We are excited to report that M9 dispersed from his mother Khashaa in mid-April! The only other snow leopard we have known during dispersal was Zaraa, who left her mother Tenger in February of last year. A few weeks after M9 went off on his own, field researcher Orjan located his first big kill, a …
Tag: Tenger
Tenger May Be New Mom!
Last April, we began to notice that Tenger was refining her home range to a very small area- a behavior that indicated she may have been pregnant and had found a den site. There is no way for our researchers to confirm a wild snow leopards’ pregnancy, but close attention was paid to her activities …
A Journey Through The Badlands
During the week of May 19, 2011, the young snow leopard Zaraa journeyed from our study area in the Tost Mountain region, 45 km. (~27 miles) north, across the Toson Bumba Mountain chain and all the way to another nearby chain called the Nemegt Mountains. What makes this northern trek so interesting is not the …
How snow leopards 'leave the nest'
We’ve been really excited to follow two female snow leopard: Tenger and her daughter Zaraa and now, for the first time, we are watching this snow leopard cub ‘leave the nest!’ The timing of Zaraa’s apparent separation from her mother is occurring around the time of year when we believe snow leopards begin breeding. This makes us speculate whether …
A Snow Leopard Romance for Valentine's Day
With Tsagaan fitted with an improved GPS tracking collar this past September, we have learned a remarkable amount of information on his recent whereabouts. His home range overlaps with that of Khashaa, Tenger and Zara (the three females in our research study) and his GPS locations show him visiting all of them more than once …
Snow Leopard F4 Has New Official Name
F4, the female snow leopard who joined our long-term study October 15, 2010 and who turned out to be Zaraa’s mom (!) now has an official new name, Tenger. Here is how Bayara, our Mongolia Country Director, describes the meaning of Tenger: ‘Tenger” means Sky, but still holds the meaning of spirit and power. Mongolians respect …
New Snow Leopard is Zaraa's Mom!
Great news: On October 15, 2010 Orjan placed a GPS radio collar on a female snow leopard! For now, she is temporarily being called F4. She joins fellow females, Zaraa and Khashaa, as well as six males (Aztai, Tsagaan, Shonkhor, Saikhan, Devekh, and Khavar) to become the ninth snow leopard in our study! F4 is …
"James Bond" is a Female: The Elusive New Cat Joins Our Study
Orjan is a Swedish PhD student who works at the base camp of our long-term research project in Mongolia. These are his adventures… At 03:19 (on October 15, 2010) our trap surveillance system alarm went off. This system, with its siren, makes me feel a little like a fire-fighter. In true “fire-fighter manner,” I jumped …
The James Bond Snow Leopard
Orjan is a Swedish PhD student who works at the base camp of our long-term research project in Mongolia. These are his adventures… It’s been a rough period in camp. After several long days in field, I decided to take a day off. I was just going to do a little bit of work in …