Year that winter forgot, Mongolia edition: "Coldest winter in local memory" killed as much as 40 percent of many families' livestock

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Erdenemunkh has many reasons to leave the ancient lifestyle behind. This year, his Central Mongolian home region of Azraga was hit with a "dzud," a devastatingly harsh winter that killed as much as 40 percent of many families' livestock. For a nomadic family, the loss of livestock translates into a direct loss of household income. And that's not even the worst-case scenario --Erdenemunkh had a neighbor who lost all but one of his 80 cows in the unrelenting cold.

Herders distinguish among three different types of dzud. This year's was considered a "glass dzud," where the ground froze solid under a thick layer of snow, prohibiting animals from grazing. With temperatures reaching -40 to -60 degrees Fahrenheit throughout January, it was the coldest winter in local memory, and animals both froze and starved to death. Most families in Azraga said this year was even worse for them than the notorious dzud of 2010, in which almost 8 million head of livestock, or 17 percent of the entire country's animals, died and the government of Mongolia declared disaster status.