Category: Science and Research

Rare photo shows endangered snow leopard in the wild

A trap camera took this rare photo of a snow leopard.

CAPTION

By Wildlife Conservation Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society released two photos Thursday of a snow leopard, an endangered cat that lives in the high mountains of Central Asia.These photos were taken by a trap camera in Sast Valley in Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor and sent to my colleague Dan Vergano,who wanted to share them with the pet community. Thank you, Dan. We’ll do more on wild cats and wolves in upcoming blogs.

WCS researchers are conducting ongoing wildlife surveys in this remote area with the goal of establishing a protected area. They found this endangered cat willing to strike a pose or two.

Trap cameras are placed in an animal’s habitat and are automatically triggered to go off when an animal goes by, allowing researchers to take photos without being nearby.

Snow leopards are on The World Conservation Union’s Red list of Endangered Species, the same endangered status given to the panda and tiger. Snow leopards are elusive creatures. Sightings are rare, partly because of how well they blend into the landscape. They weigh about 75-120 pounds (roughly seven to eight times the weight of a house cat and one-seventh to one-eighth the size of a tiger). They have large paws that allow them to jump up to 50 feet. More information about the cats and where they roam can be found at the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Snow Leopard Trust websites.

Peter Matthiessen writes about a magical journey he took on foot – what else? – in the rugged mountains of northwest Nepal with a wildlife biologist to look for these near-mythical creatures in The Snow Leopard.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/pawprintpost/post/2009/08/rare-photo-shows-endangered-snow-leopard-in-the-wild/1

Capturing the elusive cat

Ashwin Aghor / DNASunday, June 21, 2009 2:50 ISThttp://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_capturingMumbai: When Aishwarya Maheshwari saw a sudden cloud of dust rising along the slopes of the mountains he was surveying in the Kargil and Drass sector of Jammu & Kashmir, his hands immediately reached for the binoculars. What he saw made him tremble and smile in anticipation.He had spotted the snow leopard, one of the world’s most elusive creatures, which was giving chase to a herd of Asiatic Ibex, a species of mountain goats. “Unfortunately the memory of the 1999 conflict has overshadowed the region’s rich wildlife. It is here that one of world’s most elusive creatures, the snow leopard, roams wild and free,” said Maheshwari who is a researcher with WWF-India. During his interaction with locals, Maheshwari also learnt about the tremendous decline in wildlife sightings, post the 1999 war. So much so that even the common resident birds had disappeared.“This is the first photographic evidence of snow leopard in Kargil and Drass sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Though locals claim to have seen the animal, there was no evidence of presence of the big cat,” said Ameen Ahmed, senior communications manager, WWF-India, adding that there has been no study of wildlife done in this violence hit area. Maheshwari, in fact, is part of the WWF team that’s carrying out a base line study of wildlife in Kargil and Drass sectors. On June 13, Maheshwari was observing the hills at Kanji village, located 3850 meter above sea level, and 70 km from Kargil town. He was on my way up with three field assistants. Four km into the trek, they came across a herd of Asiatic Ibex, species of mountain goat and pug marks and scat of what looked like a carnivore.“Soon, a huge cloud of dust rose from where the Ibex were grazing. The view through my binoculars suddenly became hazy. All I could see was the wild goats running helter-skelter, in almost every direction. I desperately panned my binoculars in all directions. But, the dust that made it difficult to see anything clearly,” Maheshwari recalled.Soon, amidst the confusion, he saw a snow leopard. But after the failed attempt, the snow leopard went to a cliff.The snow leopard stayed put in front of the group for seven minutes. “As it was barely 300-400 meter away, I was tempted to go closer and capture the animal on camera. At the end of the shortest seven minutes of my life, it got up and went to the other side of the hill, out of our sight,” Maheshwari said. Early next morning, fresh scat and unclear pug marks were found on the same path. Maheshwari climbed the same hill, which he had ascended the evening before. But the snow leopard had disappeared.

Just published in the Journal of Wildlife Management: SLN member article “Assessing Estimators of Snow Leopard Abundance”

The article Assessing Estimators of Snow Leopard Abundance was published in the Journal of Wildlife Management 72(8), pages 1826-1833. 2008. Congratulations to authors Kyle McCarthy, Todd Fuller, Ma Ming, Thomas McCarthy, Lisette Waits, and Kubanych Jumabaev.

