ナショナルジオグラフィックさんのインスタグラム写真 - (ナショナルジオグラフィックInstagram)「Photo by Prasenjeet Yadav @prasen.yadav Text by @petergwin: This image was taken two years ago on a steep cliff overlooking two small villages in India's remote Spiti Valley, but it can be traced directly back to a photograph taken some 50 years ago. In 1970 pioneering wildlife biologist George Schaller snapped the first recorded photo of a snow leopard in the wild, and for nearly two decades afterward, it would remain the only known image of the so-called ghost cats that prowl the Roof of the World. In 2018 Prasenjeet Yadav was funded by @insidenatgeo to photograph snow leopards in his native India. By that time, camera traps had helped to bring the creatures into a somewhat better view, but they still remained highly elusive. He spent months with local researchers from @snowleopardtrust, exploring high-altitude gorges and icy ridgelines in subfreezing temperatures, scouting for just the right spots to set up his camera traps. "I had to discover how to think like a snow leopard," Prasenjeet says. This camera trap image was taken close to a high pasture where ibex and blue sheep, the cats' favored prey, graze. "This was one of my first pictures," Prasenjeet says. "You think the cat looks startled—you should've seen my face when I opened the camera trap and found this image." Follow me @prasen.yadav for more photos from the biodiverse states of India.」8月1日 11時34分