Snow Leopard Blog

Orjan is a Swedish PhD student who works at the base camp of our long-term research project in Mongolia.  These are his adventures…

After a nice trip where I got to see Helsinki and Beijing, I finally arrived in Ulaanbataar this afternoon. It’s good to be back, but at the same time I feel a little heavy-hearted. It’s the same feeling as in the armed service, when we came back to the regiment after a weekend at home, knowing that there would be a long exercise in field. The hardest part, though, is packing all the gear. As soon as it starts, one will adapt and enjoy it as best as possible. I’m looking forward to setting up camp and start up the fieldwork again, though the thought of not showering in six months…Brrr…

Mongolia´s kindest man (or close to at least), Byamba, picked me up at the airport, and we drove off to investigate the market for Japanese motorbikes in Ulaanbaatar. This was quite a task last winter, when we bought the Yamaha bike. It didn’t start too good this time: the Yamaha dealer has stopped selling bikes, but he had one left – the same model we bought last time. It’s a nice bike, but we had to take it to UB for maintenance twice in six months. Not the best choice when it takes two days to transport the bike. One way. Even so, I tried the bike, and it felt great to be back in the saddle. So to speak.

The only thing worth telling about the trip was that I past three Chinese SWAT police officers in Beijing airport. I am not sure what SWAT stands for, but I guess it is “Special Weapon…something”. The Chinese SWAT officers were neither big nor armed; one of them was actually a tiny girl with big glasses. But to compensate for their size and lack of weapons, they had two K-9 dogs with them. Cocker Spaniels, with scarves around their necks bearing the text “Police Dog”…

Either someone has watched too many Hollywood movies and thinks “SWAT” sounds cool, or the Beijing airport is a very safe place. I don’t think Cocker Spaniels would do the trick in L.A.

Still, I didn’t dare to giggle. It could be that they have black belts in eight different martial arts disciplines and would brake all my bones before I could say “Nice puppy”.

We will leave for field this weekend.

Thanks to the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust, four Pacific Northwest zoos have new signage at their snow leopard exhibits: Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle), Zoo Boise, Tauphaus Zoo (Idaho Falls), Alaska Zoo (Anchorage), and Oregon Zoo (Portland). The signs tell visitors about Snow Leopard Enterprises, and how the program helps protect snow leopards. All the zoos are now selling SLE handicrafts so that zoo visitors will be able to directly support snow leopard conservation work.

Today, I just watched a film on explore.org about tiger poaching. It’s sad to think how many of the issues brought up in this video affect snow leopards as well. In fact, as laws have increased to protect tigers, snow leopards and their parts have become a viable alternative.

Explore.org is a multimedia organization that documents leaders around the world who have devoted their lives to
extraordinary causes.  Films about such important issues are needed to expand awareness and understanding, and champion the work being done by people on the “front lines”–whether it’s on the front lines of poverty or conservation. Explore already has over 250 films and 30,000 photographs, and I look forward to seeing their collection grow.

Although there are no films about snow leopards on explore.org (yet!), it’s a good place to learn about the cultures surrounding snow leopards, and similar issues faced by snow leopards. In fact, three snow leopard regions are featured on there now: China, India and Tibet.

Seattle band, Get Down Moses, recently played in honor of the Snow Leopard Trust at a local club, Tost, in the popular neighborhood of Fremont.  SLT volunteer and supporter, Beth McLain, celebrated her birthday on January 10th at Tost and wanted the evening to be dedicated to snow leopard conservation.  The b-day gal went out of her way to promote our cause and picked up a few more supporters in her efforts.  The members of Get Down Moses jumped on board and donated their pay for the night to the Trust.  Thank you, band members, thank you, Beth, and thank you for all who contributed to the special event.  Oh… and Happy (belated)Birthday, Beth!!!

It seems that Aztai (green) has been hungry in the New Year. After the Christmas feast we reported that he had on December 25th, he seems to have made another kill on the 5th of January, and then again on the 13th, though he remained for no more than two days at each site. He continued to patrol his home range and has refrained from making any excursions outside of his core area. Although we have not had uplinks from Saikhan or Tsagaan recently, there has been a single uplink from Shonkhor (red), who was more than 60 km southwest of our research station. While it confirms that he is around, the fact that we are getting so few uplinks with so much time between data points does not allow us to interpret much about the movement patterns other than that he is perhaps still exploring, and has taken a long walk towards the southwestern edge of the Tost Mountains. With student researcher Orjan Johansson gearing up to go back to the field, we look forward to an exciting season and hope to replace the old collars on Saikhan, Tsagaan, and Shonkhor with new collars before they drop off as planned. This hopefully will allow us to learn more about these cats. In addition, we hope to collar some new individuals that we photographed last year on camera traps, and see how they interact with this landscape and other cats.

