Not only can we say the name without stumbling, we had the plastic model as a kid and would be totally down to go look for its remains, or those of any other dinosaur, in the deserts of Mongolia. And some might say good riddance to us, while others questioned the relevance to climate of our mentioning that it was in those deserts that the first evidence was found of dinosaur eggs, and yes they were Protoceratops. But the relevance, and the reason you would not be rid of us, is that it’s an email from New Scientist inviting us to go on their “one-of-a-kind expedition to palaeontological hotspots of Mongolia”, in August no less. And yet of course New Scientist is big on this “climate crisis”. They just don’t really seem to believe in it. Including the literalness of “hotspots”.
Mongolia is of course being hammered harder by climate change than most places, just like most places. And if you have not totally lost your sense of humour on climate, or anything else, you will surely scoff at “How climate change is fueling the dzud crisis in Mongolia”. Then you will go off and Google whether “dzud” is the currency and it’s collapsing due to CO2 or it’s an animal and it’s becoming scarce due to CO2 or the way they say “duuude” in Ulaanbaator (as it is apparently now spelled) and they do it too often due to CO2. Answer, courtesy of that same United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction article cribbed from the Asian Development Bank Institute (as we mentioned in our Senegal documentary, it’s quite the web they have going there): “a unique climate disaster marked by extreme cold, snowstorms, and unforgiving ice”. Right. Serious cold weather and thus obviously the result of heat because (all together now) Mongolia is warming faster than the average and the effects of climate change that will strike sometime soon have already struck:
“While dzud has always been a part of life in Mongolia, its frequency and intensity have escalated drastically in recent years, and climate change is at the heart of this shift. Since 2005, Mongolia has warmed by 1.59°C-a rate nearly 3 times the global average (Fetch 2021).”
Connoisseurs will especially appreciate that they have always been a way of life there, or death, and we just caused them. But we digress.
The point is, if Mongolia is a baking climate hell, shouldn’t prospecting among its rocks in August spell certain death, followed by a long wait for aliens to find your bones curled up and go “Eureka!” in Klingon or some such?
Especially since the independent minds who thunder in herds that would put later ceratopsids to shame agree that waah waah Mongolia climate. According to The Climate Reality Project (warning: contents may not be exactly as shown on package):
“Mongolia, a vast, landlocked nation in Central Asia, is experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis at an alarming rate, significantly faster than the global average. With temperatures rising at nearly three times the global rate – a 2.1-degree Celsius increase over the past 70 years, and potentially exceeding 5°C by the end of the century under high emissions scenarios – Mongolia is confronting a profound transformation of its environment, economy, and traditional way of life. The country’s unique geography, characterized by arid steppes, deserts, and mountains, makes it particularly vulnerable to even slight shifts in temperature and precipitation patterns. The effects of climate change in Mongolia are multifaceted and deeply intertwined, creating a vicious cycle that threatens the livelihoods of its nomadic herders, the stability of its ecosystems, and the well-being of its population.”
Multifaceted and deeply intertwined does help blame everything on climate change. But what particularly? Why, the dzud, dude:
“Perhaps the most devastating impact of climate change in Mongolia is the increased frequency and intensity of ‘dzuds.’ A dzud is a unique and brutal winter storm. These storms are characterized by five types, depending on snow, freezing, rain, extreme cold, and more, and can have disastrous impacts on people and animals. Historically, dzuds occurred roughly every 10 years. However, due to climate change, they are now striking with alarming regularity, with six major dzuds in just the past decade. The winters of 2023-2024 were particularly severe, with widespread dzud conditions affecting 90% of the country.”
A brutal winter storm. So it’s not heat that threatens, it’s cold. But due to heat. Not that we really believe Mongolia has good long-term dzud records. Nor do we believe that every desert is hot; extreme lack of precipitation can occur under cold conditions as well and actually the two biggest deserts in the world are the Antarctic and Arctic ones, and the driest non-polar desert is the cool Atacama in South America, not to mention the Patagonian and the Gobi.
Now an outfit called “Mongolia Travel and Tours” is unlikely to say yeah, the place is a nightmare, stay away. But it is revealing that they declare that summer is nice because “The weather is warm (20-25 °C in most parts of the country) and pleasant.” Wait. Isn’t warm bad?
Also, isn’t the Gobi desert in Mongolia? Isn’t the place basically a mountainous desert and always has been, the kind of place nomads on horseback sweep out of to steal and otherwise misbehave in less bleak spots? Um well yes. Even Mongolia Travel and Tours concedes that:
“Winter in Mongolia lasts about four months, from November to February. Temperatures are very low, they can reach -30°. It’s a dry cold, the sky is blue and there is very little snow, except in northern areas. A trip at this time is possible, with good preparation and good equipment. It is a wonderful experience because nomads do not expect to meet foreign visitors during this period and will welcome you warmly, in the frozen steppe.”
Just don’t mention the Genghis. Or at least not critically. But we digress.
The point is, Mongolia is dry. Always has been. Hot in summer. Always has been. Cold in winter. Has been at least since the start of the Pleistocene. And it still rains a fair bit in summer, at least according to that tourism site.
BTW if you think our concerns about heat prove we don’t know Mongolian climate, the tourism site also says “In the Southern Gobi Desert, the temperature is noticeably higher. Indeed, in this region, shade is hard to find, the thermometer reaching average temperatures of 40 degrees.” And yes, that tour is at least partly in the southern Gobi including the “Flaming Cliffs” where, the nerdy kid badly hidden inside us leaps up to point out, those fossils we geeked about above were found. Under conditions of extreme heat despite the lack of man-made CO2. And another site tells us “According to fossil evidence Protoceratops could make burrows to survive the harsh desert sun”. So heat there isn’t what you’d call unprecedented. Unless you were, say, a climate activist, with or without a press card.
