Kashmir: Avoidable loss of a leopard (most likely not a snow leopard)

Editorial Posted On Thursday, January 28, 2010Kashmir is notorious for clean felling of jungles and all, from ministers down to forest rangers, are into this business. Militant activities over a period of two decades have also adversely impacted the forests- Proloy Bagchi
A national daily reported the other day that a leopard was shot dead in a village close to Pulwama, a town in western Kashmir.
It seems it strayed into the village and injured a female child and several other persons. The villagers were able to confine it into a cowshed and then they called for the wildlife officials. Since the latter couldn’t reach the village before sundown, afraid of further injuries to people the villagers persuaded the resident police officials to kill the big cat. The wildlife officials arrived from Srinagar much later having been held up in a series of traffic snarls.
A leopard was thus needlessly lost.
Pulwama is a pretty little town in Kashmir located 31 kms south of Srinagar. Situated in the shadows of mighty Peer Panjal ranges, it is surrounded by verdant pine forests and is known for its saffron and milk production. The fact that a leopard had strayed into a nearby village and that it had to be killed due to inability of the wildlife officials of Srinagar to reach the place in good time due to traffic jams raises at least three questions.
The report in the newspaper did not indicate whether it was a snow leopard or an ordinary tropical leopard found in the jungles in India. One wonders whether it was a snow leopard, which is a dwindling species and is under great threat. Though their habitat is at elevations of more than 9000 ft, they could climb down to around 5000 ft which is the elevation of Pulwama if they happen to be chasing a prey. That, however, seems to be highly unlikely, as snow leopards prefer rugged terrains, rocky outcrops and ravines and not a lush valley like Kashmir.
The leopard that was shot down was most probably of ordinary kind generally found all over India in lower elevations. Unless it was chasing a prey, its foray into a village would be indicative of its degrading habitat. Human encroachments in its domain and cutting down of the jungles may have diminished its prey-base making it to stray into a human settlement looking for food. Kashmir is notorious for clean felling of jungles and all, from ministers down to forest rangers, are into this business. Militant activities over a period of two decades have also adversely impacted the forests. Be that as it may, a leopard straying into a human settlement is a highly unusual incident and needs to be taken serious note of. It may be indicative of disappearing forests along with their wildlife and an oncoming water scarcity – already evident – in the Valley.
The inability of the wildlife officials to reach the village on account of traffic jams raises the third question. The report says they were repeatedly held up at various stages of their journey because of jams. Apparently, vehicular traffic that was sparse a few years ago has risen manifold causing traffic jams even in winters. Besides, the jams on way to a place which is not known for hectic industrial or commercial activities would seem to be alarming. Earlier only the army convoys would put a squeeze on the traffic. Are the roads in Kashmir chock-a-block with vehicles choking all movement? It should be a matter for concern both for the State Government as well as the Centre. Being the hotbed of militancy free vehicular movement is essential.
Leopards in India, like other big cats, are a vanishing species. Almost every month there is a report or two of one being killed having strayed into a village or a town. Kashmir is a state with few leopards and even fewer snow leopards. And, one of the species seems to have been killed quite needlessly. Such avoidable killings adversely impacts on the state of wildlife in the country. Hopefully, the keepers of wildlife in Kashmir will look at all aspects of this sorry incident and initiate appropriate conservational measures. http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=25490

LE JOURNAL DE LA CONSERVATION: new French online journal features article on snow leopards

A new magazine called “LE JOURNAL DE LA CONSERVATION” has just been published online. “Le Journal de la Conservation” is the first French language magazine informing the general public about the commitments of public and private French zoological parks towards saving wild animal species in their natural habitat (in-situ conservation).

It also details the commitments of these parks towards international ex-situ conservation programmes and the research that entails and which allows us to broaden our knowledge of wild animals. In brief it gives news about zoological parks.

In this first issue, which can be downloaded by clicking on the link below, you will also find a concise article about the Snow Leopard and discoveries made about this very discrete animal, written by Grégory Breton, zoological director of the Parc des Félins. PS: For easier reading, we suggest you save the document on your hard disk and modify the display by selecting the options “Facing” in the menu ‘View>Page Layout’ of Acrobat Reader.http://www.parc-des-felins.com/telechargement/journal_de_la_conservation_0.pdf

As the glaciers recede… (Ladakh)