The article in its entirety is available on the SLN Bibliography and may be found by visiting the link below:

http://www.snowleopardnetwork.org/bibliography/Assessing Estimators of Snow Leopard Abundance.pdf

Abstract:

The secretive nature of snow leopards (Uncia uncia) makes them difficult to monitor, yet conservation efforts require accurate and precise methods to estimate abundance. We assessed accuracy of Snow Leopard Information Management System (SLIMS) sign surveys by comparing them with 4 methods for estimating snow leopard abundance: predator:prey biomass ratios, capture–recapture density estimation, photo-capture rate, and individual identification through genetic analysis. We recorded snow leopard sign during standardized surveys in the SaryChat Zapovednik, the Jangart hunting reserve, and the Tomur Strictly Protected Area, in the Tien Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan and China. During June–December 2005, adjusted sign averaged 46.3 (SaryChat), 94.6 (Jangart), and 150.8 (Tomur) occurrences/km. We used counts of ibex (Capra ibex) and argali (Ovis ammon) to estimate available prey biomass and subsequent potential snow leopard densities of 8.7 (SaryChat), 1.0 (Jangart), and 1.1 (Tomur) snow leopards/100 km2. Photo capture–recapture density estimates were 0.15 (n = 1 identified individual/1 photo), 0.87 (n=4/13), and 0.74 (n=5/6) individuals/100 km2 in SaryChat, Jangart, and Tomur, respectively. Photo-capture rates (photos/100 trap-nights) were 0.09 (SaryChat), 0.93 (Jangart), and 2.37 (Tomur). Genetic analysis of snow leopard fecal samples provided minimum population sizes of 3 (SaryChat), 5 (Jangart), and 9 (Tomur) snow leopards. These results suggest SLIMS sign surveys may be affected by observer bias and environmental variance. However, when such bias and variation are accounted for, sign surveys indicate relative abundances similar to photo rates and genetic individual identification results. Density or abundance estimates based on capture–recapture or ungulate biomass did not agree with other indices of abundance. Confidence in estimated densities, or even detection of significant changes in abundance of snow leopard, will require more effort and better documentation.

The Power of Genetics in Snow Leopard Conservation

The October 2008 issue of Animal Conservation features the first results of the genetic work conducted by Jan Janecka, Texas A&M University, in partnership with the Snow Leopard Conservancy and others.

Animal Conservation: Vol 11(5):pages 401-411. Population monitoring of snow leopards using noninvasive collection of scat samples: a pilot study. 2008. J. E. Janečka, R. Jackson, Z. Yuquang, L. Diqiang, B. Munkhtsog, V. Buckley-Beason, W. J. Murphy

An abstract is available at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121356219/abstract

This pioneering genetic study was also featured in the October 15 issue of New Scientist Online

The full story, paraphrased below, is available at:
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg20026782.600-snow-leopard-genes-could-help-estimate-populations.html
The article describes how snow leopard numbers can be read in their scat. A genetic test specific to endangered snow leopards can reveal vital information on their numbers and diversity from a sample of feces. What is more, a pilot study has found that some feces thought to come from snow leopards were actually from red foxes or lynx – a disturbing sign that previous estimates of snow leopard numbers may be far too high.
Genetic testing of feces is more precise than field observations, but efforts to date have been limited because the costs were high. But now, these genetic approaches have become reasonably priced, allowing for large-scale studies. In addition, standard molecular primers based on domestic cats were not reliable when testing the degraded DNA in snow leopard feces. This led co-author Jan Janecka of Texas A&M University to develop tests specific for snow leopard DNA in scat.

Trials using the new approach in China, India and Mongolia show it is much more reliable and can effectively identify individual snow leopards.

That information is crucial for conservation, says co-author Rodney Jackson, director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy of Sonoma, California, which has plans for expanding the genetic test-based survey program.

Animal Conservation is a publication of the Zoological Society of London. The journal provides a forum for rapid and timely publication of novel scientific studies of past, present and future factors influencing the conservation of animal species and their habitats. The focus is on rigorous studies of an empirical or theoretical nature, relating to species and population biology. A central theme is to publish important new ideas and findings from evolutionary biology and ecology that contribute towards the scientific basis of conservation biology.

