SURVEY OF SNOW LEOPARD PREY REVEALS ‘NOAH'S ARK' OF WILDLIFE IN BHUTAN

The first ever snow leopard prey survey in Bhutan’s newest national park has revealed astonishing footage of snow leopards scent-marking, a sub-adult snow leopard, Tibetan wolf, threatened Himalayan serow, musk deer and a healthy population of blue sheep, the main food source for snow leopards.

This is the first visual evidence that snow leopards are thriving in Wangchuck Centennial Park, a vital snow leopard corridor between Jigme Dorji National Park in the West and Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary in the East. Field biologists from the Government of Bhutan and WWF captured over 10,000 images during the camera trap survey in Wangchuck Centennial Park.

The automatic cameras were set up to locate snow leopard “hot-spots”, but in addition to snow leopard images, they also captured images and footage of Tibetan wolf, wild dog, red fox, blue sheep, Himalayan serow, musk deer, Pika, pheasants and several birds of prey.

“The findings are phenomenal as these are the first snow leopard images recorded in Wangchuck Centennial Park,” said WWF's Dr. Rinjan Shrestha, who led the survey team. “It suggests that the network of protected areas and corridors is helping to link local snow leopard populations, which will be invaluable to ensure long-term persistence of snow leopards in the region.”

Snow leopards are elusive and endangered, with around 4,500-7,500 in the wild. Bhutan is the only country on Earth where the habitat of snow leopards and tigers intersect. It’s unknown how many exist there, but it’s critical to find out as threats are mounting – from retaliatory killing from herders, loss of habitat to farmers and poaching for their pelts. And then there’s climate change.

Warming at high elevations in the Himalayas is causing treelines to ascend and isolating snow leopard populations. Under a high emission scenario, as much as 30 percent of their range could be lost. Their ability to move upslope is limited by oxygen availability.

The overall goal of the survey is to determine how many snow leopards there are in Wangchuck and where they exist, in order to prioritize the best areas for conservation.

“The snow leopard images from the park show the incredible richness of wildlife thriving in Wangchuck Centennial Park and prove why the park must be supported by donor agencies for conservation,” said Dr. Pema Gyamtsho, Minister of Agriculture and Forests, Royal Government of Bhutan. “For snow leopard conservation in Bhutan, Wangchuck Centennial Park acts as the critical linkage between Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary and Jigme Dorji National Park, thereby ensuring the functionality of the northern Bhutan conservation complex.”

The Government of Bhutan and WWF have partnered to co-manage Wangchuck Centennial Park since it was designated as Bhutan’s tenth national park in 2008. With 244 vascular plant species, 23 mammal species and 134 bird species, the park is rich in biodiversity. It’s dedication resulted in Bhutan having more than half its land under protection. The Government of Bhutan and WWF work together on species conservation, climate change studies, monitoring, patrolling and community conservation projects.

“WWF has a special commitment to Wangchuck Centennial Park, especially because we were invited to co-manage it with the government in 2005,” said Shubash Lohani of WWF’s Eastern Himalayas program. “It was the first time Bhutan entrusted an entity other than government to manage a protected area.”

Footage and photographs Include endangered snow leopard scent-spraying, Tibetan wolf, threatened Himalayan serow and musk deer

 

** IMAGES AND VIDEO ON REQUEST: 01483 412 383 OR EMAILbward@wwf.org.uk**

CONTACT: WWF-UK press office on 01483 412 383 or emailbward@wwf.org.uk 

NOTES TO EDITORS:
• About WWFWWF is one of the world's largest independent conservation organisations, with more than five million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries. We're working to create solutions to the most serious environmental issues facing our planet, so that people and nature can thrive. Through our engagement with the public, businesses and government, we focus on safeguarding the natural world, tacking climate change and changing the way we live. www.wwf.org.uk

• WWF-UK runs a snow leopard adoption scheme that allows the public to contribute funds to vital conservation work in Nepal's Himalayas - another important habitat for the snow leopard. For more information go to:www.wwf.org.uk/snowleopard 


http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/press_centre/?5686/SURVEY-OF-SNOW-LEOPARD-PREY-REVEALS-NOAHS-ARK-OF-WILDLIFE-IN-BHUTAN

Snow Leopard Discovery In Tajikistan Shows Need For Conservation

A recent biodiversity survey in a remote corner of Tajikistan has yielded surprising results.

