Mongolia’s reindeer herders are known as tsaatan or dukha, with the latter term refering to the Tuvan origin of this group of pastoralists. Having fled from Tuva during World War II, the tsaatan now herd their reindeer in the Western and Eastern Taiga in northern Mongolia’s Khövsgöl province. Reindeer herders rely on the milk of their livestock, which they process into soft (ээдэм – eedem) and hard curds (хурууд/хурд – khuruud/khurd), and daily use for making milk tea.

Read more about reindeer pastoralism and its contemporary challenges in a recent study undertaken by our team members Dr. William Taylor and Björn Reichhardt.