Abstract: The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) inhabits a human-altered alpine landscape and is often tolerated by residents in regions where the dominant religion is Tibetan Buddhism, including in Qomolangma NNR on the northern side of the Chinese Himalayas. Despite these positive attitudes, many decades of rapid economic development and population growth can cause increasing disturbance to the snow leopards, altering their habitat use patterns and ultimately impacting their conservation. We adopted a dynamic landscape ecology perspective and used multi-scale technique and occupancy model to better understand snow leopard habitat use and coexistence with humans in an 825 km2 communal landscape. We ranked eight hypothetical models containing potential natural and anthropogenic drivers of habitat use and compared them between summer and winter seasons within a year. HABITAT was the optimal model in winter, whereas ANTHROPOGENIC INFLUENCE was the top ranking in summer (AICcw≤2). Overall, model performance was better in the winter than in the summer, suggesting that perhaps some latent summer covariates were not measured. Among the individual variables, terrain ruggedness strongly affected snow leopard habitat use in the winter, but not in the summer. Univariate modeling suggested snow leopards prefer to use rugged land in winter with a broad scale (4000 m focal radius) but with a lesser scale in summer (30 m); Snow leopards preferred habitat with a slope of 22° at a scale of 1000 m throughout both seasons, which is possibly correlated with prey occurrence. Furthermore, all covariates mentioned above showed inextricable ties with human activities (presence of settlements and grazing intensity). Our findings show that multiple sources of anthropogenic activity have complex connections with snow leopard habitat use, even under low human density when anthropogenic activities are sparsely distributed across a vast landscape. This study is also valuable for habitat use research in the future, especially regarding covariate selection for finite sample sizes in inaccessible terrain.

Abstract: Olfactory communication is important for many solitary carnivores to delineate territories and communicate with potential mates and competitors. Pallas’s cats (Otocolobus manul) are small felids with little published research on their ecology and behaviour, including if they avoid or change behaviours due to dominant carnivores. We studied their olfactory communication and visitation at scent-marking sites using camera traps in two study areas in Mongolia. We documented four types of olfactory communication behaviours, and olfaction (sniffing) was the most frequent. Pallas’s cats used olfactory communication most frequently at sites that were not visited by snow leopards (Panthera uncia) and when they used communal scent-marking sites, they were more likely to use olfactory communication when a longer time had elapsed since the last visit by a snow leopard. This suggests that Pallas’s cats may reduce advertising their presence in response to occurrence of snow leopards, possibly to limit predation risk.

Abstract: The hunting behaviours of the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) are poorly understood. In this note, we describe the successful hunt of an adult male ibex (Capra sibirica) by a known male snow leopard in Tost Mountains, Mongolia. The hunt started in a mountain slope close to three large boulders and progressed downhill for 115 m until it concluded at the bottom of a drainage. By comparing the habitat where the ibex was killed to the kill sites of 158 ibex and 17 argali (Ovis ammon) that were killed by GPS-collared snow leopards, we demonstrate that the majority (62%) of these kills occurred in drainages. We propose that in successful hunts, snow leopards commonly ambush from above, causing prey individuals to typically flee downhill. Thereby the prey maintain their momentum and it is not until they are slowed down upon reaching the bottom of the drainage that the snow leopards are able to subdue them.

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.

Abstract: East Pamir is a transitive zone on border Tibetan, East Tien Shan, Western Tien Shan, Himalaya and Afghani fauna and is characterized by low diversity of mammals. Ungulates of east part are presented: Ivis dŒlii Š ¥…dr… sibirica s…k††n. Predators are presented ¥…nis lŠdŠs laniger (Tibetan subspecies); Vulpes vulpes ferganensis, IŠstela alpina alpina, IŠstela †r•inea ferganae, IŠst†l… nivalis d…llid…, I…rt†s foina, F†lis 1¢‹o iz…b†lli‹…, U‹ci… Š‹ci… Š‹cia (Central Asian and South Asian spp.); Ursus …r¤tŒs …ff. s¢riacus, I†l†s •†l†s, LŠtr… lutr… seistanica (South West Asian species). East Bukhara (Turkestan, Zeravshan, Hissar, Peter the Great, Darvaza, etc., and also the Western Pamir) is characterized by presence of representatives of the Indo-Afghani fauna (Capra falconeri, Ovis vignei, Cervus affinis, Mellivora indica (?), Vulpes canus, Otonycteris hemprichi, Nesokia indica, Rattus turkestanicus), Southwest Asia fauna (Felis pardus tulliana, Felis tigris septentrionalis, Canis aureus aureus, Lutra lutra seistanica, Hyaena hyaena), as well as species of widely distrebuted within the Southern and Southwest Asia (Felis ornata, Felis chaus, Vormela peregusna, Maries foina, Mustela nivalis, Ursus arctos syriacus, Hystrix hirsutirostris), or Central Asian species (Felis lynx isabelina, Mustela alpina, Mustela erminea, Otocolobus manul, Vulpes vulpes karagan Š „d.). Endemics of East Bukhara are Microtus carruthersi, Microtus bucharensis, Sorex bucharensis.