Through our Long-Term Ecological Study in the Tost region of Mongolia, we are learning a great deal about the lives of wild snow leopards. Below are some exciting updates straight from the field!

An Update on the Cats:

Update from the Field

December 2012

Wild snow

leopards are currently wearing GPS radio collars

7

Pg. 1

At a glance...

4females 3males

Ariun is quickly earning the

nickname “Genghis” based

on the vast area that he is

occupying. Ariun’s monthly

estimated home range is 463

km². His range has also

overlapped with F7 and F8.

Ariun’s range has been

larger than all of his male

counterparts, Aztai, Bayartai

and Tsagaan. This is such a

testament to why long-term

studies are important.

Read more about Ariun on

page 2 of this update!

Through our Long-Term Ecological Study in the Tost region of Mongolia, we are learning a great deal about the lives of wild snow leopards. Below are some exciting updates straight from the field!

Update from the Long-Term Ecological Study: As Snow Leopard Trust field scientist Örjan Johansson wrapped up more than 4 years of snow

leopard fieldwork in our Long Term Ecological Study in Mongolia, the cats proved more elusive

than ever. For the first time, no new cats could be collared. Below in his own words, Orjan talks

about his last days in the field for the season.

“A few days ago, we did the last bit of data collection before closing camp for the winter. As we

stood there, I realized that this was really the last data I’d collect for my PhD. After 4.5 years, I am

finally finished! Quite an amazing feeling! There’s still a lot of analyzing and writing to do, but at

least the first part of my work is done.

No Cats to Collar

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a sour note to these last days: None of the

snares we’ve set at the beginning of the season have sprung; we did not manage to capture and collar a new cat this time! It feels really bad to

end 4.5 years of fieldwork on this note. But I don’t regret that I chose

this area for the snares. When I plot the positions of our collared cats,

there is a ‘hole’ with no cats at all in the exact area where we are. There

are lots of ibex here, we see them almost every day, and the mountains

are usually full of snow leopard signs. But still, for some reason, no

cats! As we don’t want to trap cats that are already collared, this is the

right place to be. Now if only there had been at least one cat around.

Maybe they will come to this area over the winter. We’ve deployed

research cameras before leaving, so at least we’ll get a view!

A View to a Kill Gustaf Samelius, the Snow Leopard Trust’s new Assistant Science Director, has joined me in base

camp for an introduction into our field work in Mongolia. A couple of days ago, Gustaf and I

sneaked in on Ariun, who had just hunted down a prey. We stayed about 600 meters away and ob-

served him. Many carnivores rest a little ways away from their kills, but the snow leopards do not

behave like this. Judging by GPS collar data, it is instead almost as if they sit on their prey.

Perhaps, they have to stay so close to protect their prey from scavengers. In our case, Ariun had

caught a feral horse in a big open valley, which didn’t seem like the kind of place a snow leopard

would be very comfortable in. But still, he was resting just a few meters from the horse. As we ob-

served him, there was almost constantly at least one raven or vulture flying above him.

After the disappointment of the empty snares, it was nice to at least see a cat. For Gustaf, it was a

first! The day was pretty cold, with a bone chilling wind and some snowfall, but we didn’t feel the

cold as we excitedly watched the cat.

Packing Up

Two days before we left, there was a Camel Race close to base camp. We

had thought about entering the race for a moment, but then, probably

wisely, decided against trying our hands at camel racing. Anyway, just

before leaving camp, I noticed a big pile of meat in our driver Miji’s ger.

I asked him if it was a horse, and he replied that it was a camel. I joked

and asked if it was the camel that finished last in the race. I don’t believe

he was joking when he said that it was… Life can be hard out here in the Gobi, but I will miss it nonetheless.”

-Örjan

Update from the Field

Following the Cats

Our long-term snow leopard study in Mongolia is a joint project of the Snow Leopard Trust, Panthera, and the Snow Leopard Conservation Fund and is in collaboration with the Mongolia Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism and the Mongolia Academy of Sciences. (more information can be found at www.snowleopard.org and www.panthera.org). Pg. 2

F8 has been spending most of her time towards the southwest of Tost and northeast of Tosonbumba.

Her monthly range has been around 244 km²

F7, nicknamed Agnes, has the largest monthly home range than any other collared female, so far

averaging 334 km². She has been spending the majority of her time in Tosonbumba, although she

has had occasional expeditions lasting about a week more towards the southwest of Tost and

northeast of Tosonbumba, where F8 has been spending her time. It looks like an adult mother-

daughter pair tolerating each other while maintaining different core areas of movement.

F9, nicknamed Shinejh, has been occupying the area we have known her to ever since we first

photographed her in 2010. In the past month, she has been using an area of about 175-200 km² and

although she avoids spending much time in the northern badlands, data points show she spent a

short time there, perhaps over a kill.

Aztai’s range is constantly pushed towards the east. Aztai is still overlapping with a few of

Khashaa’s locations. His monthly home range has never been more than 250-270 km². His range in

November/early December has been about 200 km² It has been interesting to observe the variation in

home range sizes based on Aztai and Ariun’s locations.

