Abstract: Evidence of snow leopard presence was most abundant in C Ladakh, decreased southward toward the crest of the Himalaya, and was least on the S side of the main Himalaya. Prey populations, primarily blue sheep Pseudois nayaur and Asiatic ibex Capra ibex, were also more plentiful in the areas surveyed to the N of the main Himalaya. Perhaps 400 snow leopard occur throughout NW India. The stronghold of this species in India is apparently the trans- Himalayan ranges in Ladakh where new parks and reserves are being established, some in association with a snow leopard recovery programme of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and a 'Project Snow Leopard' of the central Indian government. Because of the generally low density of snow leopard, conservation measures must also be considered within the large areas of its range lying outside parks and reserves. -from Authors

Abstract: Livers from 54 snow leopards, 4 days to 23 years old, that had died in 23 US zoos, were evaluated histopathologically to determine if the hepatic fibrosis, which has been noted to be prevalent in this species, was due to chronic active hepatitis from hepadnaviral infection, Ito cell proliferation, or hemosiderosis. Forty-two of 54 snow leopards had subintimal vascular fibrosis with partial or total occlusion of central and sublobular veins (veno-occlusive disease) of unknown origin. All 21 leopards older than 5 years were affected. Four leopards had chronic active hepatitis, and 12 leopards had cholangiohepatitis; but these lesions were not connected anatomically to central and sublobular venous fibrosis. Hepatocellular and Kupffer cell siderosis and Ito cell proliferation were prevalent and often coexisted with perisinusoidal, central, and sublobular venous fibrosis; but fibrosis was present in leopards without siderosis or Ito cell proliferation. The pattern and prevalence of veno-occlusive disease in these leopards was similar to that reported in captive cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), suggesting that a common extrinsic factor may cause the majority of hepatic disease in these large felid animals in captivity.

Abstract: The potential for rescuing immature oocytes from the ovaries of females of rare felid species which die or undergo medical ovariohysterectomy was evaluated. Ovaries were recovered from 13 species representing 35 individuals in good-to-poor health. Although the majority of females were 10 yr of age or older and in fair-to-poor health, a total of 846 oocytes were recovered of which 608 (71.9%) were classified as fair-to- excellent quality. One hundred of these oocytes were used for initial maturation classification and as parthogenetic controls. Overall, of the 508 fair-to-excellent quality oocytes placed in culture, 164 (32.3%) matured to metaphase II in vitro. For species in which 3 or more individuals yielded oocytes, mean oocyte maturation rates were as follows: 36.2%, tiger; 27.9% leopard; and 8.3%, cheetah. In vitro insemination of oocytes resulted in fertilization (2 polar bodies, 2 pronuclei, or cleavage) rates of 9.1% to 28.6% (leopard) using homologous fresh spermatozoa and 4.0% (lion) to 40.0% (puma) using homologous frozen-thawed spermatozoa. Inseminations using heterologous (domestic cat) spermatozoa also resulted in fertilized oocytes in the tiger, leopard, snow leopard, puma, serval, and Geoffroy's cat (range in fertilization rate, 5.0% for leopard to 46.2% for puma). Cleaved embryos resulted from the insemination of leopard oocytes with homologous sperm (n = 1 embryo) and puma oocytes with domestic cat sperm (n = 3 embryos). These results demonstrate that immature ovarian oocytes from rare felid species can be stimulated to mature in vitro despite an excision-to-culture interval as long as 36 h.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)