Chennai, December 6, 2009

MEENA MENON Ladakh has an unwelcome visitor: Climate change. Retreating glaciers, water scarcity and changes in traditional agricultural patterns are having an adverse impact on this fragile ecololgy.There’ s an old saying in Ladakh that only a dear friend or a serious enemy will reach here; the passes are so high and the land so harsh. Climate change falls in the latter category and is an unwelcome visitor to this remote region which tourists have happily discovered in the last few years or so. Water, or the lack of it, is the main worry for this generation and the next. While the world debates the effects of global warming, Ladakhis who are most vulnerable to the vagaries of nature, are living through it already. The many small glaciers in Ladakh have retreated, natural springs are reducing as also the water flow in the rivers. While there are no scientific studies yet to bear this out, it is the people who are living witnesses to this change.In the village of Stakmo near Leh, villagers testify to the receding glacier nearby, making agriculture very difficult. Over 80 per cent of the farmers in Ladakh depend on snow melt for their needs and any slight change in temperature is a catastrophe. High altitude wetlands are vulnerable to rising temperatures and Ms. Nisa Khatoon, Project Officer, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) has led a study since 2000 to assess the impact of climate change on three major lakes in Ladakh, the Tso Moriri, Tso Kar and Pangong Tso. The lakes offer the only breeding grounds for the Black-necked Crane in India and key species found in the region include the snow leopard, Tibetan Gazelle, Tibetan Antelope, Musk Deer and Hangul. Highly endangered medicinal plants used in the Tibetan system of medicine also grow in the area.

Threat of tourism

The existing threat of climate change is exacerbated by tourism which coincides with the breeding season of the migratory birds, posing a major threat. For the first time, a regular uninterrupted survey on the status of the Black-necked Crane was conducted and during the survey, six new nesting sites were discovered, Ms. Khatoon points out. The study has produced data on the “Status and Breeding Productivity of Black-necked Crane” for more than eight years. Himalayan car rallies in wetland areas have been stopped in cooperation with tour operators too. Instead of this, to boost the local income, home-stays for national and international tourists have become popular.The WWF has also recorded widespread changes as a result of the rise in temperatures and the subsequent snow melt in Ladakh, mainly through oral histories. Eyewitnesses have spoken of glaciers like Siachen, Khardung and Stok in Ladakh, which have either receded or almost disappeared in about a decade. Along with this comes a change in migration routes of nomadic tribes and an increase in the frequency and intensity of pest attacks, particularly the locust, due to rising temperatures.In the Changthang region, where there are 22 wetlands, people of the nomadic tribe, the Changpas, acutely feel climate change. They are dependent on livestock and rear the famous Pashmina goats for their wool. Since about six years, the migration routes of the Changpas have changed due to decrease in pasture land. Untimely snowfall has led to a loss of livestock as well, says Ms. Khatoon. In the Tso Moriri and Tso Kar lakes, migratory birds are coming earlier than expected and one pair of Black-necked Cranes have not migrated. The wild rose blooms now in May instead of June. The Changpas used to extract salt from the brackish lakes but since the water level has risen over the years, this too has stopped. In the Tso Kar area there are 60 Changpa families which have to frequently migrate, while in Tso Moriri, 22 families have settled down there.The summers are getting warmer and winters too and pests like the coddling moth are now found everywhere, says Tundup Angmo of GERES India, an NGO. Rain and snowfall are showing a decreasing trend, according to a baseline survey in 20 villages in Leh and Kargil areas which was conducted by GERES along with experts. In Kargil, water shortage has hit farmers and two villages were relocated in the Zanskar as a result. The cultivation of wheat is now possible due to the warmer climate and the sowing of barely is now pushed to May instead of June.

Urgent concern

Water shortage has led to hotels in Leh digging borewells, some 100 feet deep for water supply and in the Karzu area in Leh, this has led to the drying up of natural streams, says Ms. Khatoon. Concern about water is uppermost in the minds of every Ladakhi. The Women’s Alliance of Ladakh, which spearheaded the successful campaign banning plastic bags in Ladakh, is one of the groups which has members in every village in Ladakh. Fifty-seven-year-old Kunzes Dolma, vice president of the Alliance formed 23 years ago, has been addressing local environmental concerns. Now it has teamed up with the NGO Navdhanya to conduct a survey on climate change in villages, based on a ready questionnaire which asks for information on awareness of climate change, evidence, and environmental changes, apart from changes in agriculture patterns, rainfall and snowfall. The Alliance has initiated several meetings on climate change already.

Lifestyle changes

Kunzes recalls colder winters when she was a child. Now the winters are warmer, she says. The quality of food was tastier then and now vegetables like capsicum, brinjal and cucumber are being grown. There is increased use of pesticides and the Alliance is campaigning against this as well.There is a huge concern about the melting glaciers, and lack of water and even livestock rearing is reducing now with more and more people preferring to look for jobs. The traditional “goncha” a warm woolen dress is not much preferred now. Traditional homes in Ladakh have been designed using ecological and climatic wisdom. However, those mud houses are being replaced by cement structures. Clearly, there is also a cultural aspect to the climate change here. “Our aim is to promote nature conservation and our culture. The modern generation is dropping all our old ways of life and the explosion of cars is damaging the environment,” says Ms. Dolma.Local and global links need to be forged to address climate change if regions like Ladakh are to be rescued from their vulnerability. The question is, who is listening?Keywords: Ladakh, Leh and Kargil, environment http://beta.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article60508.ece

