Abstract: Rare, elusive predators offer few sightings, hindering research with small sample sizes and lack of experimentation. While predators may be elusive, their prey are more readily observed. Prey respond to the presence of a predator, and these fear responses may have population- and community-level consequences. Anti-predator behaviors, such as vigilance, allow us to sidestep the difficulty of direct field studies of large predators by studying them indirectly. Here we used a behavioral indicator, the vigilance behavior of the Himalayan tahr, the snow leopard’s main local prey, to reveal the distribution and habitat use of snow leopards in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. We combined techniques of conventional field biology with concepts of foraging theory to study prey behavior in order to obtain insights into the predator’s ecology. The Himalayan tahr’s vigilance behavior correlates with the distribution of snow leopard signs. Tahr actually led us to six sightings of snow leopards. We conclude that behavioral indicators provided by prey offer a valuable tool for studying and monitoring stealthy and rare carnivores.

Abstract: In Chinese and English.
Note: this is a slightly expanded book version of the following report with a full Chinese translation: Tsering Dawa, John D. Farrington, and Kelsang Norbu. Human-wildlife Conflict in the Chang Tang Region of Tibet: The Impact of Tibetan Brown Bears and other Wildlife on Nomadic Herders with Recommendations for Conflict Mitigation. Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China: WWF China-Lhasa Field Office, 2006.
The multiple-use Chang Tang and Seling Lake Nature Reserves were created in 1993 to protect the unique assemblage of large fauna inhabiting the high-altitude steppe grasslands of northern Tibet, including the Tibetan antelope, Tibetan wild ass, Tibetan brown bear, Tibetan Gazelle, wild yak, and snow leopard. Prior to creation of the reserve, many of these species were heavily hunted for meat and sale of parts. Since creation of the reserve, however, killing of wildlife by subsistence hunters and commercial poachers has declined while in the past five years a new problem has emerged, that of human-wildlife conflict. With human, livestock, and wildlife populations in the reserves all increasing, and animals apparently emboldened by reserve-wide hunting bans, all forms of human-wildlife conflict have surged rapidly since 2001. This conflict takes on four primary forms in the Chang Tang region: 1)killing of domestic livestock in corrals and on open pastures by Tibetan brown bears, snow leopards, and other predators, 2) Tibetan brown bears badly damaging herders’ cabins and tents in search of food, 3) loss of important grass resources to large herds of widely migrating wild ungulates, particularly the Tibetan wild ass, possibly leading to winter starvation of livestock, 4) driving off of domestic female yaks by wild yak bulls in search of harems.
In April of 2006, the authors conducted a wildlife conflict survey of 300 herding households in Nagchu Prefecture’s Shenzha, Tsonyi, and Nyima Counties. Results showed that the 87 percent of households had experienced some form of wildlife conflict since 1990. The Tibetan brown bear was the largest source of wildlife conflict, affecting 49 percent of surveyed households, followed by grazing competition conflict which affected 36 percent of surveyed households, and snow leopard conflict which affected 24 percent of surveyed households. Type and frequency of wildlife conflict problems cut across all three surveyed socio-economic factors, residence type, size of living group, and economic status/herd size, and was primarily a function of location. A break down of incidences of human-wildlife conflict into three 5 to 6-year time periods between January 1990 and April 2006 revealed dramatic increases in conflict occurring since 2001. When compared to the 1990-1995 period, the incidence of conflict today ranged from 2.6 times higher for fox conflict to 5.5 times higher for conflict with snow leopards, while there was a 4.6 fold increase in the occurrence of bear conflict. From second-hand accounts and wildlife remains confiscated from herders, it is now believed that retaliatory killing of wildlife rivals commercial poaching as the greatest threat to the continued existence of the Chang Tang region's large fauna. Human-wildlife conflict reduction strategies and wildlife conservation education programs must be devised and implemented in order to halt the retaliatory killing of wildlife by nomadic herders in the Chang Tang.

Abstract: The loss of mammalian herbivores from grazing ecosystems has become a major concern,and efforts to stem such losses are stymied by lack of information on the proximate and ultimate factors influencing their distributions and diversity patterns. This research investigated the distribution, species-richness patterns and underlying mechanisms in mammalian herbivores of the Trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, India. It adopted a multi-spatial approach to understand these issues in the little-known herbivore assemblage of the region. Since vegetation is the most important factor that determines the distribution of herbivores, first I researched the distribution and abundance patterns of vascular plants along an altitudinal gradient at different spatial scales. Both plant species-richness and aboveground biomass showed a hump-shaped relationship with altitude. Such a relationship in case of species-richness is expected, but it is contrary to my expectation of a negative linear relationship, in case of abundance. I relate this unexpected pattern to the limited precipitation and pervasive livestock grazing at lower altitudes in this dry alpine environment. I then investigated the biogeography of mammalian herbivores, and found that they form geographical groups on the basis of their evolutionary histories. Subsequently, I assessed the niche relationship between Asiatic ibex Capra ibex siberica and blue sheep Pseudois nayaur, the most common large herbivores in Ladakh, to see whether local level processes like competition generate spatial pattern of herbivore species-richness. The results showed that blue sheep constrains the distribution of ibex, which implies that competition amongst native species does play a role in structuring large herbivore assemblages in the region. Recognising the lack of information on large herbivores’ niche variation across assemblages, I also studied blue sheep’s niche width in relation to herbivore speciesrichness. It became apparent that the species’ niche varies across assemblages with different number of sympatric species, which could negatively influence the animal’s reproductive performance and population. Finally, I asked if the distributional range of the endangered Ladakh urial Ovis vignei vignei is constrained by the abundant blue sheep, and found that these two species associate randomly at large geographical scales, but cooccur at the landscape level as a result of local habitat-level resource partitioning. These results contribute towards understanding the mechanisms responsible for the formation and maintenance of large herbivore assemblages in the Trans-Himalaya and other mountainous regions of the world.

Abstract: Still, there are areas from where very poor information is available on snow leopard and associated species. Keeping this in view, Kargil and Drass areas of Ladakh,Jammu and Kashmir were identified as “gaps” in available information on snow leopard. Kargil has not received much attention for wildlife studies due to its proximity to the International Boundary between India and Pakistan and resultant security implications. The only information available from the area is from a study done by Sathyakumar (2003) on the occurrence of Himalayan brown bear from Zanskar and Suru Valleys in Ladakh. But there was very poor information on the occurrence and distribution of other carnivores and conflicts with humans in Kargil. Therefore, this study was felt necessary to establish the following objectives:
1. Surveys for the occurrence and distribution of snow leopard and other large
carnivores and their prey
2. To estimate abundance of prey species
3. To study food habits of snow leopard and other carnivores based on scat analysis
4. To study the of carnivore – human conflicts
5. To study the socio-economic conditions of rural community and develop local
awareness programme