Abstract: Mankial is a sub-valley of the Swat Kohistan. Temperate ecosystem of the valley is intact to a greater extent, which provides habitat to a variety of species of plants, animals and birds. Snow leopard is reported from the valley. To confirm its occurrence, the HUJRA (Holistic Understanding for Justified Research and Action), conducted the study titled “Snow Leopard Survey in Mankial Valley, district Swat, NWFP”. The author provided technical support, while ISLT (The International Snow Leopard Trust) funded the project under its small grants program. The World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan) and the Mankial Community Organization (MCO) facilitated surveys under the project. Surveys revealed that Snow leopard visits parts of the Mankial valley in winter months. Information from the local community shows that Snow leopard remains in the Serai (an off-shoot of the Mankial Valley) from early winter to early spring. Intensive surveys of the prime snow leopard winter habitat in the valley found several snow leopard signs including pugmarks, feces, and scrapes. The study also found occurrence of prey species through indirect evidence though. However, information from the local community confirmed that in the recent past there was a good population of markhor in the valley, which is now reduced to less than 50, mostly due to hunting and habitat disturbance. Hunting is part of the local culture and lifestyle. During winter months hunting pressure is low, as most of the local community migrates to warmer plain areas than Mankial Valley. However, those who live in the area lop oak branches for feeding their livestock and cut trees for burning, in addition to hunting prey species of snow leopard. This has resulted in stunted oak vegetation in most of the lower reaches of the valley and decline of the markhor population.

Abstract: Background: Predation risk declines non-linearly with one's own vigilance and the vigilance of others in the group (the 'many-eyes' effect). Furthermore, as group size increases, the individual's risk of predation may decline through dilution with more potential victims, but may increase if larger groups attract more predators. These are known, respectively, as the dilution effect and the attraction effect.
Assumptions: Feeding animals use vigilance to trade-off food and safety. Net feeding rate declines linearly with vigilance.
Question: How do the many-eyes, dilution, and attraction effects interact to influence the relationship between group size and vigilance behaviour?
Mathematical methods: We use game theory and the fitness-generating function to determine the ESS level of vigilance of an individual within a group.
Predictions: Vigilance decreases with group size as a consequence of the many-eyes and dilution effects but increases with group size as a consequence of the attraction effect, when they act independent of each other. Their synergetic effects on vigilance depend upon the relative strengths of each and their interactions. Regardless, the influence of other factors on vigilance – such as encounter rate with predators, predator lethality, marginal value of energy, and value of vigilance – decline with group size.

Abstract: This study hypothesized that permanently frustrated, appetitive-foraging behavior caused the stereotypic pacing regularly observed in captive carnivores. Using 2 adult female snow leopards (Uncia uncia), solitarily housed in the Zurich Zoo, the study tested this hypothesis experimentally with a novel feeding method: electronically controlled, time-regulated feeding boxes. The expected result of employing this active foraging device as a successful coping strategy was reduced behavioral and physiological measures of stress, compared with a control-feeding regime without feeding boxes. The study assessed this through behavioral observations and by evaluating glucocorticoid levels noninvasively from feces. Results indicated that the 2 snow leopards did not perform successful coping behavior through exercising active foraging behavior or through displaying the stereotypic pacing. The data support a possible explanation: The box-feeding method did not provide the 2 snow leopards with the external stimuli to satisfy their appetitive behavioral needs. Moreover, numerous other factors not necessarily or exclusively related to appetitive behavior could have caused and influenced the stereotypic pacing.

Abstract: Accurate assessments of the patterns and drivers of livestock depredation by wild carnivores are vital for designing effective mitigation strategies to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Snow leopard’s (Panthera uncia) range extensively overlaps pastoralist land- use and livestock predation there is widely reported, but the ecological determinants of livestock consumption by snow leopards remain obscure. We investigated snow leopard dietary habits at seven sites across the Sanjiangyuan region of the Qinghai– Tibetan Plateau (QTP), an area central to the species’ global range. Snow leopard abundance, wild prey composition, and livestock density varied among those sites, thus allowing us to test the effects of various factors on snow leopard diet and livestock predation. Using DNA metabarcoding, we obtained highly resolved dietary data from 351 genetically verified snow leopard fecal samples. We then analyzed the prey preferences of snow leopards and examined ecological factors related to their livestock consumption. Across the sites, snow leopard prey was composed mainly of wild ungulates (mean = 81.5% of dietary sequences), particularly bharal (Pseudois nayaur), and supplemented with livestock (7.62%) and smaller mammals (marmots, pikas, mice; 10.7%). Snow leopards showed a strong preference for bharal, relative to livestock, based on their densities. Interestingly, both proportional and total livestock consumption by snow leopards increased linearly with local livestock biomass, but not with livestock density. That, together with a slight negative relationship with bharal density, supports apparent facilitation between wild and domestic prey. We also found a significant positive correlation between population densities of snow leopard and bharal, yet those densities showed slight negative relationships with livestock density. Our results highlight the importance of sufficient wild ungulate abundance to the conservation of viable snow leopard populations. Additionally, livestock protection is critically needed to reduce losses to snow leopard depredation, especially where local livestock abundances are high.