July 2010

More about Siberian snow leopards

July 20, 2010 Russia

While I’m deep in the Altai Mountains in Siberia, walking remote and treacherous valley paths searching for signs of snow leopard, (‘Irbis’ in the local Altai language) here’s a bit more info about this spectacular location. UNESCO, (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recognises this area as special and has inscribed the Golden Mountains [...]

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Can captive snow leopards be released into the wild?

July 13, 2010 Snow leopards in Zoos

Could that be a solution to endangered cats in the wild? So many zoos are now breeding snow leopards successfully but unfortunately at this time it just can’t be done. One scientist who’s done a lot of research to see if captive bred animals can be reintroduced into the wild is Kristen Jule of the [...]

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Dreaming of Russian snow leopards

July 6, 2010 Saving snow leopards

After a frantic few days of packing and organising I’m finally flying out tonight for Moscow and then on to the Altai mountains on the edge of civilisation in Russia’s south, on the border of Mongolia. Along with eight others from around the globe, I’ll be walking the mountains with Volodya, a Russian biologist, studying [...]

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Wild, fluffy like a hedgehog. 10th snow leopard in Mongolia study called Zaraa.

July 2, 2010 Mongolia

The most recent member of the collared gang of snow leopards in the Snow Leopard Trust’s Mongolia project has got a name. When she was captured, the team, in the style of true scientists, called her F2 (she only the second female collared in the study out of ten cats). But now she’s been officially [...]

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From smallest ears to largest ears

July 1, 2010 Snow leopard habitat

Snow leopards have very small ears for the size of their heads and bodies. This is because ears on all animals, humans included, help lose body heat in cold weather. Because snow leopards live in such cold climates losing body heat is the last thing they want to do. So I was intrigued this week [...]

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