Field Reflections of Mongolia
Wait!...so a Dzud can be good?
October 9, 2017
When I think back to my experience in Mongolia, I think to a statement that Fia (or Jenny) made to me early on at Ger camp, about how hard it is to capture how large the landscape is in a photo. I quickly gave up trying to capture the openness of the landscape, for my photos could not convey the vast expanse that is Mongolia. At that moment I decided that even though I would continue to carry my camera(s) with me, I would not take many photos, instead I focused on “experiencing being in the moment”, and trying to soak in the landscape of Mongolia as much as I could, to savor the experiences instead.
When thinking back on the landscape what stood out was how brown and dry everything was. A recurring theme throughout my experience in Mongolia was the severe drought conditions. Coincidentally, water conservation was my take home theme from my previous Earth Expedition in 2016 to Baja California. When learning about the ecology of Mongolia, I learned about what Mongolians called ‘dzud’. The term referred to the occurrence of stochastic, catastrophic winter events, which bring severe cold and tall snowdrifts (Robert et al., 2005). Such an event occurred during the winter of 2009-2010, which saw millions of livestock lost, and a crash of the takhi population (Kaczensky et al., 2011). In December 2009, there were 138 takhi reportedly living in the Gobi B Special Protected Area, but by April 2010, only 49 individuals were found alive (King, Boyd, Zimmermann and Kendell, 2015).
Historically these “dzud” events have occurred after a severe drought, such as what Mongolia was currently experiencing while we visited. During one of my group outings learning about the botany of Mongolia, we were led by Munkhtsog, where we drove to an flat area in which we did not observe any new flora, and everything seemed dead or dying. Again, the topic turned to the current severe drought conditions, and I asked if he was worried about a subsequent dzud in the coming winter. His response took me by surprise at first, stating that a “dzud would be a very good thing!” A dzud could potentially kill many livestock which would in turn be of benefit to wildlife. My take away message: it’s important to see things from multiple perspectives, it's all in how we choose to look at things.
References
Kaczensky, P., Ganbaatar, O., Altansukh, N., Enkhsaikhan, Stauffer, C., & Walzer, C. (2011). The danger of having all your eggs in one basket- Winter crash of the rei-introduced Przewalski’s horses in the Mongolian Gobi. PLoS ONE, 6(12). E28057. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028057
King, S.R.B., Boyd, L., Zimmermann, W. & Kendall, B.E. (2015). Equus ferus ssp. przewalskii. (errata version published in 2016) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T41763A97204950. Downloaded on 27 May 2017. Retrieved from http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/7961/0#sectionErrata
Robert, N., Walzer, C., Ruegg, S., Kaczensky, P., Ganbaatar, O., & Stauffer, C. (2005). Pathological findings in reintroduced Przewalski’s horse (Equus caballus presewalskii) in Southwestern Mongolia. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, 36(2), 273-285.
When thinking back on the landscape what stood out was how brown and dry everything was. A recurring theme throughout my experience in Mongolia was the severe drought conditions. Coincidentally, water conservation was my take home theme from my previous Earth Expedition in 2016 to Baja California. When learning about the ecology of Mongolia, I learned about what Mongolians called ‘dzud’. The term referred to the occurrence of stochastic, catastrophic winter events, which bring severe cold and tall snowdrifts (Robert et al., 2005). Such an event occurred during the winter of 2009-2010, which saw millions of livestock lost, and a crash of the takhi population (Kaczensky et al., 2011). In December 2009, there were 138 takhi reportedly living in the Gobi B Special Protected Area, but by April 2010, only 49 individuals were found alive (King, Boyd, Zimmermann and Kendell, 2015).
Historically these “dzud” events have occurred after a severe drought, such as what Mongolia was currently experiencing while we visited. During one of my group outings learning about the botany of Mongolia, we were led by Munkhtsog, where we drove to an flat area in which we did not observe any new flora, and everything seemed dead or dying. Again, the topic turned to the current severe drought conditions, and I asked if he was worried about a subsequent dzud in the coming winter. His response took me by surprise at first, stating that a “dzud would be a very good thing!” A dzud could potentially kill many livestock which would in turn be of benefit to wildlife. My take away message: it’s important to see things from multiple perspectives, it's all in how we choose to look at things.
References
Kaczensky, P., Ganbaatar, O., Altansukh, N., Enkhsaikhan, Stauffer, C., & Walzer, C. (2011). The danger of having all your eggs in one basket- Winter crash of the rei-introduced Przewalski’s horses in the Mongolian Gobi. PLoS ONE, 6(12). E28057. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028057
King, S.R.B., Boyd, L., Zimmermann, W. & Kendall, B.E. (2015). Equus ferus ssp. przewalskii. (errata version published in 2016) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T41763A97204950. Downloaded on 27 May 2017. Retrieved from http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/7961/0#sectionErrata
Robert, N., Walzer, C., Ruegg, S., Kaczensky, P., Ganbaatar, O., & Stauffer, C. (2005). Pathological findings in reintroduced Przewalski’s horse (Equus caballus presewalskii) in Southwestern Mongolia. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, 36(2), 273-285.
Dumplings, the global food
I'm thinking back to our last class dinner together at a restaurant in Ulanbataar, at Modern Nomads-6. I sat across from Bayraa, one of our in-country hosts, teacher and family member all in one. He was excited to share with me his assortment of different (Mongolian) dumplings. I remember telling him, that no matter where you go, it seems that people make some version of dumpling. That dough filled with some meat, and/or other food staple, and then fried, boiled, fried or baked...that the dumpling is global and universal. Whether called buuz in Mongolia, dumpling, gyoza, roll (spring or otherwise), pierogie, flauta, empanada, pastellio to the Puerto Ricans like me- food brings people of different cultures together. Dumplings remind us of the similarities, the commonalities of people around the globe. sayhan hoollooroy!.. in other words.. Bon appetit!