Inter-species Communication

So, on an afternoon in in Hustai in which it was not absolutely pouring rain, we decided to hike up the ridge (see last photo) to see if we could find our way onto the next mountain, which had TREES! We'd not seen a lot of those in past days. We were heading for a big pile of rocks. When we got to it, we climbed up it and had a look around. We saw big sky, we saw a beautiful valley, stretching way out, we saw rain clouds moving across the land. And then we saw the foal! At first we thought it was dead. But then it moved it's ears, then it's head a little. It was a Takhi foal, alone on this ridge by a rock pile. No mama in sight. No herd. What the heck was going on? Was it sick? Injured? Where was it's mother? Why would she leave her baby? Maybe she was sick or injured. Maybe she was dead.I went to the far side of the rock pile to see if I could spot her. I didn't. But when I turned back, I saw the foal was standing. It looked like it was trying to nurse from the rock overhang.
We decided to go down to the lodge and ask the manager to call the biologist at the research station to see if they wanted to go fetch it or...? We were all messed up over this poor creature. It seemed quite young; it was wobbly on it's spindly legs. Night was coming on. And rain was threatening. She did call, but didn't reach him..left a message. My heart stayed on the ridge with this baby horse in the fierce night. A man who was part of a group of US zoo keepers and teachers who were there on an educational tour overheard our tale. He said that wild ungulates (I don't think a horse is an ungulate, but never mind) "park" their babies in a safe place for the first few days and only come to them to allow them to nurse a couple of times a day. Perhaps that was the explanation for otherwise inexplicable behavior on the part of a mother mammal.

The next day we climbed up again. No foal, no blood, nor signs of struggle. I guess his theory was correct! Whew!
And, this, ladies and gentlemen, is a marmot. Why it let me squat so close to it and take it's picture, I have no idea. I talked softly to it, told it I meant it no harm. Then I just hung out with it for awhile. 
We had seen quite a few of them the day we first saw the Takhi, running for their holes as the truck startled them, with their tails straight up in the air. They have golden retriever gold to Irish setter red coats. By winter, their coats are luxuriant. You can buy a jacket made of their pelts at the State Department Store. Gorgeous. Local people also like their meat..fatty and rich. Old school, their fat used to be rendered and used for everything from cooking to oiling bridles.

They also can carry the fleas that carry the plague! When I remembered that fact, I brought my interspecies communication moment to an end.