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Arias, M., Coals, P., Ardiantiono, Elves-Powell, J., Rizzolo, J. B., Ghoddousi, A., Boron, V., da Silva, M., Naude, V., Williams, V., Poudel, S., Loveridge, A., Payan, E., Suryawanshi, K., Dickman, A. (2024). Reflecting on the role of human-felid conflict and local use in big cat trade. Conservation Science and Practice, 6(e13030), 1–7.
Abstract: Illegal trade in big cat (Panthera spp.) body parts is a prominent topic in scientific and public discourses concerning wildlife conservation. While illegal trade is generally acknowledged as a threat to big cat species, we suggest that two enabling factors have, to date, been under-considered. To that end, we discuss the roles of human-felid conflict, and “local” use in illegal trade in big cat body parts. Drawing examples from across species and regions, we look at generalities, contextual subtleties, ambiguities, and definitional complexities. We caution against underestimating the extent of “local” use of big cats and highlight the potential of conflict killings to supply body parts.
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Polking, V. F. (1996). Schneelleopard. Das Tier, , 8–15.
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Subbotin, A. E., & Istomov, S. V. (2009). The population status of snow leopards Uncia uncia (Felidae, Carnivora) in the western Sayan Mountain Ridge. Doklady Biologicl Sciences, 425, 183–186.
Abstract: The snow leopard (Uncia uncial Schreber, 1776) is the most poorly studied species of the cat family in the world and, in particular, in Russia, where the northern periphery of the species area (no more than 3% of it) is located in the Altai-Hangai-Sayan range [1]. It is generally known that the existing data on the Russian part of the snow leopard population have never been a result of targeted studies; at best, they have been based on recording the traces of the snow leopard vital activity [2]. This is explained by the snow leopard's elusive behavior, inaccessibility of its habitats for humans, and its naturally small total numbers in the entire species area. All published data on the population status of the snow leopard in Russia, from the first descriptions of the species [3-6] to the latest studies [7, 8] are subjective, often speculative, and are not confirmed by
quantitative estimates. It is obvious, however, that every accurate observation of this animal is of particular interest [9]. The purpose of our study was to determine the structure and size of the population group presumably inhabiting the Western Sayan mountain ridge at the northern boundary of the species area
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Schneider, V. K. M. (1936). Einige bilder zur Aufzucht eines schneeleoparden. Dresden Zoological Garden, , 37–39.
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Krumbiegel, V. I. (1936). Die schneeleoparden (Felis uncia Schreb.) des Dresdner Zoologischen Gartens. Dresdner Zoologischen Gartens, , 34–37.
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Smith, G. (1992). Mongolia at the crossroads. Earth Island Journal, 7(4), 1.
Abstract: Abstract: Assesses foreign investment laws adopted by the government of Mongolia which have been deemed extremely flexible and favorable for Americans. Economic benefits presented by the big game hunt industry; Consultation with Secretary of State James Baker in the formulation of said laws during his July The Mongolian government is trying its best to make the country attractive to foreign investors. Big game hunts are still Mongolia's primary source of foreign cash. European and American hunters are willing to pay as much as $90,000 for rare game such as the ibex or the snow leopard. However, a recent US Fish and Wildlife Service ruling giving protection to the Argal, a wild sheep, could mean the cutting of cash inflows from foreign hunters.
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Blomqvist, L., & Dexel, B. (2006). In Focus: Declining numbers of wild snow leopards.
Abstract: International collaboration to ensure the long-term survival of snow leopards (Uncia uncia) in the wild is today more acutely needed than ever! Trade in live snow leopards, their skins and bones, has during the last decade reached such extensiveness that the species is in danger of being wiped out from many of its former habitats. All recent surveys support declining populations throughout most of their range.
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Bohnett, E., Holmberg, J., Faryabi, S. P., An, L., Ahmad, B., Rashid, W., Ostrowski, S. (2023). Comparison of two individual identification algorithms for snow leopards (Panthera uncia) after automated detection. Ecological Informatics, 77(102214), 1–14.
