Pica, history, and Clyde

We woke up this morning to another person coming to see the snow leopards.  This one is from Japan.  This is a busy camp, and each trip is curated specifically for the person taking it.  When something is found, we all end up together, but while searching, each group is with their own guide.

On our first stop, we found the Pallas' pica.  Other than the Przewalski horse, which isn't in this area of the country, that covers every animal I had on my list and then some!  The pica is not a rodent.  Instead it is more closely related to rabbits and hares.  Just look at those cute little ears!  And it's not carrying any vegetation in its mouth to put in its burrow to save for eating during the winter!  Of course, this is spring, so Bina reminded me it's not the right time of year for that.

We saw a pair of golden eagles, but no cats.

On the way back to camp for lunch, we stopped by to see a herder family.  Unlike how I had thought of nomadic peoples, the herders in this area rotate to different pastures in the general area.  They don't cover hundreds of miles with each move, but remain on the steppe, just in different parts of it (which is still pretty vast).  When they leave their current spot, they will leave any fixed structures there and come back to it when the season comes around for them to return to this section.  After they move the herds, many of them come back to clean up.  They will use the chips for burning, especially starting fires, and other things.  Shelters and pens for the animals will remain.  They taken their ger and other items for daily living with them, including the satellite TV dish and solar electricity panels for those who have them. 

Education is compulsory in Mongolia, and the children of the herders have dormitories they can live in during the four terms of school, coming home for breaks, including summer (June-September).  A few of the families are able to have a home in the community, so the kids can stay with one parent during the school year and only one parent goes out with the herds.  Others pool their resources, sending a rotating herder out to care for multiple herds while the others get to be with their spouses and children in town, rotating herders so one doesn't spend an excessive period of time away from their family.  They are a very resourceful group of people.

When couples marry, the ceremony lasts a few days, beginning with the ritual arrival of the bride to the ger and exchanging of vows.  Each family contributes to the furnishings, ensuring that the couple doesn't start out with nothing.  There are currently no dowries, but historically, dowries were common.  Guests stay and remain all day, not just a couple of hours for the ceremony and a short reception.  Those who were unable to attend the ceremony will come to visit on the second day, again an all day affair.  The third day is reserved for the couple to visit both sets of parents.  In this picture, you can see where they are melting some of the last snow for water before they pack up the ger and leave for the next pasture.  Most of the livestock were gone already.

After lunch, the community meeting was scheduled, so my companion and I went camel riding.  

On the way to the camels, we stopped by a bronze-age burial site.  The tall stones indicate the importance of the person buried there.  Some of them have broken over time, but you can tell which ones have done that.  They also have faces carved into the stones in front of the grave.  The angrier the face, the fiercer the warrior, which usually also made them more important, so taller stones.

We headed on to the camels.  This was not a tourist riding type of thing.  This was a herder who rides some of his camels like you ride horses.  He just happened to be friends with one of our trackers.  They don't name their camels, so I called mine Clyde (like from the Ray Stevens song), and we had a great time.  They only use one rope on the camel, and they neck reign and use leg signals.  Clyde bent right around my leg when I asked him to.  You just have to be careful to keep your hands high because low hands are the cue for them to lay down so you can dismount.  Though it's been a very long time again, from what I remember, the bactrim camel here is a much smoother ride than the dromedary camel I rode in Saudi Arabia.  The passage of time could have impacted my memory, though.

The humps were a little down because of a lack of nutrition during the winter.

Look at those HUGE feet!

Clyde seemed to be a happy boy who didn't seem to mind the thing through his nose.

After riding, we went back to the camp for dinner.  Part of the dinner conversation was a discussion about the pica, and I learned that Pikachu, the Pokemon, was likely named after the pica, so those who pronounce it with a long I are probably wrong.  The pronunciation of pica has troubled me for several years, ever since I heard the first person pronouncing it with a long I.  It was a nice discussion of Pokemon over dinner, and I ended up connecting our friend from Hong Kong with Chrissy in one of the Pokemon virtual card sites.  All in all, another great day.