For over fifty years New Scientist, which now reaches nearly 1 million worldwide readers, has been informing the public of the latest science and technology news from around the world.

Mongolian Wildlife to be Recorded on Film

Written by Kirril Shields
Friday, October 17, 2008
MONGOLIAN wildlife will soon be captured, on camera that is. A Wildlife Picture Index programme is set to begin in January of 2009, aiming to ‘camera trap’ Mongolian mammal and bird species. The program intends to help scientists gain an understanding of population figures and biodiversity across an array of environments, from desert, to steppe, to the rugged and snow-capped mountains of the taiga.

While the WPI was trialled on a small scale in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sapo National Park, Liberia, and to a lesser degree in other locations around the world, it will be used for the first time on a large scale to record Mongolian wildlife. “This is a great step for Mongolia,” says Eleanor Monks of the Zoological Society of London. “It gives us the opportunity to monitor data deficient species which are rarely seen by the public eye.”
In addition to catching a glimpse of rare and elusive animals such as the Gobi bear, the snow leopard, or the long-eared jerboa, zoologists and scientists are hoping to discover new species of mammals and birds.
The WPI program will also provide insight into a species’ habits -including nocturnal activity- build an understanding of how these animals live, and reveal the impact mining and deforestation have on species’ populations.

According to the team establishing Mongolia’s WPI program, the use of photographic imagery is an effective way of enthusing and educating the public about wildlife by producing vivid colour pictures of rare or, as yet, undiscovered animals.

The camera trapping will be implemented by the Zoological Society of London (through the Steppe Forward Programme), the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Mongolian Academy of Science.

According to Cambridge University, the benefits of camera trapping are that it “offers a non-obtrusive, low cost, verifiable, simple and effective means of meeting objectives across disparate sites.” The objectives, they continue, include “monitoring trends in the diversity, abundance, and distribution of a broad range of terrestrial mammals and birds, including nocturnal, rare and elusive animals.”

The majority of funds for the project’s first year have been supplied by the World Bank. The program will employ roughly six foreign scientists, including two project leaders, four young Mongolian scientists, two Mongolian student interns, and as many as sixty herdsmen from the aimags where the cameras will be placed.
Led by Dr. Jonathan Baillie from ZSL (based at London’s Regent Park Zoo), Monks and Dr. Amanda Fine from the Mongolian office of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the program will monitor six sites around the country: three in central and southern Mongolia, three others far to the west of Ulaanbaatar.

Mongolia, according to the report Silent Steppe: The Illegal Wildlife Trade Crisis in Mongolia, has a “flourishing illegal and wildlife trade, now estimated to be worth more than US$ 100 million annually.” Add to this the depletion of forests and the impact mining companies can have on the environment, and the future of Mongolia’s rare and depleted species may be grim. In 2006, for example, the population of red deer in Mongolia was said to have declined by 92 percent over the last 18 years.

In 2006, Baille enumerated some of the environmental problems Mongolia currently faces. “Mongolia was once a refuge for Central Asia’s mammals, but the Mongolian steppe is now being silently cleared of its wildlife. Even the marmot, a large rodent, is estimated to have declined 75 percent over the past 12 years, due to hunting.”
Others seem to agree. “Mongolia’s growing population and changing lifestyles are intensifying pressures on the country’s fragile ecosystems,” a World Bank report states. “Overgrazing is degrading significant areas and displacing wildlife from its habitat. Pollution from industrial and urban growth is negatively affecting environmental quality. Moreover, hampering progress in the management of and protection of the environment is a conspicuous lack of human and financial resources.”

The Wildlife Picture Index hopes to reverse some of these trends. Implementing the program, according to ZSL, means that “robust monitoring will take place so that the scope and severity of the problem can be defined, communicated and defended.” The society hopes this project will in turn lead to public and government awareness initiatives, launched both by Mongolia and the world at large.

http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2333

Second Snow Leopard Collared in Mongolia Project

We are pleased to report that early in the morning on 14 September 2008, a second male snow leopard was captured and radio-collared in Mongolia’s South Gobi Province as part of a new long-term ecological study of the rare and endangered cats. The research team named the cat “Bayartai”, meaning “go with joy” in Mongolian, an appropriate sentiment since two of the researchers involved were leaving the study area that day after about 6 weeks of trapping effort.  An automated trap camera at the site recorded the cat entering the snare just 15 minutes before the research team’s regular morning trap check. The 44 kg (97 pound) cat was immobilized for approximately one hour before slipping back up the hillside away from the trap site.

