Last week, a highly motivated team counted wildlife in the Dzungarian Gobi Desert, with a special focus on steppe ungulates (gazelles, wild asses, and wild horses).
Wildlife counters included Great Gobi B SPA rangers, scientists from the National University of Mongolia, and an international science team from Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences and ITG. A total of 34 counters spent 7 days in the Gobi and applied a distance sampling approach. For this, the counters were released on hills in the Gobi and spent 24 hours alone. Meanwhile, they counted wildlife 6 times up to a distance of 4 km in all cardinal directions.
Spending the days and nights all alone in the Gobi was exciting and special for all participants.
The counters were supported by a well-organized kitchen team, which provided the food.
The rangers were provided with binoculars by Prague Zoo and received watches from the company Fossil, which were kindly engraved by jeweler Schwarcz. ITG financed the steppe ungulate count and the ITG Mongolia team organized the whole project with the help of the protected area management. The project was scientifically accompanied by several scientists from the Inland University in Norway under the leadership of Petra Kaczensky.
Now the data are being evaluated and soon the population sizes of the steppe ungulates can be estimated.
Many thanks to all who supported this exciting project!