A new survey has revealed that India’s remote Ladakh region is home to the majority of the country’s snow leopards, with an estimated 477 individuals living across this vast, mountainous landscape.
The research team used a mix of field tracking, camera trapping and artificial intelligence to estimate population size and map where the elusive big cats live across the 59,000km² area in the far north of the country.
Led by Pankaj Raina of the Department of Wildlife Protection in Ladakh and published in PLOS One, it is the most comprehensive population assessment of the species ever carried out in India. The team say that accurate data on population size and distribution is vital to effectively conserve the cats.
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Caught on camera
One of the easiest ways to identify snow leopards is by the spots on their foreheads, say the authors, who had a novel way of making sure they got the shots they needed.
The team installed 956 motion-activated cameras across more than 8,500 km², focusing on areas already known to be used by snow leopards.
“To photograph snow leopards' foreheads, we had to make them pose in front of our cameras. This was done by spraying a small amount of perfume just below the cameras that were deployed near their favoured scent-marking rocks on the high ridge tops. The curious leopards lower their heads to smell the novel smell and we have our prized photos!”
To identify individuals, the team then used “special pattern recognition software that fits a three-dimensional model on the snow leopard’s forehead image, extracts the spot patterns and stores them in a database for comparing it with other snow leopard photographs, and comes up with close matches.” This reduced the workload and improved the accuracy of individual identification, the researchers explain.
The team found that Ladakh harbours around 68% of India’s snow leopard population, with densities ranging from 1 to 3 individuals per 100km².
Hemis National Park in the eastern part of Ladakh has the highest density of snow leopards in the world, according to the study.
Living with humans
The team also discovered that 61% of Ladakh’s snow leopards live in areas shared with people. Despite this overlap, the population remains stable, which the authors attribute to a mix of cultural respect for wildlife, tourism benefits and effective conflict management strategies.
“The deep-rooted reverence for wildlife among Ladakh’s communities, combined with the economic benefits from snow leopard tourism and conflict management strategies, helps sustain some of the world’s highest snow leopard densities – a model that could be adapted and upscaled across the species’ range,” the team says.
Snow leopards were most abundant in resource-rich grasslands with moderate climates and rugged terrain – conditions that offer both shelter and plentiful prey.
The study also produced a national photo library to help monitor illegal poaching and trade of snow leopard parts.
Top image: Snow leopard captured during camera trapping study. Credit: Department of Wildlife Protection, UT Ladakh, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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