Parents, Kids, Teachers: we’ve learned about three grants you might be interested in. These are grants that could help you get recognition for your work saving the environment, or provide you with a little money for a project you want to do. We’re just passing along information, if your are interested you should follow these links for more information.

Get Ur Good On Grants (Deadline: February 22)

Miley Cyrus is partnering with Youth Service America (YSA) to create Get Ur Good On (www.GetUrGoodOn.org), a social network that brings together youth to support each other in their mission to do “good” in their communities.

YSA now launches Get Ur Good On Grants to support youth-led service initiatives on Global Youth Service Day, April 23-25, 2010.

Available to children and youth around the world, YSA’s Get Ur Good On Grants will award 100 $500 grants to projects addressing important community needs such as poverty, education, and environmental sustainability.

Action for Nature International Young Eco-Hero Awards (Deadline February 28, 2010)

To recognize the individual accomplishments of young people (ages 8-16) whose personal actions have significantly improved the environment, Action For Nature will award cash prizes of up to $500 to young Eco-Heroes from around the world for their outstanding accomplishments in environmental advocacy, environmental health, research or protection of the natural world. Their individual initiatives will inspire others to preserve and protect our fragile environment.

Captain Planet Foundation (Deadlines for submitting grant applications are March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31)

In order to be considered for funding, proposals must:

• Promote understanding of environmental issues
• Focus on hands-on involvement
• Involve children and young adults 6-18 (elementary through high school)
• Promote interaction and cooperation within the group
• Help young people develop planning and problem solving skills
• Include adult supervision
• Commit to follow-up communication with the Foundation (specific requirements are explained once the grant has been awarded)

Generally, the range of grants awarded by the Foundation is $250 – $2,500*.

GOOD LUCK!

Here’s a recent picture of Gobi and Batu, the snow leopard cubs at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo. (Photo courtesy of Eric Tabb.)

Would you like to see our products that benefit snow leopard conservation in a store near you?

The Snow Leopard Trust offers wholesale accounts to partner with retailers and businesses around the world. Please pass along our information to your favorite local yarn shop, pet store, gift shop, or any other place you think our products might find new fans. It’s a great way for us to get our message into new venues and enables us to reach customers and supporters that we otherwise might not be able to reach.

If you are a shop owner or purchase products for a shop, you can apply for a wholesale account online. The application takes less than a minute to complete, and we will get back to you within 5 business days to let you know if your account has been approved.

Hosting an Event or a Conference?

The Trust also offers wholesale prices to people who want to purchase larger quantities of products either for gifts to include in conference bags, such as our animal ornaments, or organic cotton canvas totes if you want to buy bags themselves to use as your conference bags. In 2009, The Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island and the Cape May County Zoo in New Jersey purchased close to $3,500 worth of merchandise for conferences that they held – a huge help to snow leopards!

A snow leopard shout out (or is that a yowl!) goes out to Woodinville High School’s Earth Club in Woodinville, Washington for purchasing ornaments at wholesale cost to sell at their Holiday Event, where they raised an additional $300 for their Earth Club by selling the ornaments at retail prices and keeping the difference. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Marissa Niranjan at 206-632-2421 or email marissa@snowleopard.org.

Last Fall, with support from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, the Snow Leopard Trust, in collaboration with Facing the Future, launched a new curriculum entitled – Engaging Students in Conservation: Protecting the Endangered Snow Leopard. (Download the 7 Mb PDF file) This interdisciplinary curriculum has five dynamic lessons geared for 5th – 8th grade.  The lessons culminate in a service learning project that can be implemented as a fundraising activity for your school or for a community conservation project.

This winter, two schools piloted the service learning project. At the Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy in Louisiana, teacher Susan Bower’s 7th grade science class spent a few weeks learning about snow leopards and the conservation issues facing this endangered species. They then organized a fundraiser that would raise money not only for their school and for snow leopard conservation, but would also raise awareness by telling others about what they learned. In just one week, they collected over $222.00 by taking orders for holiday ornaments and felted cat toy mice.  Of that amount, $111.00 went to the Snow Leopard Trust and the rest will be used for a school project.  This is a fabulous and sustainable alternative to selling wrapping paper or chocolate bars.

