Research suggests low density of snow leopards in Nepal`s Conservation Area

Date:  March 22, 2018

Source:  INASP

The snow leopard is a mammal species of the cat family found at high altitudes in Nepal and other countries around the Himalayan range. However, it has been included in the vulnerable category of IUCN Red list of threatened species in recent years for various reasons.

A recent research article published in the journal Banko Janakari suggests that the snow leopard density in the Manaslu region of the country is low despite abundant prey density and cooperation from humans in its conservation.

"We conducted the research in the Manaslu conservation areas because there had been limited studies in this region in the past," says Bishnu Devkota, lead author of the article. "Our research re-established the generally accepted and proven fact that the snow leopard population is dwindling in protected and unprotected regions of Nepal."

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Scientists split over snow leopard status

By Navin Singh KhadkaEnvironment reporter, BBC World Service

24 August 2017

Scientists are deeply divided on whether snow leopards are still endangered species, a BBC investigation has found.

Some big cat experts say their population has stabilised and increased in a number of places.

This, they claim, has slowed the overall rate of decline.

Others argue that there has been no robust scientific study to prove either that the population has stabilised.

Amid the disagreement, top officials from 12 countries within the snow leopard range are meeting in Kyrgyzstan to further strengthen conservation of the elusive big cats.

The differences of opinion among scientists have intensified as a downgrading of the threat to snow leopards - from "endangered" to "vulnerable" - is expected from the IUCN Red List soon.

The Red List is the most comprehensive inventory of the conservation status of different species.

The list maintained by the international nature conservation body is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the status of biological species.

Scientists who believe that the number of snow leopards has gone up say the information is based on people working in the field.

"Experts from each range countries were asked to come up with best estimates of snow leopard population by country and the total was between 7,400 and 8,000 animals," says Dr Tom McCarthy, snow leopard program executive director for Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organisation.

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Snow leopard and Himalayan wolf diets are about one-quarter livestock

Predation analysis has implications for conservation and management

Date: February 8, 2017

Source: PLOS

Around a quarter of Himalayan snow leopard and wolf diets are livestock, the rest being wild prey, according to a study published February 8, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Madhu Chetri from Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway, and colleagues.

Killing livestock creates conflicts between top predators and pastoral communities, and is a main challenge for conserving snow leopards, which are endangered, and Himalayan wolves, which are rare. These wolves prefer the open grasslands and alpine meadows that are also frequented by pastoral herders, and snow leopards prefer the steep terrain associated with montane pastures. To assess prey preferences of these carnivores, Chetri and colleagues analyzed DNA and hairs in 182 snow leopard scats and 57 wolf scats collected in the Central Himalayas, Nepal.

Read on 

Hundreds of endangered wild snow leopards are killed each year

21 October 2016

By Andy Coghlan

As many as 450 endangered snow leopards have been killed each year since 2008, a report on the fate of the mountain cats estimates.

Only 4000 to 7000 of the animals are thought to remain in the 12 mountainous Asian countries they inhabit.

A big surprise is that more than half the killings – 55 per cent – are estimated to be done by herders avenging livestock attacks by leopards, with only 21 per cent of the cats taken by poachers.

“It’s a completely new insight, and provides a very important point for discussion on how to ensure snow leopards are protected,” says Rishi Sharma, leader of wildlife charity WWF’s snow leopard programme.

“More than half the killing is not for illegal trade as such, so as long as we don’t address these issues affecting local communities, it will continue,” warns Sharma, who is a co-author of the new report by TRAFFIC, the global organisation monitoring the illegal trade in endangered species.

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The insight offers potential new ways to address the problem, says Sharma. These will be discussed today in New York at a summit on snow leopard conservation convened by the UN Development Programme in conjunction with the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program.

Compensation plan

The report proposes two key measures. First, governments in the 12 countries across the leopard’s range should increase the funds available to compensate herders whose animals are killed.

Second, herders should be given extra materials to strengthen the pens, or corrals, where they keep their animals at night.

“They’re often made of mud patched up with flimsy wood materials, so it’s easy for snow leopards to break in,” says Sharma. “When they do, there’s such a commotion that they tend to kill several livestock animals, as many as 15 or 20, and that’s very difficult for local herders to tolerate.”

