Mongolians’ best friend: breeders determined to preserve ancient bankhar breed that helped establish life on steppes

The large stray with a lion-like mane and fur curled into dreadlocks looked no different from the mangy mutts roaming Mongolia’s capital when his future owner found him years ago.

Delgeriin Tserenkhand was a teenager when he saved the dog from the streets – only discovering later that his shaggy-haired pet belonged to one of the most ancient breeds in the world.

Now Delgeriin, 34, is part of a growing movement to revive the Mongolian bankhar, a rare herder dog steeped in nomadic traditions that almost died out during the country’s decades as a Soviet satellite state.

Though no reliable numbers exist on how many of these mostly black-haired “guardian” dogs remain, herders say there was a time, generations ago, that every Mongolian dog was a bankhar. But a belief that the dog spread the plague resulted in widespread culls in the 1960s, as the bankhar’s assets – their herding abilities and significance according to Mongolian spiritual customs – were slowly forgotten.

“Saving the dogs means saving Mongolian culture,” Delgeriin said at his ranch on the rolling steppes outside Ulan Bator.