Author: sln_g5rd8x

Congratulations to all the SLN members involved in this project!

Telegraph.co.uk – A British-lead team of scientists has snapped rare intimate photographs of the elusive snow leopard on a remote mountain on the Tajik-Afghan border.

The photographs of the five snow leopards over a two month period in former Soviet Tajikistan suggest that the scientists may have discovered a hotspot for the endangered cat.

Dr Alex Diment, a scientist with Cambridge-based conservationist group Fauna and Flora International, was the expedition manager on the team of 25 people.

He described how they set up camera traps triggered by motion sensors along the side of an untouched valley for two weeks in August.

“We went up into the Wakhan range which is a mountain range on the border with Afghanistan,” Dr Diment said. “We’re pretty sure that it has never been surveyed for bio-diversity in that region.”

Snow leopards are so agile and so elusive that it is impossible for humans to physically track them.

Also in the group was Dr David Mallon, a snow leopard expert who is attached to Manchester Metropolitan University and is chairman of the Snow Leopard Network, a group dedicated to conserving the snow leopard.

Ten other scientists were Tajiks and the rest of the team were support staff.

The group returned to the valley two months later to collect their cameras and inspect the photographs.

“It was really surprising to have so many individuals,” he said of the snow leopards in the photographs. “I thought we might get one or two but to get five individuals in a small area, including a family with cubs was a great surprise. It was very exciting.”

The spotted pattern on the snow leopards’ white, grey body is unique to each cat, meaning they can be individually identified.

There are only an estimated 3,000 to 8,000 snow leopards left in the world. The wide estimate demonstrates the snow leopards’ elusiveness.

They typically live above an altitude of 4,000m on remote craggy mountains in Central Asia, China and Afghanistan. Trapping for their coats and a drop in prey have hit the snow leopard and driven them to the edge of extinction.

Photographs of the two cubs show them inspecting the cameras before they became so curious that they actually took one of the cameras away.

“We came back and we were missing a camera but had no idea what could have happened to it,” Dr Diment said.

The team searched without success and it wasn’t until they returned to the nearest city and looked at the memory card of another camera that they discovered the truth.

“There was the culprit stealing the camera,” he said. “They stole one of the cameras but the paired camera pointing at the other one showed them nicking it.”

Snow leopards retain a mystical allure in Central Asia and are depicted on the emblems of cities and organisations across the region. Almaty, Central Asia’s financial capital, and Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, both have snow leopards on their emblems.

In the Soviet Union, mountaineers who climbed all five peaks over the 7,000 metres were given the Snow Leopard Award.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/tajikistan/9025294/Scientists-snap-rare-photos-of-snow-leopards-in-Tajikistan.html

Voting for the 2012-2014 Snow Leopard Network Steering Committee was recently concluded.

Thank you to all members who voted, and congratulations to the newly elected Steering Committee members, who are as follows:

Chair:
David Mallon, Ph.D., Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Members:
Yash Veer Bhatnagar, Ph.D., Nature Conservation Foundation and Snow Leopard Trust (India Program)

Mukesh Chalise, Ph.D., Tribhuvan University, Nepal

Ahmad Khan, WWF Pakistan/Pakistan Wetlands Programme

Sibylle Noras, Snow Leopard Blog, Australia

Jennifer Snell Rullman, Snow Leopard Trust, USA

Dajun Wang, Ph.D., Peking University and Shanshui Conservation Centre, China

Already many National Parks across India have been honoured to have their names in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Now joining them soon will be the Great Himalayan National Park located in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh.

The nomination for the prestigious status for the National Park had been sent by the Himachal Pradesh state’s wildlife and forest department to UNESCO and the same has been accepted.

The National Park will be honoured with the title next year after its evaluation by a team of international wildlife experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (“ICUN”).

The topography of the Great Himalayan National Park is made up of alpine and coniferous forest, emerald pastures, snow capped peaks, steep valleys and a number of waterfalls and small streams that continue to flow throughout the year. Located at an altitude of 1500 to 6000 mm the National Park is spread over 1,171 sq kms. The park has one of the richest biodiversities in the Western Himalayas and a variety of flora, fauna and avian species can be spotted here.

The park remains snow covered for most part of the year. However here one can spot some of the many rare and endangered species such as wild mountain goats like the bharal, goral and serow, the brown bear, leopards and the elusive snow leopard, rare Nilgiri Tahr and red fox among many others. The Great Himalayan National Park also houses a large number of bird species like Monal, Koklass and Western Tragopan. Trekking in these Himalayan mountains is the best way to spot this exotic wildlife

In addition to accepting the nomination of the Great Himalayan National Park as a World Heritage Site, the nominations of three other parks and sanctuaries have also been accepted by UNESCO- the Bhitarkanika National Park in Orissa, home to the largest population of giant salt water crocodiles in Asia, the Neora Valley National Park in West Bengal and the Desert National Park located in Jaisalmer in Thar Desert in Rajasthan. One can spot here the Great Indian Bustard, a magnificent but endangered bird species and a number of fossils, both plants and animals which date as old as 180 million years.

Some of the famous National Parks in India that are already listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list are Kaziranga National Park and Manas National Park in Assam, Keoladeo Ghana National Park in Rajasthan, Sunderban National Park in West Bengal and Nanda Devi National Park and Valley of Flowers National Park in Uttarakhand.