The snow leopard becomes the second subject of a collaborative study being undertaken by the Snow Leopard Trust (SLT), Panthera, Felidae Conservation Fund (FCF), the Mongolian Ministry of Nature and Environment (MNE), and the Biological Institute of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MAS). The study was launched in May of this year with the establishment of a research center in the Tost Mountains, which are part of the Altai range. The study site, on the edge of the Gobi Desert, supports one of the richest populations of snow leopards in Mongolia, a country which itself boasts the second highest
number of the rare cats anywhere in their vast Asian range.

On another positive note, the GPS collar on the first young adult male snow leopard captured on 19 August 2008 (named “Aztai”) is performing very well: nearly 75% of scheduled GPS locations are successfully uploading via satellite phone to SLT headquarters in Seattle. This recently allowed researchers to track Aztai to a large ibex kill, something they could not do without close to real-time information on cat movements.

For more information on the study, visit the websites of the cooperating organizations:
Snow Leopard Trust: www.snowleopard.org
Panthera:  www.panthera.org
Felidae Conservation Fund:  www.felidaefund.org

 

First Snow Leopard Captured in Long-Term Ecological Study in Mongolia

In the early morning of 19 August a young adult male snow leopard was captured and fitted with a GPS collar in Mongolia‘s South Gobi Province as part of a new long-term ecological study of the rare and endangered cats. The collar is designed to collect highly accurate locations for the cat three times each day using a GPS unit embedded in the collar, and then immediately relay the data to researchers via the Globalstar satellite phone system.  This is the first time such technology has been utilized in the study of these endangered cats.

The snow leopard, which the research team named Aztai (meaning “Lucky” in Mongolian) becomes the first subject of a collaborative study being undertaken by the Snow Leopard Trust (SLT), Panthera, Felidae Conservation Fund (FCF), the Mongolian Ministry of Nature and Environment (MNE), and the Biological Institute of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MAS).

The study was launched in May of this year with the establishment of a research center in the Tost Mountains, which are part of the Altai range. The study site, on the edge of the Gobi Desert, supports one of the richest populations of snow leopards in Mongolia, a country which itself boasts the second highest number of the rare cats anywhere in their vast Asian range. For the past three months an international team of biologists from Mongolia, India and Argentina has surveyed the area’s valleys and ridgelines using automated digital cameras to establish a minimum population estimate and to identify the travel routes where the cats might most easily be captured for the study.  More than 260 pictures of snow leopards were analyzed revealing at least four cats that use an area within 30 km2 of the research center. 

In early August additional team members arrived from Sweden, Austria and the USA to initiate capturing and collaring.  Seventeen foot hold snares were deployed, each with a radio transmitter attached to quickly alert the team of a tripped snare and a potential capture, a measure that greatly reduces the chances of injury to the animal.  Exactly one week after the capture work was initiated, a signal from a snare just 300 meters from camp was received during an early morning radio check.  Two Mongolian SLT biologists, L. Purevjav and S. Purevsuren, were the first on the scene and found the 36.5 kg (80 lb) cat lying calmly at the base of a cliff.  “It was so beautiful, it’s hard to explain how exciting it was to first see him”, said Purevjav of finding the cat.  The sedation, conducted by Swedish Ph.D. student Orjan Johansson with assistance from Austrian veterinarian Dr. Chris Walzer, went smoothly.  In less than an hour the collar was attached, the immobilizing drug reversed, and the handsome cat had retreated silently back into the mountains.

The high-tech collar is programmed to operate for 13 months before it automatically opens and falls off.  Researchers will then retrieve the collar and download any data that was not successfully uplinked via satellite phone. The comprehensive study, which is expected to run for 15 years or more, is the first of its kind and is designed to yield unprecedented data on the ecology of an animal that until now has been extremely difficult to research due to its secretive nature and remote habitat.  Only with the type and amount of information that this study will provide can conservation efforts for snow leopards have a chance of succeeding.