Fauna & Flora International (FFI) recently teamed up with local and international scientists to conduct a survey of life in the Zorkul nature reserve, near the Afghan border. FFI's team planted camera traps which captured images of five different snow leopardsin one valley, according to a press release.

Wired UK reports that the FFI team, with the help of Panthera, planted 11 cameras around a 5.8 square mile (15 square kilometer) area in August 2011.

The survey's results have prompted a quick response. FFI's Dr. Alex Diment told Wired UK that FFI is training local rangers in the nature reserve "on how to work in the harsh field conditions, and how to combat illegal poaching and other threats."

Their actions are undoubtedly warranted. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species currently lists snow leopards (Panthera uncia) as endangered.

FFI reports that habitat loss and poaching have caused at least a 20 percent decline in snow leopard populations in the past 16 years.

Scientific American writes that scientists in Australia have created "embryonic stem-like cells from the tissue of an endangered adult snow leopard." The scientists' (theoretical) goal is to help save endangered big cat species by reproducing them in labs.

Earlier this month, a team from the Wildlife Conservation Society photographed mother and cub snow leopards together in Afghanistan.

Below, check out images of the snow leopards in Tajikistan and photos of several other species identified by FFI's biodiversity survey.

photos: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/snow-leopard-tajikistan-photo_n_1224993.html?ref=weird-animals

Snow leopards photographed in Siberia for the first time

December 2011. Cameras equipped with motion sensors have captured the first images of elusive snow leopards in a remote mountain range in Siberia. The cameras captured photos of two snow leopards in October as they walked along a ridge in the Altai Mountains along the Russia-Mongolia border.


"To get a picture is really a big deal," said Dr. James P. Gibbs, a conservation biologist with the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in Syracuse, New.York. "The signs that the species is in this region are definitive but a picture is irrefutable."

The photos were taken at an altitude of about 4,000 metres at a location called Chikhachyova Ridge in the Altai Republic, a semiautonomous region in southern Russia. Gibbs said the animals are probably part of a larger population that extends into Mongolia.

Argali sheep
Ten cameras were installed in the area as the result of evidence that was found when Gibbs and some colleagues made an expedition there this past summer. The main reason for the trip was to survey the population of Argali sheep, the world's largest wild sheep species that is threatened by hunting and habitat loss. But the researchers did double duty, searching at the same time for evidence of snow leopards.

"Snow leopards leave clear signs that you see readily if you look for them," Gibbs said. "You can find scat and places where they scratch trees with their claws. And you see their scrapes, circular depressions made in the gravel that are slightly discoloured. They maintain these scent marks. If you see fresh ones, you know snow leopards are in the area."

The snow leopard population is threatened by poachers who hunt the animals for their distinctive spotted coats.


Pallas cat
Gibbs said ESF supplied the high-tech cameras through a $20,000 grant from Panthera, a conservation organization that focuses on saving wild cats. In addition to the snow leopards, the cameras caught images of a rarely seen Pallas cat, also called a manul, a thick-furred feline about the size of a domestic cat.

The expedition that installed the cameras was sponsored jointly by Arkhar and Altaisky State Biosphere Reserve. Staff members from the reserve were accompanied by staff from Ubsunurskaya Basin Biosphere Reserve in Tyva Republic and Mongolian specialists from Silkkhemin Nuru National Park and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Mongolia.

In addition to aid from ESF and Panthera in supplying cameras, the expedition received support from the Snow Leopard Conservancy and WWF-Russia. The cameras will track snow leopard movements on the ridge throughout the winter and help scientists evaluate the number of animals in the population.

This news comes in the same week that a Persian leopard was photographed in Afghanistan

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/siberia-snow-leopard.html

Counting snow leopards in Nepal - Fewer than thought

Counting cats: the endangered snow leopards of the Himalayas
November 2011. The elusive snow leopard (Panthera uncia) lives high in the mountains across Central Asia. It is thought to occur across 12 countries but the actual numbers of this beautiful large cat are largely unknown.

350-500 in Nepal
It is thought that there might be somewhere between 350 and 500 distributed across Nepal's northern frontier. New research has used genetic analysis to show that the numbers of snow leopards in the central Himalayas is actually much lower than suggested.

