What’s on the menu

We have been visiting sites where our collared cats stopped for some time since 2008, those sites are referred to as ‘clusters’. Most often the cats have killed a prey in those sites and with some detective work we can gather a lot of information about the prey, for example which species, age, sex and if the animal was in poor condition. That might sound easy and sometimes it is. Though, in some cases a wolf pack has feasted on the remains together with a bunch of vultures. Then it takes some more effort to find enough parts to figure out what has happened. We also survey the habitat where the prey are found to get a better understanding of where the snow leopards hunt. In other clusters the cats have simply laid down to rest, I have learned that snow leopards prefer to take naps in very, very steep and rugged terrain. Those sites involve a lot of climbing, balancing and telling oneself that vertigo is a highly unrational feeling.

 

Anyways, we have now found more than 200 preys on clusters and can for the first time start looking at new aspects of predation patterns. All previous studies have gathered feaces to determine what the snow leopards have eaten, as in the proportion of different prey species. With our data we can describe how often a snow leopard kill a large prey, if there are differences between males and females, if the cats select different prey species or categories in different seasons and so on. Ultimately, with the prey counts that Sumbee are conducting we can calculate how the cats affect the prey populations and how big a prey population that is needed to sustain the snow leopards in Tost. These results can be extrapolated to other areas. We intent to start analyzing the data in the end of this year.