Study reveals potential new disease threats for wild snow leopards

JUNE 7, 2019

by Taylor & Francis

The first study to investigate disease threats to wild snow leopards has detected that exposure to infections may pose a threat to this highly vulnerable species, as well as local people and their livestock.

The results of the study, published in Infection Ecology & Epidemiology, detected antibodies in the blood of wild cats to important pathogens that can also infect humans and other species.

Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are a threatened and highly vulnerable species of the mountainous ranges of Central Asia. There are now as few as 4,000 snow leopards in the wild, and their numbers continue to decline. They face many threats, including poaching, habitat loss, the impact of climate change and conflict with herders. Emerging infectious diseases can particularly impact on species where populations are already depleted, and genetic diversity may be low. However, information is currently lacking about whether wild snow leopards are also under threat from disease.

Prompted by the discovery of four snow leopards with unexplained causes of death in the South Gobi Province of Mongolia in 2011, an international team of researchers set out to investigate important zoonotic pathogens that may impact conservation efforts. The researchers decided to target disease-causing pathogens that can circulate between different species, as the area is also home to many other wild animals, as well approximately 90 herder families and their goats, horses and domestic dogs.

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