Hussain, S. (2000). Protecting the snow leopard and enhancing farmers' livelihoods: A pilot insurance scheme in Baltistan. Mountain-Research-and-Development., 20, 226–231.
Abstract: Snow leopards that prey on poor farmers' livestock pose a twofold problem: they endanger farmers' precarious mountain livelihoods as well as the survival of the snow leopard as a unique species since farmers engage in retaliatory killings. Project Snow Leopard (PSL), a recent pilot initiative in Baltistan, involves a partnership between local farmers and private enterprise in the form of an insurance scheme combined with ecotourism activities. Farmers jointly finance the insurance scheme through the payment of premiums per head of livestock they own, while the remaining funds are provided by profits from trekking expeditions focusing on the snow leopard. The insurance scheme is jointly managed by a village management committee and PSL staff. The scheme is structured in such a way that villagers monitor each other and have incentives to avoid cheating the system.
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International Snow Leopard Trust. (1986). Indo-US Snow Leopard Project (Vol. No. 10). Seattle: Islt.
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International Snow Leopard Trust. (1999). Snow Leopard News. Seattle, WA: Islt.
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International Snow Leopard Trust. (1999). Snow Leopard News Summer/ Fall 1999. Seattle, WA: Islt.
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International Snow Leopard Trust. (2000). Snow Leopard News Summer 2000. Seattle, WA: Islt.
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International Snow Leopard Trust. (2001). Snow Leopard News Spring 2001. Seattle, WA: Islt.
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Jackson, R. (2000). Linking Snow Leopard Conservation and People-Wildlife Conflict Resolution, Summary of a multi-country project aimed at developing grass-roots measures to protect the endangered snow leopard from herder retribution. Cat News, 33, 12–15.
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Johansson, O., McCarthy, T., Samelius, G., Andren, H., Tumursukh, L., Mishra, C. (2015). Snow leopard predation in a livestock dominated landscape in Mongolia. Biological Conservation, 184, 251–258.
Abstract: Livestock predation is an important cause of endangerment of the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) across
its range. Yet, detailed information on individual and spatio-temporal variation in predation patterns of
snow leopards and their kill rates of livestock and wild ungulates are lacking.
We collared 19 snow leopards in the Tost Mountains, Mongolia, and searched clusters of GPS positions
to identify prey remains and estimate kill rate and prey choice.
Snow leopards killed, on average, one ungulate every 8 days, which included more wild prey (73%) than
livestock (27%), despite livestock abundance being at least one order of magnitude higher. Predation on
herded livestock occurred mainly on stragglers and in rugged areas where animals are out of sight of herders.
The two wild ungulates, ibex (Capra ibex) and argali (Ovis ammon), were killed in proportion to their
relative abundance. Predation patterns changed with spatial (wild ungulates) and seasonal (livestock)
changes in prey abundance. Adult male snow leopards killed larger prey and 2–6 times more livestock
compared to females and young males. Kill rates were considerably higher than previous scat-based estimates, and kill rates of females were higher than kill rates of males. We suggest that (i) snow leopards
prey largely on wild ungulates and kill livestock opportunistically, (ii) retaliatory killing by livestock herders
is likely to cause greater mortality of adult male snow leopards compared to females and young
males, and (iii) total off-take of prey by a snow leopard population is likely to be much higher than previous
estimates suggest.
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Johansson, O., Nyam, E., Lkhagvajav, P., Alexander, J. A., Samelius, G. (2023). Predation Patterns and Hunting Behaviour of Snow Leopards: Insights from an Ibex Hunt. Snow Leopard Reports, , 6–9.
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.
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Koshkarev, E. (1994). Poaching in Former USSR (Vol. xii). Seattle: International Snow Leopard Trust.
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