Even though the Tuva eagerly pointed out and stressed a lot of differences between themselves and wolves, I also discovered a sense of ’shared fate‘ regarding wolves. They recognize that wolves‘ seasonal activities, problems and needs are similar to their own and all other animals‘ in the region. Due to the harsh climatic circumstances, all…
Wölfe in der Mongolei/Wolves in Mongolia (V): wolves as wild animals
Most Tuva I met drew a clear line between wolves and human beings. Wolves are wild (mong. zerleg), they can do whatever they want and they live in the mountains far away from where humans live. The ‚otherness‘ which is expressed in these comments points to the wolf as the perhaps most typical representative of…
Wölfe in der Mongolei/Wolves in Mongolia (IV): wolves as dogs of heaven
After a consultation with the spirits of a local ovoo (sacred place), a shamaness told Cheme, one of Galtai’s brothers who accompanied us, to get a wolf’s knee joint which he should bind to his car keys. Cheme had had a serious accident some months before I arrived and he was nervous about driving. With…
Wölfe in der Mongolei/Wolves in Mongolia (III): Wolves as prey
Wolves as prey Wolves are regarded as special due to their double role of being both predator and prey. So while one part of the wolves‘ life is governed by their own hunting activities, the other part is governed by the continuous need to hide from humans. Accordingly, wolves are said to hide and sleep…
Wölfe in der Mongolei/Wolves in Mongolia (II): Wolves as Predators
Once, there was an old rich man who had a son and owned 1,000 horses. One day, they wanted to move on to other pastures. When the man led his horses to a nearby river he came across a dshelbege (a female ‚evil spirit‘). She was going to kill him unless he gave her either…
Wölfe in der Mongolei/Wolves in Mongolia (I): Introduction
When I visited a community of Tuva pastoralists near Dsaamar, about 150 kilometres north-west of the Mongolian capital Ulaan Baator, wolves had killed a lamb the night before. Everybody was still nervous and feared further attacks. Therefore, several men had placed empty oil barrels around the community land which were meant to resemble humans on…