The Himachal Pradesh state government in addition to making a successful impact in the World Heritage list nominations has many other projects stated to benefit the wildlife.

The Himalayan Snow Leopard Research Centre would soon be developed near Kibbar village of Spiti valley at a cost of Rs. 5.15 crore to preserve this wild life species in their natural habitat and carry research and development programme over the same time.

The state government will also shortly start a breeding programme of the Himalayan monal, a pheasant species, near Manali. The Conservation Breeding Phesantry for Himalayan Monal will be developed near Manali by spending Rs. 2 crore in the first phase.

http://www.rang7.com/news/national-park/unesco-accepts-world-heritage-site-nomination-for-great-himalayan-national-park-993.htm

The Snow Leopard Conservation Grants Program (SLCGP) will be funding five projects in 2012.

This year, thanks largely to the generosity of our important partner the Whitley Fund for Nature (www.whitleyaward.org), we are able to provide an unprecedented level of support for snow leopards since the inception of SLCGP. This is a 60 % improvement over last year.

SLN is also grateful to the Snow Leopard Conservancy (www.snowleopardconservancy.org) for continuing their support, and to the Snow Leopard Trust (www.snowleopard.org) for giving even more than in earlier years.

The selected projects are:
– Flagship Species of the Pamir Range, Pakistan: Exploring Status and Conservation Hotspots (Jaffar Ud Din and Muhammad Ali Nawaz: Pakistan)

– Snow leopard toolkits for monastic leaders in Bhutan (Susan Higgins, Nawang Auden, Broughton Coburn: US, Bhutan)

– Re-assessment of livestock depredation by snow leopard in the Phu Valley of Manang after 17 years (Ashish Adhikari: Nepal)

– Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) response to habitat, prey and anthropogenic factors at multiple spatial scales in a multi-use landscape (Rishi Kumar Sharma: India)

– Assessing the distribution, status and conservation needs of snow leopard in a natural World Heritage in Sichuan, China (Wei Liu: US, China)

A review panel of 16 experts contributed their time and effort in helping select the applicants.
Further details of the selected projects and the review panel will shortly be posted on our website, https://snowleopardnetwork.org.

Jammu, November 28 – Tribune India
With peace in the Kargil sector, snow leopards are again seen in the area. Due to the Kargil War in 1999, most of the wildlife species, including snow leopards, had abandoned their habitats in Kargil. However, with the improvement in the situation, a big cat with two cubs had been spotted in the area.

Earlier, locals claimed that they had seen the animal, though there was no evidence of the presence of the big cat, post-Kargil War.

Jigmet Takpa, Regional Wildlife Warden, Ladakh, told The Tribune over the phone that these big cats, having tails as long as their bodies, which had almost abandoned their habitats in Kargil after 1999, had returned to the area.

“Though Leh and Kargil are the best suitable habitats for this endangered specie, the snow leopards were not seen in Kargil during the past few years,” said Takpa.

He added, “Poaching was a major problem. However, it has now been brought under control and the big cats can once again be seen in Kargil.”

Takpa said there were nearly 400 snow leopards in the region comprising Leh and Kargil districts.

“We have one national park and two wildlife sanctuaries here. These animals move about freely in an area of 97,000 sq km,” he said.

Giving further details, Takpa said the Wildlife Department had launched various projects in association with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other agencies to save and attract more snow leopards. “The results are very positive. The situation has improved in Leh also, where these big cats can be easily seen,” he said.

Takpa lauded the role of the Army in the return of the snow leopards to Kargil. “The Army has played a major role in controlling poaching, which was the biggest threat to the animal. No one can move freely with a weapon, without the permission of the Army. These animals face no threat from poachers now.”
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111129/j&k.htm#4
Source: http://www.resourceshimalaya.org/index.php?s=trcontent&a=browse&con_id=78b1a0c3bc7e0af751de2d58e0aa6036&title=Dec%2001;%20No.184

Kathmandu, Nepal – The first picture of a snow leopard taken by a camera trap on 24 October 2011 in Khambachen valley of Kangchenjunga was released today by WWF-Nepal.

Ten camera traps (Moultrie D- 40) were installed in the valleys of Nagphinda, Khambachen, Lohanak and Jimbubari in Kangchenjunga Conservation Area in October 2011 under a pioneering initiative to monitor snow leopards in Nepal’s Himalayas. The monitoring is being led by local communities through the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area Management Council and the Snow Leopard Conservation Committee-Ghunsa. It is expected that the camera traps will guide the estimation of snow leopard populations in the future.

“The camera traps are a means to empower local communities to lead conservation efforts of snow leopards,” stated Mr. Anil Manandhar, Country Representative of WWF-Nepal. “With habitat loss, poaching and retaliatory killing by herders posing as major threats to snow leopards, community stewardship in conservation is key to the protection of snow leopards,” he added.

The camera traps were installed with the support of WWF-Nepal and Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation through financial assistance received from WWF-UK.

For more information, contact:

Akash Shrestha
Communications and Marketing Manager, WWF Nepal
Email: akash.shrestha@wwfnepal.org Mobile: +977 9801057566

Simrika SHARMA
Communications Officer, WWF Nepal
Email: simrika.sharma@wwfnepal.org Mobile: +977 9801092692