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The snow leopard of central Asia is one of the rarest of all big cats—perhaps the most beautiful, least-studied endangered species on earth. This is the extraordinary account of the first scientific expedition to radio-collar and study this exclusive animal in its natural habitat. Conducted between 1981 and 1985, the study remains the seminal work on the species. Iris also a story of love and high adventure that provides a fascinating, affecting profile of a people inhabiting one of the most isolated and inhospitable regions in the world—the Kanjiroha Himal of western Nepal.
At thirty—two, Darla Hilliard had worked as a secretary in various offices, satisfying her love of the outdoors only during vacations. She had no scientific training or obvious qualifications to become a member of the Snow Leopard Project—except for her determination and faith in Rod Jackson, the wildlife biologist with whom she fell in love. After participating in initial fundraising efforts, Darla helped Rod prepare a proposal for the study’. It won one of five Rolex Awards for Enterprise, providing the project with its first significant research grant. Darla quit her job to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.
In four field seasons in the dramatic Lange Gorge, Dana, Rod, and their team endured the snow of the worst winter in western Nepal’s living memory, monsoon rains that sent landslides and boulders tumbling through their study area, and the isolation and danger of being a two—week hike away from the nearest airstrip. They overcame the natural obstacles of the tango Gorge’s precipitous terrain; Rod himself stiffened a snow leopard hire that postponed the study for a month.
But out of these hardships and frustrations conies the reader’s shared euphoria of each successive and collaring of five cats, producing a landmark study’ that has helped unlock many of the secrets to this imperiled creatures survival in the wild, and a lasting affection for the hardy mountain people with whom rhe team lived.
This second edition includes an updated bibliography and a new Foreword, updating the reader on Rod’s and Darla’s personal lives and professional activities since Vanishing Tracks was first published in 1989.
