|
|
Chandra, S., & Laughlin, D. C. (1975). Virus-like particles in cystic mammary adenoma of a snow leopard. Cancer Res, 35(11 Pt 1), 3069–3074.
Abstract: Virus-like particles were observed in the giant cells of a mammary adenoma of a snow leopard kept in captivity. Particles that measured 115 to 125 nm in diameter budded from the lamella of endoplasmic reticulum and were studded on their inner surfaces with dense granules (approximately 12 nm) that gave them their unique ultrastructural morphology. Such particles were not observed extracellularly. Type B or type C particles were not seen in the tumor tissue.
|
|
|
|
Anonymous. (1975, 11 September). A rare snow leopard surgery. Seattle Post Intelligencer.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
Kichloo, M. A., Sharma, K., Sharma, N. (2023). Climate casualties or human disturbance? Shrinking distribution of the three large carnivores in the Greater Himalaya. Springer – Climatic Change, 176(118), 1–17.
Abstract: Mammalian carnivores are key to our understanding of ecosystem dynamics, but most of them are threatened with extinction all over the world. Conservating large carnivores is often an arduous task considering the complex relationship between humans and carnivores, and the diverse range and reasons of threats they face. Climate change is exacerbating the situation further by interacting with most existing threats and amplifying their impacts. The Mountains of Central and South Asia are warming twice as rapidly as the rest of the northern hemisphere. There has been limited research on the effect of climate change and other variables on large carnivores. We studied the patterns in spatio-temporal distribution of three sympatric carnivores, common leopard, snow leopard, and Asiatic black bear in Kishtwar high altitude National Park, a protected area in the Great Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir. We investigated the effects of key habitat characteristics as well as human disturbance and climatic factors to understand the spatio-temporal change in their distributions between the early 1990s and around the year 2016–2017. We found a marked contraction in the distribution of the three carnivores between the two time periods. While snow leopard shifted upwards and further away from human settlements, common leopard and Asiatic black bear suffered higher rates of local extinctions at higher altitudes and shifted to lower areas with more vegetation, even if that brought them closer to settlements. We also found some evidence that snow leopards were less likely to have faced range contraction in areas with permanent glaciers. Our study underscores the importance of climate adaptive conservation practices for long-term management in the Greater Himalaya, including the monitoring of changes in habitat, and space-use patterns by human communities and wildlife.
|
|
|
|
Lutz, H., Hofmann-Lehmann, R., Fehr, D., Leutenegger, C., Hartmann, M., Ossent, P., et al. (1996). Liberation of the wilderness of wild felids bred under human custody: Danger of release of viral infections. Schweizer Archiv fuer Tierheilkunde, 138(12), 579–585.
Abstract: There are several felidae amongst the numerous endangered species. Means of aiding survival are the reintroduction to the wild of animals bred under the auspices of man and their relocation from densely populated to thinly populated areas. It is unlikely that the dangers of such reintroduction or relocation projects have been examined sufficiently in respect to the risks of virus infections confronting individuals kept in zoos or similar situations. This report presents infections may be expected to occur when relo- three examples to illustrate that accidental virus cating and reintroducing wild cats. The first example is the reintroduction of captive snow leopards. Zoo bred snow leopards may be infected with FIV, a virus infection that is highly unlikely to occur in the original hirnalayan highlands of Tibet and China. A second example is of several cases of FIP that occured in European wild cats bred in groups in captivity. The third example mentioned is the relocation of hons from East Africa where all the commonly known feline viruses are wide-spread to the Etosha National Park. In the latter, virus infections such as FIV, FCV and FPV do not occur. The indiscriminate relocation and reintroduction of the wild cats mentioned here harbours a potential of undesirable consequences.
|
|
|
|
WWF Russia & Mongolia. (2010). WWF Altai-Sayan Newsletter. Russia: WWF.
Abstract: WWF Russia and WWF Mongolia share the main achievements of both offices in Altai – Sayan Ecoregion regarding species conservation, protected areas, ecotourism, public awareness, education, eco clubs, fresh water. Several articles reference snow leopards:
WWF Mongolia
Argali population observation in transboundary area
WWF Russia
Ecotourism camps in the habitats of a snow leopard and argali WWF and UNDP
WWF Russia
WWF assessed the level of conflict between herders and a snow leopard in Republic of Tyva
WWF Russia
The first ecological festival in the history of Mountain Altai for snow leopard conservation!
|
|
|
|
Chetri, M., Odden, M., Wegge, P. (2017). Snow Leopard and Himalayan Wolf: Food Habits and Prey Selection in the Central Himalayas, Nepal. Plos, (12(2)), 2–16.
Abstract: Top carnivores play an important role in maintaining energy flow and functioning of the ecosystem,
and a clear understanding of their diets and foraging strategies is essential for
developing effective conservation strategies. In this paper, we compared diets and prey
selection of snow leopards and wolves based on analyses of genotyped scats (snow leopards
n = 182, wolves n = 57), collected within 26 sampling grid cells (5×5 km) that were distributed
across a vast landscape of ca 5000 km2 in the Central Himalayas, Nepal. Within the
grid cells, we sampled prey abundances using the double observer method. We found that
interspecific differences in diet composition and prey selection reflected their respective
habitat preferences, i.e. snow leopards significantly preferred cliff-dwelling wild ungulates
(mainly bharal, 57% of identified material in scat samples), whereas wolves preferred typically
plain-dwellers (Tibetan gazelle, kiang and argali, 31%). Livestock was consumed less
frequently than their proportional availability by both predators (snow leopard = 27%; wolf =
24%), but significant avoidance was only detected among snow leopards. Among livestock
species, snow leopards significantly preferred horses and goats, avoided yaks, and used
sheep as available. We identified factors influencing diet composition using Generalized Linear
Mixed Models. Wolves showed seasonal differences in the occurrence of small mammals/
birds, probably due to the winter hibernation of an important prey, marmots. For snow
leopard, occurrence of both wild ungulates and livestock in scats depended on sex and latitude.
