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Sometimes I am amazed by the variety of animal species that inhabit Xinjiang. This week I learned that more snow leopards call China home than any other country in the world, with the majority of those split between Tibet and Xinjiang.  Heck, we even have a nature reserve for them here in Xinjiang, the Taxkurgan Nature Reserve.

I also know from watching BBC’s Planet Earth series that snow leopards have been very difficult to capture on film, especially their hunting habits and techniques.  With this in mind my attention has been caught by a new blog up entitled “Xinjiang Snow Leopards” written by Dr. Philip Riordan, a senior postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit.  Right now he is in the process of packing his bags and sending his photo gear ahead of him to Kashgar for this project that aims to monitor, provide population estimates, and identify hot spots for the snow leopard here in Xinjiang.

I’m looking forward to keeping up with his updates while he’s here this month and think you might enjoy it too.  You might also want to check out the New Dominion’s review of this most intriguing Xinjiang news.  Good luck!

Sources:

The New Dominion: Xinjiang Snow Leopard Project
Wikipedia: Snow Leopard