Thank you Roman and Vika!
We all would know nothing about manuls without your wonderful site, and the fact it's free with no ads makes me more thankful. We don't give them enough credit for giving us all the manul information at our fingertips for FREE!
We really don't deserve this kind of good you guys have done.
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PS: here's a question from my brother "Roman and Vika, what is the story behind your profile pictures?"
HAND FOREVER!!
Elliott Cazares, These will be two different stories.
I'm wearing a hat knitted by ManulTabitan (https://x.com/ManulTabitan). This was taken during our visit to Nasu. In the morning, ManulTabitan picked up Lin Mei and me to give us a ride to the zoo. When we approached her car, she said she wanted to show us something and pulled out two hats. One was in the shape of a Pallas's cat—with its head, tail, and even everything underneath it. The second was simpler, but also fluffy and Pallas's-like. She told me she spent many, many days making this hat by hand. Vika and I tried it on—it's very comfortable and warm! I dream of having a hat like this, but alas, the craftsman doesn't make them anymore because she doesn't have the fluffy yarn it's made from. ManulTabitan gave us Pallas's cat tails knitted from this yarn, and I wore (and still wear) it on my backpack.
Elliott Cazares, One time, Vika and I decided to celebrate New Year's in an unusual place and went to the Altai Mountains, to the village of Kosh-Agach (not far from the borders of Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan). We stayed at a hotel in the Sailyugemsky Park and were the only guests there. They had a decorated Christmas tree, and outside the window it was bitterly cold – -40°C. I didn't even turn off the car – it just ran 24 hours a day, because if I turned it off, it would be difficult to turn it back on.
We celebrated New Year's there and spent a few more days there, and at the hotel we found a Pallas's cat costume. We asked him to take photos, and this is one of them.
Why is Vika dressed so lightly in the photo when it's so cold outside? It's an amazing place—it's sunny almost year-round, and since the village is at a high altitude, the sun provides a lot of warmth during the day in winter. In the car, you have to strip down to a T-shirt, but outside you can wear a light jacket for a while. And it's also the Pallas's cat's habitat.