It's the second field season that manuls of the nature reserve "Daursky" are being observed by the students Aldar, Dmitry and Alina.

Last year, the reserve's zoologist Vadim Kiriliuk suggested to watch a one-year-old female manul that should have been giving birth shortly. There were several other females with radio collars, but this one was chosen due to the convenience of her location - she made her den right under the abandoned camp building. The former owner of the place was a shaman, so we named the female manul Shamanka. The camp building became our home for the time of observations.

Last year the den was under the main building of the camp. This year the place was disassembled by the owners, and Shamanka settled down under a small wooden hut next to it. Aldar arrived to the observation point first. Through the hut cracks, he could see how the mamma cat goes hunting, how the kittens accompany her, and how often the kittens leave their shelter to play. He also managed to take a couple of pictures, but after that the female moved her kittens to the other place, the burrow 1.5 km (0.6 miles) away from the hut.

Last year, Shamanka had three kittens. This year, she had six! The female changed her lair repeatedly, moving kittens from one shelter to another. The students managed to find the burrow where she moved them to, to weigh the kittens and to measure them.

Throughout the whole watching season the manul's movement were tracked using the radio signal. First, you need to find the signal, its direction and intensity. The type of the signal (short or frequent) defines whether the object is moving or staying still. This way we managed to compose an approximate picture of the female's daily routine during the nourishing season (June) and her movements around her territory.

In the beginning of July the female was accompanied by only one kitten, and soon she was spotted alone. Therefore, in July we tracked the activities of the mamma cat without her kittens. Shamanka looked noticeably thinner, but she managed to nourish all six kittens, as this year rodents, primarify the Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus), are especially plentyful on the Cape Mergan where Shamanka lives. The young researchers hope that this spike in the rodents' population will allow all six kittens to have enough to eat.

Initially it was believed that the mamma manul would nourish her kittens for a longer period of time, staying with them until the end of the summer. However, the observations, however scarce, show the opposite. In July, the kittens already start their separate life, though it's not yet clear whether they live together or apart. From the written sources we know that some people happened to run upon a group of seemly young animals in August-September.

Apart from the Shamanka's kittens, Dmitry and Aldar could see kittens from a different litter. The animals were hiding among the rocks in the field. The mamma manul was nowhere to be seen. The students also collected the manuls' droppings near the abandoned dens, and animals' tracks. Possibly the droppings will allow to define what is the manuls' primary feed base. The data of rodents countings show that, most likely, it's the Mongolian gerbils. However, it's possible to be the Daurian pikas (Ochotona dauurica, small hare-like creatures). There are plans to continue the study of the manul maternal behavior for the next field season.

The observers are Aldar Dambain and Dmitry Stafeev, the 3rd year students of Zabaikalisky State University of Arts and Education, and Alina Baranova, bachelor in biology from Saint-Petersburg State University.

The contact person: Alina Baranova earth99@yandex.ru