Strengthening the corrals could therefore offer a major defence against snow leopard predation, preventing the significant losses of yaks, cows, donkeys, horses, sheep and goats that trigger retaliation.

Likewise, when leopards attack individual animals grazing on mountain slopes during the day, better compensation packages could discourage revenge.

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The snow leopard -- world’s most mysterious big cat -- may be more common than thought

Date: July 5, 2016

Source: Wildlife Conservation Society

The snow leopard has long been one of the least studied -- and therefore poorly understood -- of the large cats. No longer.

Scientists studying snow leopards now say the big cats may be more common than previously thought. New estimates focused on areas described as 'Snow Leopard Conservation Units,' covering only 44 percent of the snow leopard's extensive range (which extends over roughly 3 million km2 or 1,158,306 square miles) suggests that there may be between 4,678 and 8,745 snow leopards just in these units. This is higher than previous estimates for the entire global population, which had previously been thought to be only between 3,920 and 7,500.

The new census information appears in Snow Leopards, published by Elsevier Press and edited by Dr. Tom McCarthy and Dr. David Mallon. The book is an astonishingly comprehensive work on the biology, behavior and conservation status of these previously mysterious and enigmatic large carnivores. The book brings together the most current scientific knowledge, documents the most pressing conservation issues, and shares success stories in alleviating the broad threats that now jeopardize the long-term survival of this species.

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) lives across the great mountain ranges of Asia, occurring in the highland regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Nepal, and Russia. The snow leopard is perfectly adapted for these high mountains with its powerful legs for jumping, thick fur for warmth, grayish-white color pattern for camouflage, and long tail for balance.

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Spotted! Elusive Snow Leopard Caught on Camera in Kyrgyzstan

by Tia Ghose, Senior Writer   |   November 05, 2015 02:00pm ET

Editor's Note: This story was updated on Friday, Nov. 6 at 4:15 p.m. E.T.

Scientists have captured new images of a snow leopard being collared in Kyrgyzstan. The move marks the first time that one of these elusive creatures has been collared in the remote Central Asian nation.

The gorgeous, white-coated creature is a female in the prime of her life, between 6 and 7 years old. She was collared in the Sarychat-Ertash Strict Nature Reserve in eastern Kyrgyzstan, near the border with China.

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Second snow leopard successfully collared in Nepal

A snow leopard has been successfully collared in the shadow of Nepal’s Kangchenjunga, the world’s second highest mountain just a month after the country was hit with a devastating earthquake. This is the second snow leopard to be collared in Nepal since 2013.

The snow leopard, which is an adult male approximately five years of age weighing 41 kg, was and fitted with a GPS-satellite collar and released back into the wild. Data received from the satellite collar will enable conservationists to identify critical habitats for the elusive species, including transboundary links across India and China.

“Nepal is proud to be at the forefront of global scientific efforts to get a better understanding of one of nature’s most elusive species,” stated Tika Ram Adhikari, Director General of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. “Our ability to repeat the success we had with the first collaring in 2013 during this most difficult period for the country is a testament to the commitment towards conservation of the government as well as the people of Nepal.”

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Snow leopards recorded in Tianshan mountains after 10 years absence

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Kevin Heath

The Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have announced that their researchers have captured images of 3 different snow leopards on camera traps in the Tianshan Mountains. The first evidence of them in the region for over 10 years.

The images of three snow leopards were captured by infrared cameras installed in the western and central Tianshan Mountains.

The pictures were taken within a 1,000-km range. Two snow leopards were spotted near a water source and another was seen at an altitude of 1,680 meters.

The area is monitored by a network of 50 camera traps which were installed with the help of the Snow Leopard Network last year.

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Good news for snow leopard

Snow leopard to benefit from new global initiative

November 2013: In a bid to save the snow leopard officials representing 12 central and South Asian countries came together in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan to endorse a global initiative to conserve critical ecosystems in high-mountain landscapes inhabited by this iconic, endangered cat.

The countries; Republic of Afghanistan, the Kingdom of Bhutan, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of India, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan, worked with international and non-governmental environmental and conservation organizations, including the Snow Leopard Conservancy.

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