Snow leopards are powerful and beautiful big cats, native to the mountains of central Asia. Insulated by thick hair and possessing wide, fur-covered feet that act as natural snowshoes, they are well adapted to their environment. Their long tails, which help in maintaining their incredible balance, double as blankets against severe cold. The harsh conditions [...]
Posts under ‘Featured Trips’
Rare Video Footage of Wild Pandas
Giant pandas are among the world’s most uncommon and elusive animals. China’s State Forestry Administration estimates that there are only about 1,600 of them remaining in the wild, down from 2,500 in the 1970s. They inhabit the mountainous regions of China’s Sichuan (1,200 pandas), Shaanxi (300 pandas), and Gansu (100 pandas) Provinces. Animals similar to [...]
Protecting Panda Habitat: China’s First Land Trust Reserve
When images of a wild giant panda gnawing on a takin carcass in China’s Sichuan Province were recently captured on motion-sensor cameras, researchers were caught by surprise. Although pandas are technically carnivores, their diets today consist almost entirely (99 percent) of bamboo leaves, stems, and shoots. The new photos provide visual evidence that pandas — [...]
Calling on Mountain Gorillas
The Uganda Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, with the support of The Wildlife Conservation Society, recently checked in with the mountain gorilla population in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and found the primates doing well. A census conducted through nest counting and the genetic analysis of fecal matter discovered their numbers up 33% to an [...]
Discover China’s Wild Lake Country
Like fragments of glass, 114 lakes shimmer across the landscape of Sichuan’s Jiuzhaigou National Park on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Indeed, legend relates that the lakes originated in the shattering of a mirror presented to the beautiful goddess Woluo Semo by an adoring mortal. Association with divine beauty is apt for this UNESCO [...]
The Jewel and the Keystone of India’s Kanha National Park
Certain national parks are particularly renowned for their animal denizens. Last week, I was in Grand Teton and Yellowstone, where bison, moose, elk, and osprey were roadside attractions. Invisible, at least on this trip, but yet on every visitor’s mind, are the wolf and grizzly bear. In India’s Kanha National Park, the keystone species is [...]