Snow leopards prefer to live solitary lives in rugged, inaccessible habitats. Most estimates of the number of snow leopards depends on counting signs, such as tracks (pugmarks), scrapes, their droppings (scat), camera trapping and talking to local residents. Researchers from Nepal analyzed snow leopard scats originally collected to look at leopard diet from Shey Phoksundo National Park and Kangchanjunga Conservation Area of Nepal.

DNA testing to determine population numbers
Despite the age of these samples (some had been stored for up to three years prior to this study) the team, led by Dibesh Karmacharya, was able to isolate and interpret genetic data from scats identified as snow leopard in the field.

Fewer than thought
They found that only 19 of the original 71 samples were actually P. uncia (the rest were other carnivores or were too degraded for genetic analysis). Of the 19 positively identified samples only 10 were successfully genotyped, these were found to come from nine individuals, three males and six females, with a mix of males and female in both of the national parks.

Mr. Karmacharya commented, "In conjunction with our national and international partners we are the first team using genetics to look at conservation of snow leopards in Nepal. This method has the advantage over traditional methods - it is non-invasive and does not require us to disturb the cats in any way. We have also been able to show that traditional methods of counting snow leopards overestimate the size of the population. With more (and fresher) samples) we will be able to investigate the family relationships, genetic diversity, social structure and territories of snow leopards, and better understand how to conserve this endangered animal."

The research was published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Research Notes

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/snow-leopard-nepal.html

Thriving Snow leopard population discovered in Afghanistan

Snow leopards in Afghanistan

July 2011. The Wildlife Conservation Society has discovered a surprisingly healthy population of rare snow leopards living in the mountainous reaches of north-eastern Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, according to a new study.

The discovery gives hope to the world's most elusive big cat, which calls home to some of the world's tallest mountains. Between 4,500 and 7,500 snow leopards remain in the wild scattered across a dozen countries in Central Asia.

16 camera traps
WCS-trained community rangers used camera traps to document the presence of snow leopards at 16 different locations across a wide landscape. The images represent the first camera trap records of snow leopards in Afghanistan. WCS has been conserving wildlife and improving local livelihoods in the region since 2006 with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

"This is a wonderful discovery - it shows that there is real hope for snow leopards in Afghanistan," said Peter Zahler, WCS Deputy Director for Asia Programs. "Now our goal is to ensure that these magnificent animals have a secure future as a key part of Afghanistan's natural heritage."

Threats
According to the study, snow leopards remain threatened in the region. Poaching for their pelts, persecution by shepherds, and the capture of live animals for the illegal pet trade have all been documented in the Wakhan Corridor. In response, WCS has developed a set of conservation initiatives to protect snow leopards. These include partnering with local communities, training of rangers, and education and outreach efforts.

The study was undertaken by WCS conservationists Anthony Simms, Zalmai Moheb, Salahudin, Hussain Ali, Inayat Ali and Timothy Wood.

Anthony Simms, lead author and the project's Technical Advisor, said, "By developing a community-led management approach, we believe snow leopards will be conserved in Afghanistan over the long term."

59 rangers trained - Guarding snow leopards, Ibex and Marco Polo sheep
WCS-led initiatives are already paying off. Conservation education is now occurring in every school in the Wakhan region. Fifty-nine rangers have been trained to date. They monitor not only snow leopards but other species including Marco Polo sheep and ibex while also enforcing laws against poaching. WCS has also initiated the construction of predator-proof livestock corrals and a livestock insurance program that compensates shepherds, though initial WCS research shows that surprisingly few livestock fall to predators in the region.

In Afghanistan, USAID has provided support to WCS to work in more than 55 communities across the country and is training local people to monitor and sustainably manage their wildlife and other resources. One of the many outputs of this project was the creation of Afghanistan's first national park - Band-e-Amir - which is now co-managed by the government and a committee consisting of all 14 communities living around the park.

Snow leopards have declined by as much as 20 percent over the past 16 years and are considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

WCS is a world leader in the care and conservation of snow leopards. WCS's Bronx Zoo became the first zoo in the Western Hemisphere to exhibit these rare spotted cats in 1903. In the past three decades, nearly 80 cubs have been born in the Bronx and have been sent to live at 30 zoos in the U.S. and eight countries in Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America.

