patterns in how snow leopards select den areas and sites. It’s also humbling to sit in the dens, sip some water and take in the views that were the first things these snow leopard cubs saw and imagine how they started exploring their surroundings.
We have checked a couple of our camera traps and can confirm that F19 had all three cubs with her the last time we saw her in mid-April this year. One of the cubs, clearly a troublesome tween, saw our camera and decided that it looked like a nice toy. After pulling the camera down onto the ground, the cub managed to open the latch. Luckily, it didn’t find the camera any fun after that and didn’t damage it. F19’s slightly more cautious approach to parenting, staying in the den for a very long time and after leaving it, keeping the cubs in safe places instead of bringing them to kills seems to have paid off.
F12, the other collared female with cubs, has been very successful in avoiding our camera traps. We have not captured any photos of her or her cubs. From her movement patterns, we can tell that she is not alone, but we don’t know if she has one or both cubs with her.
So far, we’ve collared two snow leopards. The first is a female about 8-10 years old (F21). The second is a 2-year-old male (M26). The male is one of F21’s cubs, born in 2024. We first saw F21 on our cameras in 2021. Since then, she has been photographed in the same area every year. The camera and collar data suggest that she holds a territory bordering F12. Moving from west to east, the females holding territory are F12, F21, and F19.
M26 likely separated from F21 earlier this spring and is now searching for a vacant area to settle in. We are hoping that he will disperse from Tost, as this would yield valuable information on travel routes. These routes face a growing threat from planned roads and railways, infrastructure that could fragment habitat and sever connections between landscapes.
So far, we have not had any luck with the ibex captures. While there are solar-powered pumps installed at two water holes, we need to add timers so they pump up water every day. That will be a huge help for all wildlife in the area, and also increase our capture efficiency, since the ibex will learn to go to these sites to drink. We have seen some groups come in to drink and were quite excited to start capturing a few days ago. Alas, the ibex disappeared and haven’t come back. When we checked the camera, we found F19 sitting at the troth. She seems to have mistaken the trough for an all-you-can-eat establishment. We suspect that she killed one of the ibex and that the others moved away. Hopefully, they’ll come back before it’s time to pack up.
A wolf researcher from Minnesota, Dr. Joseph Bump (pictured above), is visiting during this field season. Together with Buren, we have been out trying to identify wolf travel routes and marking sites. We plan to collect wolf scats and conduct genetic analyses to determine how many wolves are in the area and how the individual population turns over each year. The goal is to better understand livestock depredation and see if we can design more efficient preventative measures to reduce losses and the negative perceptions toward both snow leopards and wolves that often follow.
In 2024, we collared a young female named Altai (F17), born in 2021 to one of our previously collared females, F10. When we collared Altai, she was ranging widely across Tost, most likely in search of a territory. Unfortunately, her collar stopped transmitting data a few weeks after the capture. We had spotted her in our camera-trap surveys and knew she was alive and well and still wearing the collar, which was programmed to release in January 2026.
During our visits to GPS clusters, we kept listening for her VHF radio beacon. Then, in late April, while Gustaf and Joe were hiking up to one of F12’s day rests, they picked up a faint signal from F17’s collar, which by that time had released from the cat. We were very excited and set out to find it the next day. It took us almost the entire day to track it down. When we finally plugged it into the computer, it felt like Christmas morning. Had the collar malfunctioned completely, or had it simply lost its transmission signal?
It turns out the collar had been collecting GPS locations all the way until it released from the cat! This is almost 2 years of valuable data that would have been lost had we not found the collar. A quick inspection revealed that F17 had her first litter in 2025 at the age of four years. Another vital piece of the puzzle in understanding this elusive species.
Stay tuned. More cat updates to come next month!
NOTE: Why we collar cats
Tracking snow leopards reveals crucial information that we couldn’t learn any other way. The collars are programmed to detach after about 20 months. During that time they provide valuable data that directly inform our conservation strategies to protect this endangered species.
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Photo credits: SLCF Mongolia and Joseph Bump
Acknowledgments:
This Long-Term Ecological Study is in collaboration with Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation in Mongolia and Snow Leopard Trust, with special thanks to the Ministry for Environment and Green Development, the Government of Mongolia, and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences for their support.
SLT would also like to acknowledge: Bioparc Zoo de Doue la Fontaine, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, Dublin Zoo, Idaho Falls Zoo at Tautphaus Park, John Ball Zoo, Kolmarden Zoo, Korkeasaari Zoo, Knopf Family Foundation, National Geographic Society, Nordens Ark, Parco Zoo Punta Verde, Play for Nature, Regina Bauer Frankenberg Foundation, Tierpark Berlin, The Big Cat Sanctuary/Wildlife Heritage Foundation, Tulsa Zoo, Whitley Fund for Nature, Zoo Basel, Zoo Boise, Zoo Dresden, and Zoo New England.
Thank you to all the many committed partners who have supported our research in Mongolia along with our Long-term Ecological Study since it began in 2008. We could not do this work without you.