Wild ungulates occurrence increased while livestock decreased from south to north,
probably due to a latitudinal gradient in prey availability. Livestock occurred more frequently
in scats from male snow leopards (males: 47%, females: 21%), and wild ungulates more frequently
in scats from females (males: 48%, females: 70%). The sexual difference agrees
with previous telemetry studies on snow leopards and other large carnivores, and may
reflect a high-risk high-gain strategy among males.
|
|
|
|
Hellstrom, M., Kruger, E., Naslund, J., Bisther, M., Edlund, A., Hernvall, P., Birgersson, V., Augusto, R., Lancaster, M. L. (2023). Capturing environmental DNA in snow tracks of polar bear, Eurasian lynx and snow leopard towards individual identification. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 4(1250996), 1–9.
Abstract: Polar bears (Ursus maritimus), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) and snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are elusive large carnivores inhabiting snow-covered and remote areas. Their effective conservation and management are challenged by inadequate population information, necessitating development of novel data collection methods. Environmental DNA (eDNA) from snow tracks (footprints in snow) has identified species based on mitochondrial DNA, yet its utility for individual-based analyses remains unsolved due to challenges accessing the nuclear genome. We present a protocol for capturing nuclear eDNA from polar bear, Eurasian lynx and snow leopard snow tracks and verify it through genotyping at a selection of microsatellite markers. We successfully retrieved nuclear eDNA from 87.5% (21/24) of wild polar bear snow tracks, 59.1% (26/44) of wild Eurasian lynx snow tracks, and the single snow leopard sampled. We genotyped over half of all wild polar bear samples (54.2%, 13/24) at five loci, and 11% (9/44) of wild lynx samples and the snow leopard at three loci. Genotyping success from Eurasian lynx snow tracks increased to 24% when tracks were collected by trained rather than untrained personnel. Thirteen wild polar bear samples comprised 11 unique genotypes and two identical genotypes; likely representing 12 individual bears, one of which was sampled twice. Snow tracks show promise for use alongside other non-invasive and conventional methods as a reliable source of nuclear DNA for genetic mark-recapture of elusive and threatened mammals. The detailed protocol we present has utility for broadening end user groups and engaging Indigenous and local communities in species monitoring.
|
|
|
|
Piaopiao, T., Suryawanshi, K. R., Lingyun, X., Mishra, C., Zhi, L., Alexander, J. S. (2022). Factors shaping the tolerance of local Tibetan herders toward snow leopards. Journal for Nature Conservation, 71 (2023)(126305), 1–8.
Abstract: Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) have long co-existed with livestock herding people across Asia’s high mountains. Multiple use landscapes however imply potential competition for shared resources, livestock predation, and the risk of retaliatory killing of predators. Community-based conservation is a central pillar for supporting people’s livelihoods and safeguarding predators and their habitat. Based on the theory of planned behavior, we examined the factors that shape herders’ tolerance of snow leopards. Our questionnaire-based study was conducted in the Sanjiangyuan Region, China, encompassing four communities with varying livelihoods, experiences with live- stock depredation and levels of exposure to community conservation interventions. Our results showed that respondents generally held positive views towards snow leopards, although women tended to have relatively more negative views towards snow leopards compared with men. Current household income was largely dependent on caterpillar fungus rather than livestock. Social norms around religion and the role of community leaders in our study area seemed to be the main determinants of the generally benign association of people with wildlife, overshadowing potential influences of community-based conservation interventions. Our work suggests that conservations programs will be aided through collaborations with communities and religious institutions, and that conservationists must proactively engage with women as significant actors in conservation.
|
|
|
|
Thapa, K., Baral, S., Rahamajhi, S. (2023). Effectiveness of Human-Snow leopard co-existence measure- a systematic analysis. Journal for Nature Conservation, 76(126511), 1–11.
Abstract: Snow leopards and agropastoral communities have co-existed in snow leopard range countries for centuries. The vulnerable snow leopard forms and maintains the entire ecosystem, serving as an indicator species of a healthy alpine ecosystem. However, snow leopards, on the other hand, habitually kill livestock, occasionally killing 100 or more livestock in a single night, resulting in snow leopard retaliation. Thus, the snow leopard is becoming more threatened, so more attention should be paid. Therefore, numerous conservation mitigation strategies have been applied to maintain human-snow leopard coexistence in countries of the snow leopard range. However, such implemented conservation strategies lacked a thorough assessment of their achievements or shortcomings in protecting the snow leopard and enhancing community tolerance. Therefore, we systematically examined and evaluated peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on existing and implemented mitigation measures. We use the software Publish or Perish to achieve this, and we assess using the Preferred Reporting of Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) review approach. We thoroughly analyzed 42 papers and book chapters that were condensed human- snow leopard co-existence-related literature published in English from 2010 to 2023. Almost 90% of the papers were country-specific, with the remaining papers covering regional or snow leopard ranges countries. Nepal had the most papers, followed by China, India, and Mongolia; however, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan each had<10%, but there was no single document from Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan. Predator-proof corral, improved herding practices, and community-based insurance programs were three of the key recommendations that were more than 10 to 22 times proposed interventions. There are site-specific sociocultural situations and environments that require long-term action-oriented research that is area-specific rather than short-term and generic interventions. We identified a large knowledge gap in snow leopard research, specifically a lack of evidence that demonstrates and quantifies the effects of conservation actions, and strongly advise that it be further researched.
|
|