The study appears in the June 29th issue of the Journal of Environmental Studies


http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/afghanistan-snow-leopards.html

The snow leopard: ghost of the mountains

The trail bike kicked up a plume of dust as it approached across the high desert steppe of south-west Mongolia. Orjan Johansson dismounted, unclipping the body protectors that made him look like the action hero of a computer game. 'There was a leopard in the valley last night,' he said. 'I put my finger in the pee this morning and it was wet.' By Nigel Richardson


Nobody said anything, we just thought it: if the traps had been built yesterday, we might have got one. We might have joined the tiny number of people alive on this planet who have seen a snow leopard in the wild. This most elusive and mysterious of big cats comes along only slightly more often than a unicorn, and if you are not prepared you can regret it for the rest of your life.

The one person not troubled by regret was Johansson himself, for in the history of biological research into  Panthera uncia  no one has had more physical contact with wild snow leopards than this 33-year-old PhD student from Sweden. From 1982 to 2008 biologists succeeded in capturing only 15 snow leopards (for the purpose of attaching radio or GPS collars) in their natural habitat. In the past two years a further 12 have been caught by one man, Johansson, a research associate at the Grimso Wildlife Research Station, which is affiliated to the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala. He is, in the words of Dr Koustubh Sharma, the conservation biologist supervising the Swede's groundbreaking work in Mongolia, a 'snow leopard catching machine'.

Johansson represents the sharp end of the world's first long-term ecological study into the charismatic leopard, about which far less is known than any other of the big cats. Co-sponsored by two US-based non-profit organisations, the Snow Leopard Trust and Panthera, the programme is now in its third year and scheduled to run for at least 15 years. In late August of this year – as summer in the high desert shaded into chilly nights and misty dawns – I joined Johansson and his backup team in their remote mountain camp.

The J Tserendeleg Snow Leopard Research Centre is located in a mountain range in Mongolia's South Gobi province. In the far south-west of the province the Gobi Desert rises and crumples into a series of east-west ridges and valleys known as the Tost Mountains. This area, 75 miles long and 10 to 20 miles wide, is hardly classic snow leopard country, being neither particularly high – about 7,000ft – nor heavily snowbound in winter. But, for reasons that are not entirely understood, it sustains a high density of snow leopards. Based on his work of the past two years, Johansson puts the figure at more than 20.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/8207266/The-snow-leopard-ghost-of-the-mountains.html

The snow leopard: ghost of the mountains

The trail bike kicked up a plume of dust as it approached across the high desert steppe of south-west Mongolia. Orjan Johansson dismounted, unclipping the body protectors that made him look like the action hero of a computer game. 'There was a leopard in the valley last night,' he said. 'I put my finger in the pee this morning and it was wet.' By Nigel Richardson


Nobody said anything, we just thought it: if the traps had been built yesterday, we might have got one. We might have joined the tiny number of people alive on this planet who have seen a snow leopard in the wild. This most elusive and mysterious of big cats comes along only slightly more often than a unicorn, and if you are not prepared you can regret it for the rest of your life.

The one person not troubled by regret was Johansson himself, for in the history of biological research into  Panthera uncia  no one has had more physical contact with wild snow leopards than this 33-year-old PhD student from Sweden. From 1982 to 2008 biologists succeeded in capturing only 15 snow leopards (for the purpose of attaching radio or GPS collars) in their natural habitat. In the past two years a further 12 have been caught by one man, Johansson, a research associate at the Grimso Wildlife Research Station, which is affiliated to the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala. He is, in the words of Dr Koustubh Sharma, the conservation biologist supervising the Swede's groundbreaking work in Mongolia, a 'snow leopard catching machine'.

Johansson represents the sharp end of the world's first long-term ecological study into the charismatic leopard, about which far less is known than any other of the big cats. Co-sponsored by two US-based non-profit organisations, the Snow Leopard Trust and Panthera, the programme is now in its third year and scheduled to run for at least 15 years. In late August of this year – as summer in the high desert shaded into chilly nights and misty dawns – I joined Johansson and his backup team in their remote mountain camp.

The J Tserendeleg Snow Leopard Research Centre is located in a mountain range in Mongolia's South Gobi province. In the far south-west of the province the Gobi Desert rises and crumples into a series of east-west ridges and valleys known as the Tost Mountains. This area, 75 miles long and 10 to 20 miles wide, is hardly classic snow leopard country, being neither particularly high – about 7,000ft – nor heavily snowbound in winter. But, for reasons that are not entirely understood, it sustains a high density of snow leopards. Based on his work of the past two years, Johansson puts the figure at more than 20.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/8207266/The-snow-leopard-ghost-of-the-mountains.html