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: Method of questionnaire design is used for long time successfully in the various fields of zoological research. This method is most significant for the collecting of data on threatened species. It can be applied together with standard inquest and survey methods without taking remarkable financial and temporal expenses. Such data can be assigned as the base for further planning of scientific investigations of the threatened species. In the result of survey, there were gathered 96 records of Snow Leopard and its tracks of the vital functions on Ugam, Pskem, Chatkal, Turkestan and Hissar ridges. Majority of records was made on Hissar ridge either on the area of Hissar reserve, either outside of protected area. There was collected data on distribution of Snow Leopard in Uzbekistan, on its territorial and food behavior, cases and causes of poaching. As a conclusion, it seems to be rational to use the method of questionnaire design among rangers of protected areas and local inhabitants for the collecting of primary information on threatened animal species. It would be optimal to gather such data every 3-4 years that would allow receiving the fresh comparable year-by-year information. Interpretation of questionnaire data should be made with certain prudence, taking into account subjectivity of collected information. Therefore during gathering of questionnaire data it is desirable personal attendance of researcher for more accurate definition of answers on the presented questions.

Abstract: In the cold and arid mountains of Central Asia, where the diversity and abundance of wild ungulates
are generally low, resource partitioning among coexisting carnivores is probably less distinct than in prey-rich areas. Thus, similar-sized carnivores are likely to compete for food. We compared the summer diets of snow leopards Panthera uncia and wolves Canis lupus in Sarychat-Ertash Reserve in the Tien-Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, based on analysis of genetically confirmed scats. Abundances of
the principal prey species, argali Ovis ammon and Siberian ibex Capra sibirica, were estimated from field surveys. The diets consisted of few species, with high interspecific overlap (Pianka’s index50.91). Argali was the predominant prey, with .50% frequency of occurrence in both snow leopard and wolf scats. This was followed by Siberian ibex and marmots Marmota baibacina. Being largely unavailable, remains of livestock were not detected in any of the scats. In the snow leopard diet, proportions of argali and ibex were in
line with the relative availabilities of these animals in the Reserve. This was in contrast to the diet of wolf, where argali occurred according to availability and ibex was significantly underrepresented. The high diet overlap indicates that the two predators might compete for food when the diversity of profitable, large prey is low. Competition may be more intense in winter, when marmots are not available. Hunting of argali and ibex outside the Reserve may be unsustainable and therefore reduce their abundances over time. This will
affect both predators negatively and intensify competition for food. Reduction in ibex populations will directly affect the snow leopard, and the wolf is likely to be indirectly affected as a result of increased snow leopard predation of argali.

Abstract: Twenty-five years ago, the snow leopard Uncia uncia, an endangered large cat, was eliminated from what is now Sagarmatha National Park (SNP). Heavy hunting pressure depleted that area of most medium-large mammals, before it became a park. After three decades of protection, the cessation of hunting and the recovery of wild ungulate populations, snow leopards have recently returned (four individuals). We have documented the effects of the return of the snow leopard on the population of its main wild prey, the Himalayan tahr Hemitragus jemlahicus, a 'near-threatened' caprin. Signs of snow leopard presence were recorded and scats were collected along a fixed trail (130 km) to assess the presence and food habits of the snow leopard in the Park, from 2004 to 2006. Himalayan tahr, the staple of the diet, had a relative occurrence of 48% in summer and 37% in autumn, compared with the next most frequent prey, musk deer Moschus chrysogaster (summer: 20%; autumn: 15%) and cattle (summer: 15%; autumn: 27%). In early summer, the birth rate of tahr (young-to-female ratio: 0.8-0.9) was high. The decrease of this ratio to 0.1-0.2 in autumn implied that summer predation concentrated on young tahr, eventually altering the population by removing the kid cohort. Small populations of wild Caprinae, for example the Himalayan tahr population in SNP, are sensitive to stochastic predation events and may be led to almost local extinction. If predation on livestock keeps growing, together with the decrease of Himalayan tahr, retaliatory killing of snow leopards by local people may be expected, and the snow leopard could again be at risk of local extinction. Restoration of biodiversity through the return of a large predator has to be monitored carefully, especially in areas affected by humans, where the lack of important environmental components, for example key prey species, may make the return of a predator a challenging event.

Abstract: During 1984-1987, 1992-1995, and 1998-2001, the author researched snow leopard, white lipped deer, kiang, and argali in Qinghai, Gansu, Xingiang, and Sichuan. He collected 644 snow leopard droppings, and analyzed kinds of foods and sources from perch. Snow leopard's foods include most main foods, main foods, comparative foods and lesser foods. Studied one another
index of faunistic congruence of foods species that from various distribution and variation both perch vertical variety and foods of snow leopard.