Mongolian News. (2011, 43 1142). 50 wild sheep will be hunted this year., 4.
Abstract: Notice that the Mongolian government will allow the taking of 4 snow leopards in 2011.
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Gronberg, E. (2011). Movement patterns of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) around kills based on GPS location clusters. Master's thesis, , .
Abstract: Research concerning movement patterns of wild animals has been advancing since GPS technology arrived. But studying the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is still difficult because of the harsh territory it inhabits in Central Asia. This study took place in south Gobi, Mongolia, and aimed to estimate the time spent at kills and the maximum distance away from kills between visits. Snow leopards were monitored with GPS collars that took a location every five or seven hours. Potential kill sites were established by identifying clusters of GPS-locations in ArcGIS and visited in the field for confirmation. ArcGIS was used to calculate the distance between cluster and GPS-locations. I used two buffer zones (100 m and 500 m radius) to define the time snow leopards spent at kills. It was found that snow leopard age and prey category affected time spent at kills and also that snow leopard sex together with prey category affected the maximum distance moved away from kills between visits. Season had no significant effect on either time at kills or distance moved away from kills between visits. Snow leopards spent on average 3.2 days at their kills in the 100 m buffer zone and 3.5 days at their kills in the 500 m buffer zone. Subadults stayed longer at kills than adults and animals of both age categories spent longer time on larger prey. The mean maximum distance moved away from kills between visits was 179 m in the 100 m buffer zone and 252 m in the 500 m buffer zone. Female snow leopards moved further away from kills between visits than male snow leopards. Both the number of days spent on kills and maximum distance moved away from kills between visits increased when kills consisted of more than one animal. This study has provided some basic information on snow leopard behaviors around their kills but also highlights the need to monitor more snow leopards before more solid conclusions can be drawn as this study was based on based on a relatively small sample.
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Anwar, M., Jackson, R., Nadeem, M., Janecka, J., Hussain, S., Beg, M., Muhammad, G., and Qayyum, M. (2011). Food habits of the snow leopard Panthera uncia (Schreber, 1775) in Baltistan, Northern Pakistan. European Journal of Wildlife Research, (3 March), 1–7.
Abstract: The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) inhabits the high, remote mountains of Pakistan from where very little information is available on prey use of this species. Our study describes the food habits of the snow leopard in the Himalayas and Karakoram mountain ranges in Baltistan, Pakistan. Ninety-five putrid snow leopard scats were collected from four sites in Baltistan. Of these, 49 scats were genetically confirmed to have originated from snow leopards. The consumed prey was identified on the basis of morphological characteristics of hairs recovered from the scats. It was found that most of the biomass consumed (70%) was due to domestic livestock viz. sheep (23%), goat (16%), cattle (10%), yak (7%), and cattle–yak hybrids (14%). Only 30% of the biomass was due to wild species, namely Siberian ibex (21%), markhor (7%), and birds (2%). Heavy predation on domestic livestock appeared to be the likely cause of conflict with the local inhabitants. Conservation initiatives should focus on mitigating this conflict by minimizing livestock losses.
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Shrestha, B., Kindlmann, P. (2011). Interactions between the Himalayan tahr, livestock and snow leopards in the Sagarmatha National Park. Himalayan Biodiversity in the Changing World, .
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Suryawanshi, K. (2011). An encounter in snow. FRONTLINE, 28(10).
Abstract: In the trans-Himalayan region, a conservation effort has reduced conflicts between snow leopards and pastoralists. Photographs & text by author.
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Kinoshita, K., Inada, S., Seki, K., Sasaki, A., Hama, N., Kusunoki, H. (2011). Long-Term Monitoring of Fecal Steroid Hormones in Female Snow Leopards (Panthera uncia) during Pregnancy or Pseudopregnancy. PLoS ONE, 6(5), e19314. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0019314.
Abstract: Knowledge of the basic reproductive physiology of snow leopards is required urgently in order to develop a suitable management conditions under captivity. In this study, the long-term monitoring of concentrations of three steroid hormones in fecal matter of three female snow leopards was performed using enzyme immunoassays: (1) estradiol-17β, (2) progesterone and (3) cortisol metabolite. Two of the female animals were housed with a male during the winter breeding season, and copulated around the day the estradiol-17β metabolite peaked subsequently becoming pregnant. The other female was treated in two different ways: (1) first housed with a male in all year round and then (2) in the winter season only. She did not mate with him on the first occasion, but did so latter around when estradiol-17β metabolite peaked, and became pseudopregnant. During pregnancy, progesterone metabolite concentrations increased for 92 or 94 days, with this period being approximately twice as long as in the pseudopregnant case (31, 42, 49 and 53 days). The levels of cortisol metabolite in the pseudopregnant female (1.35 µg/g) were significantly higher than in the pregnant females (0.33 and 0.24 µg/g) (P<0.05). Similarly, during the breeding season, the levels of estradiol-17β metabolite in the pseudopregnant female (2.18 µg/g) were significantly higher than those in the pregnant females (0.81 and 0.85 µg/g) (P<0.05). Unlike cortisol the average levels of estradiol-17β during the breeding season were independent of reproductive success.
The hormone levels may also be related to housing conditions and the resulting reproductive success in female leopards. The female housed with a male during the non-breeding season had high levels of cortisol metabolites and low levels of estradiol-17β in the breeding season, and failed to become pregnant. This indicates that housing conditions in snow leopards may be an important factor for normal endocrine secretion and resulting breeding success.
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Sharma, K., McCarthy, T. (2011). Counting cats: toward a framework for evaluating snow leopard (Panthera uncia) conservation efforts.
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Hameed, S. (2010). Population status of the snow leopard and its conflict with local people in laspur valley, Chitral, Pakistan. Master's thesis, , Pakistan.
Abstract: The present study was designed to determine the status of snow leopard in Laspur valley, Chitral (Khyber Pakhtunkhawa) by using multiple census methods.
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Ashraf, N. (2010). Competition For Food Between Markhor And Domestic Goat In Chitral, Pakistan. Master's thesis, , Pakistan.
Abstract: The present study was, therefore, designed to collect data on feeding aspects of Markhor and domestic goat in Chitral area, in order to examine the extent of resource competition between two species. The objectives of study were;
To analyze the food composition of Markhor and domestic goat.
To determine the degree of competition between Markhor and domestic goat in terms of forage consumption.
To provide recommendation for managing Markhor habitat and reducing competition with domestic livestock.
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Khatoon, R. (2010). Snow leopard (uncia uncia) diet selection in the Chitral area. Master's thesis, , Pakistan.
Abstract: The present study will also show the dependence of snow leopard on wild prey versus domestic livestock as a food. This study will also help to estimate the highest livestock loss tends to occur in the areas due to which human and snow leopard conflict arises. As food selection varies according to the environment and availability of prey species therefore a diet study in local context would help to improve understanding of feeding ecology, and also provide scientific basis for effective conservation measures.
The objectives of the present study are
To determine the food preference of snow leopard in wild
To determine seasonal variation in selection of food by snow leopard.
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