For additional background information on this study and frequent project updates visit the websites of the collaborating organizations:

www.snowleopard.org <http://www.snowleopard.org> www.panthera.org <http://www.panthera.org> www.felidaefund.org <http://www.felidaefund.org> www.mne.gov.mn

First ever long-term ecological study of snow leopards underway

JUNE 11: The Snow Leopard Trust (SLT) today announced the successful launch of a new long-term study of snow leopards with the establishment of the J. Tserendeleg Snow Leopard Research Center in Mongolia’s South Gobi Province. Located in the Tost mountains, approximately 250 km west of the provincial capital of Dalanzadgad, the research center is situated in some of Mongolia’s best snow leopard habitat. SLT has had
active conservation programs in this area for nearly a decade.

Today the research center consists of a modest 3 gers (yurts) but is already home to an international team of scientists and graduate students from Mongolia, India, USA, and Argentina. A Ph.D. student from Sweden will join the team next month. The center will be staffed year-round. Several local residents will be employed to provide logistical support and serve as field assistants on the various study components.

The research facility is named for one of Mongolia’s most respected conservationists, the late J. Tserendeleg, who was instrumental in establishing the first radio-collaring study of snow leopards in Mongolia in the early 1990s in collaboration with George Schaller and Tom McCarthy. “We can’t think of a better way to honor the man who did so much for snow leopard conservation in our country”, said Bayarjargal, Director of the Snow Leopard Conservation Fund (SLT’s Mongolian affiliate). Over the next 10 to 15 years the research
facility is expected to grow and eventually include an information center for local people and tourists, as well as a training/education center that will host scientists and graduate students from around the region. Despite its remote location the facility will be state-of-the-art from the outset. Already internet capable, the facility will also be fully solar powered by the end of this summer.

The first team of scientists is already busy conducting camera trapping and genetics studies. Methods testing will be a primary task of researchers at the facility and a Mongolian graduate student will be evaluating occupancy surveys as an alternative to ‘SLIMS’ sign transects, that have proven unreliable for monitoring snow leopard numbers, as the subject her thesis research this summer.

The most ambitious undertaking this year will be the initiation of GPS collaring of snow leopards in July. The new generation of collars the team will deploy uses satellite phone technology to uplink multiple GPS locations a day for each collared cat. This technology was selected to overcome problems related to failures of Argos-based uplinks for numerous collared species in the country. The findings from this collaring
project will add greatly to our knowledge of snow leopards, especially when viewed in conjunction with a similar study that will be initiated by the Snow Leopard Conservancy elsewhere in Mongolia later this summer. The two studies are complimentary and will share data for the betterment of the species.

The long-term study in South Gobi is a collaborative effort of the Snow Leopard Trust, Snow Leopard Conservation Fund, the Mongolian Ministry of Nature and Environment, the Mongolian Institute of Biology, Felidae Conservation Fund, Panthera, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Regular reports will be posted to the SLN listserve and on the websites of many of the collaborating organizations.

For more information contact: Tom McCarthy, Science and Conservation Director, SLT.
tom@snowleopard.org www.snowleopard.org

Bhutan tigers reach new high

From “The Hindu” Online edition of India‘s National Newspaper
Monday, May 19, 2008

Thimphu: Bhutan is the only country to have tigers at incredibly high altitudes, where their habitat is overlapping those of the elusive snow leopards, conservationists in the Himalayan country have claimed.

Fresh pictures and pugmarks from the Jigme Dorji National Park show that Royal Bengal tigers in Bhutan are being found at altitudes never seen before. Authorities say the tigers are being found at heights overlapping the habitat of the snow leopard.

The study, which started in April, is using 38 strategically placed GPS-marked and infrared-trigger cameras to find out the total number of tigers. It will also be extended to secure a photographic record of the total number of snow leopards in the country.

The reasons for tigers being found at such high altitudes will hopefully emerge from the study. “We may also get data on how the overlapping of territory of these two big cats may be affecting each other, if at all,” said ‘Tiger’ Sangay of the Nature Conservation Division. — PTI

http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/19/stories/2008051951442000.htm