Tsagaan Dies

Two days ago I got an email saying that Tsagaan had been in the same place for four days and after that we had not received any locations for seven days. The site is far from camp and we did not know what had happened to him but to be prepared for anything we packed our motorbikes with darting equipment, food, water, headlamps, clothes, necropsy sample kit etc.

Unfortunately we found Tsagaan lying dead high up on a mountain. He had chosen a sheltered cliff wall with a magnificent view for his final resting place. There were no visible wounds on the body and as of now we do not know what he died of, hopefully a necropsy can provide some answers.

The collaring study provides insights in some snow leopard individuals lives and changes them from a ‘grey mass’ somewhere far out in the mountains into individuals with their own personality. I have caught Tsagaan five times over the last three years, after the first time I always knew that it was he who was in the snare even before I had seen him. Before I was in sight of him he greeted me with a growl and as I approached him he hissed and bared his teeth, trying to scare me. None of the other cats have behaved as aggressive as he did. His complete opposite is Aztai, a male of similar size whom I have also caught five times. Aztai lies still in the snare and settles with staring at me, I have even led him away from a steep cliff, holding his collar as he was walking away from the capture site. I would not have tried that with Tsagaan.

As I hike in the mountains here I often try to imagine what it is like to be a snow leopard. For a cat this must be the perfect terrain. They are the undisputed kings of these mountains. No one can touch them here, let alone harm them, with the exception of humans with our technology. Sure I am able to catch them but I use tools that are far from natural. And as I try to climb the slopes, stumbling and catching my breath even though I never venture into the really rugged parts that the snow leopards love, I must be quite a feeble sight to them. Tsagaan must have seen me many times, recognizing my red jacket. I bet that he wondered how that miserable creature could have caught him.

Tsagaan was the dominant male of a large part of central Tost which he ruled since at least February 2009 when we first collared him. His home range encompassed all three of our collared females. That is not a bad life, right? Since none of the females have cubs at the moment, there is a good chance that we will see little Tsagaan Juniors arriving in the South Gobi this summer.

Cheers,

Orjan