Ariun is quickly earning the nickname “Genghis” based on the vast area that he is occupying.

Ariun’s monthly estimated home range is 463 km². He is constantly moving over the area all the way

from the west of Khashaa’s home range to Tosonbumba and hills southwest of Tost. His range has

also overlapped with F7 and F8. Ariun’s range has been larger than all of his male counterparts,

Aztai, Bayartai and Tsagaan. This is such a testament to why long-term studies are important.

M9 continues to spend his time in the Nemegt Mountains. His collar is set to drop off in the spring

of 2013 and unless he returns to Tost or Tosonbumba, giving us an opportunity to re-collar him, we

may not be able to retrieve more information from him after the collar is dropped.

None of the collared males are consistently overlapping with Khashaa’s range. She has maintained

a steady range over the past three years over an area of about 85 km² and has had a few encounters

with Aztai. Based on research camera evidence, she is currently thought to be with cubs.

Update from the Field Country Program Updates

Pg. 3

This has been an incredible year for snow leopards! We are pleased to share with you just a few of the major

accomplishments you helped make possible this year—and some of the big developments you can look forward to in 2013.

In June, 160 students and teachers from rural Himalayan schools

attended eco-camps in India to learn about snow leopards and their

fragile environment. The experience of living in tents and being in

the wilderness is exciting for most students—very different from

their usual school experience indoors. Many say that learning about plants and animals around them, about which they knew

very little, has made them feel proud of their natural and cultural

heritage and take more interest in preserving it. One student said of

her experience,

“I saw and learned a lot in this camp, which I didn’t know earlier.

I learned that each creature has a right to exist on earth. I’ll tell

my fellow villagers to look after our pastures.” – Rinchen Dolma

India

In Mongolia, we haven’t stopped at having a 6500 km² area declared as a Local

Protected Area for snow leopards. We secured support from three of the six lev-

els of government necessary to elevate the snow leopard habitat surrounding our

long-term study site into a protected National Reserve. Rapid mining in southern

Mongolia poses a great future challenge to snow leopards and we are moving as fast as we can to elevate the conservation status of the area. More than 50 wom-

en participated in a design summit workshop aimed at improving the quality of

Snow Leopard Enterprise camel wool products to increase household incomes

for communities who share the snow leopard’s habitat.

Mongolia

Long-term Study

During spring, we tracked two collared females to active den sites—a first for snow

leopard science. Our team was able to collect vital data that will ultimately help us

understand more about cub survival. In August, research cameras photographed

both moms out and about with their growing (and playing!) cubs.

A camera study in a small part of China’s Sanjiangyuan Nature

Reserve revealed an estimated 41 snow leopards. Researcher Li

Juan successfully defended at Peking University to become the

first woman to complete a field ecology Ph.D. on snow leopards.

China

Update from the Field Snow Leopard Trust Country Highlights

Pg. 4

In Pakistan we successfully worked with over 1,300 herders to

vaccinate 16,000 livestock in return for snow leopard conservation com-

mitments. This program has been so successful that we’re expanding it

into three new valleys. We also carried out intensive camera trapping in

three national parks (Broghil, Qurambar, and Deosai) covering more

than 5000 km2 through 200 camera stations, and documented a diverse

community of carnivores including snow leopards. In December, Paki-

stan’s wildlife conservation experts, government officials and foreign

diplomats gathered in Islamabad for World Conservation Day and

vowed to take further steps to protect the country’s snow leopards.

Pakistan

This month the Snow Leopard Trust, World Bank, NABU, and the Government of

Kyrgyzstan hosted a Global Snow Leopard Conservation Workshop. For the first

time since the snow leopard was placed on the endangered species list, government

officials of all 12 snow leopard range countries, scientists, and other leaders in con-

servation came together to develop National Action Priorities to safeguard the en-dangered snow leopards and their high mountain ecosystems. We also continued to

work with communities participating in our improved Snow Leopard Enterprises

program. We hope to see some new handicrafts from Kyrgyzstan in 2013.

Overall, thanks to your support, our field programs in the five most important snow leopard range countries, and our activities at the global level, are having a measurable benefit for snow leopards and their environment. So far our

2012 monitoring shows that there has been no retaliatory killing or poaching of snow leopards in any of our program

communities. In Mongolia, the population of snow leopards in our long-term study site has remained stable over the

past four years. And surveys in program sites in India indicate increasing wild prey populations and higher diversity and abundance of plant and bird species.

In 2013, as we continue these important grassroots programs, we will also continue working at a global level. In the coming year, we will be working with WWF, US Agency for International Development (USAID), the President of

Kyrgyzstan and members of the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiative to advance research and conservation for snow

leopards across their range. For the first time, snow leopard conservation is moving to the forefront of the political stage within Central Asia and we are grateful that you have helped our country teams grow in capacity and promi-

nence so they can take leadership roles in these efforts.

Thank you again and we look forward to working with you in 2013 as we continue to build a brighter and healthier future for these amazing cats.

Kyrgyzstan