Kayla Tarr, a 7th grader from Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy wrote:

“For the past few weeks, Ms. Bower’s seventh grade science class has been studying the snow leopard. We have learned about the habitat, diet, adaptations, and threats of this animal that is a keystone species of its environment. Through different lessons, including an interactive one in which everyone played a different species of a snow leopard’s ecosystem, the class learned about keystone species and how they affect their environment. In addition, a mock town meeting was held where each group role played organizations, businesses, and others who are affected by the snow leopard in some way. At the end of the meeting, we voted on a solution that would benefit both the people living in the area and the snow leopard. To end the project, the class sold ornaments and cat toys for a fundraiser. Made by the crafts people who live in the mountains alongside the snow leopards, the money raised by sale of the ornaments and toys is split between the school and the Snow Leopard Conservation Organization. Further, this money goes to both the conservation and protection of the snow leopard and the people who live near them. …the class was able to make $280 dollars and sell 87 items total, thanks to the help of the parents, students, teachers, and others who contributed to the fundraiser.”

The Sharpstein Elementary School in Walla Walla, Washington chose to have a month long Information and Sales Booth at their school. Sharing information about what they had learned about snow leopards and endangered species, they sold during teacher-parent conference weeks and over the holidays. Together, the students in Teacher Mary Cortinas’ class raised more than $5,100 from selling the products! Because they purchased the products at discounted wholesale prices from the Snow Leopard Trust, $2,760 came back to the Trust and the additional $2,400 was kept by the school for a project of their own choice. In fact, the fundraiser was so popular, that Ms. Cortinas chose to hold on to the products they didn’t sell, so they could try and sell them later in the year. It was a win-win for the school and for snow leopards. Find out how your local school can do the same!

Download the free curriculum (7 Mb PDF file) or if you have any questions or comments, call 206-632-2421 or email jennifer@snowleopard.org.

Originally published in Snow Leopard Tracks, Summer 2006
Advances in genetics have resulted in a valuable new technique to estimate snow leopard populations. This is done by analyzing the DNA from samples of wild snow leopard scat and shed hairs that are collected in the field.

The Trust has been working with Dr. Lisette Waits of the Laboratory for Ecological and Conservation Genetics at the University of Idaho to apply this technique to snow leopards. Her lab analyzed 85 samples of wild snow leopard scat collected as part of recent Trust-sponsored projects in China and the Kyrgyz Republic. Recently, Dr. Waits took some time out to answer our questions about how this cutting-edge science works.

How does genetic analysis help answer questions about snow leopard populations?

First, it helps determine the presence or absence of snow leopards in a particular area. Second, it enables us to identify individual snow leopards, and as a result get a count of the snow leopards in that area. Finally, it helps answer broader questions about snow leopard populations, including the genetic health and diversity, and the migration and breeding patterns of populations.

How is snow leopard DNA different from human DNA?

There is a smaller difference than you might expect. Less than 15% of the snow leopard’s DNA differs from that of humans. This is why many of the human genetic analysis techniques that have been developed in recent years can also be applied to analyze snow leopards and other species.

DNA from domestic cats is even closer to snow leopards. So in addition to techniques used in human DNA analysis, data from the Feline Genome project at the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute has been extremely helpful in our genetic analysis of snow leopards.

Are there differences in testing snow leopard samples versus other species you study?

Basically we use the same lab protocols testing snow leopard samples as we do for other carnivore species. But since there is less genetic diversity in snow leopard populations, it is more challenging to identify individual snow leopards from the genetic material.

Is it possible to test snow leopard hair?

Yes, it is definitely possible to test shed snow leopard hairs. But for the current project we are only working with scat samples. At my lab we have done DNA analysis on hairs from a variety of species, including several species of bears. In addition to hairs, we have even been able to analyze DNA from molted parrot feathers. Scat contains much less DNA material than a genetic sample of multiple hairs hairs. But, it is much easier to find snow leopard scat samples than hair samples.

What is the progress on the current snow leopard samples at your lab?

So far we have extracted the DNA from the snow leopard scat samples we have, and have done a first screen of 20 samples using a species identification test. The point of the test is to confirm which samples are truly from snow leopards, and those we will be able to use for additional testing, such as identifying individual snow leopards. We have been able to amplify DNA and determine the species from 100% of these initial samples, which is a promising result. In this group of 20 scats, we found 12 snow leopards, plus foxes, martens, and one wolf. After completing species identification on all scats, the snow leopard samples will be analyzed to determine how many unique individuals were sampled.

Did You Know?
Believe it or not, enzymes originally found in bacteria living in geysers in Yellowstone National Park play a key role in a broad range of DNA analysis being done today in medical and biological labs around the world. This analysis includes diagnosis of infectious diseases, genetic fingerprinting used in crime investigations, analyzing DNA from extinct species—and the work Dr. Waits is doing on snow leopards. The enzymes are used as part of a scientific technique called the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) method. In a nutshell, PCR enables scientists to amplify or copy a small amount of DNA in a test tube to create thousands or millions of copies. So the method is invaluable when the scientist has access to only a small amount of original DNA material. In 1993, Dr. Kary Mullis, who invented the PCR method, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.