From
Benjamin von Brackel
At first it was just a few blue sheep that descended the mountains of the Himalayas. Over time, however, residents in the Mustang district of Nepal began to notice more and more of the ungulates in their crop fields. Finally, snow leopards also appeared, following their prey to lower altitudes. They also pounced on the grazing animals until the villagers shot the predators – after all, an endangered species. For decades, climate change had warmed the region, melting snow and pushing the tree line up. The blue sheep had less grass to nibble on due to the new growth, so they had to look for new food.