
CREDIT: ASHLEY SPEARING
This rare photo of a Trans-Himalayan snow leopard--caught in the act of spraying while searching for a mate--was taken by a remote camera, a new research technique being deployed by a recent Royal Geographical Society expedition. Scientists are looking for ways to save the big cats, which are threatened from all sides: being killed by local herders to protect their flocks, and sought for their luxurious coats and ostensibly medicinal bones.