Abstract: Photo-identification of individual snow leopards (Panthera uncia) is the primary data source for density estimation via capture-recapture statistical methods. To identify individual snow leopards in camera trap imagery, it is necessary to match individuals from a large number of images from multiple cameras and historical catalogues, which is both time-consuming and costly. The camouflaged snow leopards also make it difficult for machine learning to classify photos, as they blend in so well with the surrounding mountain environment, rendering applicable software solutions unavailable for the species. To potentially make snow leopard individual identification available via an artificial intelligence (AI) software interface, we first trained and evaluated image classification techniques for a convolutional neural network, pose invariant embeddings (PIE) (a triplet loss network), and compared the accuracy of PIE to that of the HotSpotter algorithm (a SIFT-based algorithm). Data were acquired from a curated library of free-ranging snow leopards taken in Afghanistan between 2012 and 2019 and from captive animals in zoos in Finland, Sweden, Germany, and the United States. We discovered several flaws in the initial PIE model, such as a small amount of background matching, that was addressed, albeit likely not fixed, using background subtraction (BGS) and left-right mirroring (LR) techniques which demonstrated reasonable accuracy (Rank 1: 74% Rank-5: 92%) comparable to the Hotspotter results (Rank 1: 74% Rank 2: 84%)The PIE BGS LR model, in conjunction with Hotspotter, yielded the following results: Rank-1: 85%, Rank-5: 95%, Rank-20: 99%. In general, our findings indicate that PIE BGS LR, in conjunction with HotSpotter, can classify snow leopards more accurately than using either algorithm alone.
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Sharma, K., Fiechter, M., George, T., Young, J., Alexander, J.
S., Bijoor, Suryawanshi, K., Mishra, C. (2020). Conservation and people: Towards an ethical code of conduct for
the use of camera traps in wildlife research. Ecological Solutions and Evidence, , 1–6.
Abstract: 1. Camera trapping is a widely employed tool in wildlife
research, used to estimate animal abundances, understand animal
movement, assess species richness and under- stand animal behaviour. In
addition to images of wild animals, research cameras often record human
images, inadvertently capturing behaviours ranging from innocuous
actions to potentially serious crimes.
2. With the increasing use of camera traps, there is an urgent need to
reflect on how researchers should deal with human images caught on
cameras. On the one hand, it is important to respect the privacy of
individuals caught on cameras, while, on the other hand, there is a
larger public duty to report illegal activity. This creates ethical
dilemmas for researchers.
3. Here, based on our camera-trap research on snow leopards Panthera
uncia, we outline a general code of conduct to help improve the practice
of camera trap based research and help researchers better navigate the
ethical-legal tightrope of this important research tool.
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Salvatori, M., Oberosler, V., Augugliaro, C., Krofel, M., Rovero, F. (2022). Effects of free-ranging livestock on occurrence and interspecific interactions of a mammalian community. Ecological-Applications., (e2644), 1–13.
Abstract: Mammalian communities inhabiting temperate grasslands are of conservation concern globally, especially in Central Asia, where livestock numbers have dramatically increased in recent decades, leading to overgrazing and land-use change. Yet, how this pervasive presence of livestock herds affects the community of wild mammals remains largely unstudied. We used systematic camera trapping at 216 sites across remote, mountainous areas of the Mongolian Altai Mountains to assess the spatial and temporal patterns of occurrence and the interspecific relationships within a mammalian community that includes different categories of livestock. By adopting a recently proposed multispecies occupancy model that incorporates interspecific correlation in occupancy, we found several statistically strong correlations in occupancy among species pairs, with the majority involving livestock. The sign of such associations was markedly species-dependent, with larger wild species of conservation concern, namely, snow leopard and Siberian ibex, avoiding livestock presence. As predicted, we found evidence of a positive correlation in occupancy between predators and their respective main prey. Contrary to our expectations, a number of intraguild species pairs also showed positive co-occurrence, with no evidence of spatiotemporal niche partitioning. Overall, our study suggests that livestock encroaching into protected areas influences the whole local community of wild mammals. Though pastoralism has coexisted with wildlife for millennia in central Asian grasslands, our findings suggest that policies and practices to decrease the pressure of livestock husbandry on wildlife are needed, with special attention on large species, such as the snow leopard and its wild prey, which seem to be particularly sensitive to this pervasive livestock presence.
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