Alex took notes on every day of the trip just as Peter had done, partly, he says, so he could one day share his experiences with his young son, as his father had shared his journey with him. At the suggestion of others – Alex does not think of himself as a writer – he is currently contemplating if he might turn those field notes into a book. His travelling companion, George Schaller, was 83 years old when he undertook the trek, but still impossibly sprightly. “George had a lot of insights into what it was like being up on the mountains with my father,” Matthiessen says. “But as you can imagine, perhaps, he is kind of a reserved fellow. He is not necessarily one to dish emotionally, as it were.”

Serves as the first and only comprehensive book on the biology, behavior, and conservation status of the snow leopard Live snow leopards are of economic importance to zoos. They are displayed to the public for entertainment and research and bring in many tourists. The fact that snow leopards in the wild are extremely reclusive and difficult to find makes this even more important. ( Macri and Patterson-Kane, 2011) Every 5 seconds we would drift off into some gabble about Buddhism that made no sense. Sometimes I feel that the concepts of Buddhism aren’t so hard to grasp, but scholarly scriptures make it harder. What I mean is, I often wondered if Matthiessen himself knew what he was talking about. The point where I gave up was when he was talking about doing LSD while “reveling in the lessons and scriptures of Buddhism”. I understand that during the 60-70, associating drugs to eastern philosophy was a thing, but putting that in a book isn’t going to make me believe that the person is serious about learning (or even knows what their saying). Snow leopards can be found in the harsh, remote, mountainous areas of central Asia. The species’ range is an arc from Mongolia, down through central Asia, along the Himalayas and north into China, however many of the wild populations are extremely fragmented. Christensen, J., B. Hewitson, A. Busuioc, A. Chen X Gao, I. Held, R. Jones, R. Kolli, W. Kwon, R. Laprise, V. Magana Rueda, L. Mearns, C. Menendez, J. Raisanen, A. Rinke, A. Sarr, P. Whetton. 2007. Regional Climate Projections. Climate Change, 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, University Press, Cambridge, Chapter 11, 4: 847-940.Snow leopards are already listed on the international endangered species CITES treaty as Appendix 1, which means they cannot be traded between countries, and are fully protected across all of their range. There is also an eco-spiritual aspect to the book. The author is grieving the loss of his wife during this trip. We can feel this loss, and we are a part of his meditative process. This sometimes colors his observations. As part of the Global Wildlife Program, this project aims to secure wild cat populations and habitats in priority landscapes of India with a focus on small cats and leopards. The Hook - Peter Matthiessen passed away April 5, 2014 at the age of 86. I had read some of his fiction, loving the way his adventuresome novel Far Tartuga (1975) made me feel. I decided it was time to give this memoir, The Snow Leopard (1978) recounting his climb of Mount Everest in search of Blue Sheep and a quest to spot the elusive snow leopard a try. The book recounts the journey of Matthiessen and Schaller in 1973 to Shey Gompa in the inner Dolpo region of Nepal. Schaller's original objective was to compare the mating habits of the Himalayan blue sheep (the bharal) with those of the common sheep of the USA, while for Matthiessen the trip was more of a spiritual exploration. Another aim was to spot the snow leopard, a predator on the bharal and a creature that was seldom seen (it had been glimpsed only twice by Westerners in the previous twenty five years). A third part of the plan was to visit the Crystal Monastery and its Buddhist lama. [1]

Snow Leopards: Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes is the only comprehensive work on the biology, behavior, and conservation status of the snow leopard, a species that has long been one of the least studied, and hence poorly understood, of the large cats. Matthiessen’s book is part travelogue, part naturalist observations, and part coming to terms with loss. About a year after the death of his wife, Matthiessen travels along with a friend in search of a snow leopard, really in the search of big blue sheep. It’s much hiking and camping, and eating. Here's some selections from the book to begin, so you can see Peter Matthiessen's spirit, his Buddhist nature, and his love of language, without my intervention or commentary: Brings current knowledge of the species, not only to researchers and conservationists, but also to decision makers, academics, and studentsThere are a lot of biological facts and observations and insights about the conservation of Nepal. A lot of their exploration that year helped to establish the National Park that preserves the snow leopard territory. A masterpiece of travel and nature writing that gloriously transcends both genres. This is one of the best books I've ever read in the English language. Yes, that's right. I'm including a quote at the end of this review so you can see what I'm talking about. When you get to that quote, try reading it aloud. The beauty of those words spoken will break your heart. Schaller, G., J. Tserendeleg, G. Amarsanaa. 1994. Observations on snow leopards in Mongolia. Proc. Int. Snow Leopard Symposium, 7: 33-42. Snow leopards prey upon the blue sheep (bharal) of Tibet and the Himalayas, as well as the mountain ibex found over most of the rest of their range. Though these powerful predators can kill animals three times their weight, they also eat smaller fare, such as marmots, hares, and game birds.

The story, based on ancient village tales, concerns a shape-shifting guardian (the locals call them mergichans) in the body of the wide-eyed snow leopard. As a protector she guards an infinity of mountain realms and the people in them but it is time to find some-one to take her place. In this tale the snow leopard protector seeks out a young girl to train in the wisdom of guardianship. Not only is the story intriguing for kids but it also has a lovely environmental message about the future of the mountains. Snow leopards are solitary and do not associate with mates unless it is mating season. Due to the long time spent rearing cubs, snow leopard females mate every second year. They are polygynous in the wild, but some snow leopards in captivity are known to have become monogamous. ( Freeman, 1982)Fox, J. 1989. A review of the status and ecology of the snow leopard Panthera uncia. International Snow Leopard Trust, 1: 1-38.

I'm a little embarrassed to say I hadn't paid attention to much of Matthiessen's work before he died. I had Shadow Country on my shelf and every intention of getting to it soon, but didn't realize he had this whole other nonfiction output. I read the Snow Leopard after I read his obit three weeks ago and discovered he was the only person (?) to win the National Book Award for BOTH fiction and nonfiction. OK, so, maybe it was time to throw off my veil of ignorance and start reading some Matthiessen. I figured 'The Snow Leopard' was a good place to start. In Tesson, the film has a real writer whose style rises above the cliche into which nature documentary almost always descends. I enjoyed this documentary for the way it keeps human beings within the picture and doesn’t create a world in which animals exist on their own, with the humans’ presence saved for the making-of featurette section in the last 10 minutes. There is real wonder in the snow leopards’ eventual appearance. Mentally, spiritually, it was perhaps more demanding. Talking to Alex, I mention how over the years that one or two people have told me how special the book has been to them, in helping them to understand or cope with death. In particular, my friend the writer Sonali Deraniyagala, who lost her whole family in the 2003 Sri Lankan tsunami, once told me how the book was just about the only thing she had ever known truly to comfort her. “It’s odd to say but I found that the book really helped with the actual physical pain,” she said. I wondered if Alex felt it to be primarily a book that encompassed grief.

Diet and hunting

Subchapter 16.1: The Trophy Hunting Program: Enhancing Snow Leopard Prey Populations Through Community Participation Offers a complete and thorough update on snow leopard ecology, conservation, research techniques and population trends, among other topic I'm still in grief that the book is over. The afterimage of it is with me and will be for a long time, I hope. The power of it is such that, a couple of weeks ago, walking before the rest of the world was awake, in a city park after a snowfall, I saw a pure cobalt sky and brilliant, glittering snow with Peter Matthiessen eyes.