Support a polar bear or a snow leopard for that matter

Support a polar bear
Monday December 7, 2009

Or a snow leopard for that matter. A ski company is sponsoring the animals and we’re backing them here at PlanetSKI. The new company, Zenith Holidays, is donating funds to the World Wildlife Fund to support the polar bear and will give £10 for every £1,000 of revenue raised through one of its sponsored rooms.“It’s no secret that the Polar Bear’s environment is under threat and as we have a Chalet L’Ours Blanc (Polar Bear) in Montgenevre we thought we should support the Polar Bear so we sponsored it with the World Wildlife Fund,” says Stuart McLeod, the managing director of Zenith Holidays.

For how much longer? “As for the Snow Leopard, there are not many of them left and they can only be found in the mountains of central Asia and the Himalayas so we sponsored them too.”Regular readers of PlanetSKI will know that we are following the plight of the snow leopard as their numbers decrease and watching the breeding in captivity programme too.Sometimes it is succesful and sadly other times not.So if you want to help Zenith Holidays help the animals then see here.http://www.planetski.eu/news/1119

Snow Leopard Vodka Management Change

Fri 4 Dec 2009

Graeme Lindsay, marketing director of Whyte and Mackay has left with another job to go to.

Whyte and Mackay has confirmed that Lindsay left his role at the Glasgow whisky brand this week and will take some time out over Christmas and New Year before beginning a new role in February.

At the time of writing it was unclear what the new role was.

He joined Whyte and Mackay as marketing director in December 2007 from rival Glenmorangie.

A spokesperson for Whyte & Mackay said: “Graeme chose to leave the business to pursue other opportunities and we wish him all the best. He worked for us for two years, and helped build the international capability of our marketing team and also of some of our brands. At this stage we have no plans to replace him or that role.”

Meanwhile, The Drum has also learned that luxury vodka Snow Leopard, which partners with Whyte and Mackay has appointed Lutchford APM without a pitch.

The London-based agency has been tasked with handling the PR, event management and product placement for the vodka brand and work beginning to appear early next year.

Snow Leopard, which was launched three years ago by founder Stephen Sparrow, sells 1,000 cases a year but is looking reach nearer the 100,000 cases to reach its aim of saving the animals, of which only 3,500 remain.

Material Marketing, which was recently appointed as Whyte and Mackay’s marketing agency, created the sales and support collateral for Snow Leopard earlier this year. http://www.thedrum.co.uk/news/2009/12/04/12135-lindsay-leaves-whyte-and-mackay-as-snow-leopard-appoints-agency

Indian trail of ‘the ghost of the mountains’

A tourism initiative is helping Indian farmers learn to love the endangered predator that targets their flocks. Adrian Phillips reports

Sunday, 6 December 2009I’m sitting on the floor wrapping dough round my fingers. Alongside me, my hostess pulls and pinches her paste into delicate bows, all the while watching my fat-fisted efforts with a gap-toothed grin you could post a parcel through. As dinner is served, we’re joined by the head of the house, wearing a mauve sweatshirt that remains unchanged during the three days I spend in the village. His has the furrowed face of an elderly man, but his body is as lithe as a meerkat’s and his broad hands could crack walnuts. Both he and his daughter (my amused pasta partner) have the gentle, feline features typical of those from this part of India. As we eat cross-legged on cushions, they nod and smile at me, and I nod and smile back, and in between nods and smiles and chews and swallows I struggle to imagine these people crushing the skull of a snow leopard. They may not have done, of course, but other farmers in the region have. I’m in the village of Rumbak, high in the Ladakh range of the Himalayas, near the border with Tibet, and this is the terrain of the snow leopard. Nobody knows precisely how many of the creatures live here – not for nothing is the cat called the “ghost of the mountains” – but possibly 50 in Hemis National Park and 500 in the Indian Himalayan range as a whole.This is a globally important population of a precariously endangered species, but its presence hasn’t been welcomed by all. Picture the scene. You wake one winter morning, head out to check on your livestock, and find your enclosure a gory smear of slaughtered animals. During the night, a snow leopard has broken through the roof and jumped down among the sheep and goats. Unable to get out again, it now cowers tight to the wall in a corner, wide-eyed and spitting up at you. It has wiped out your entire livelihood in a few minutes of frenzied bloodlust. Graceful animal or destructive pest? Is it impossible to sympathise with those distraught villagers who raise sticks and stones to the cause of such devastation?A survey in 1999 revealed that 12 per cent of farmers’ livestock here was killed each year, the snow leopard the primary predator. Shortly afterwards, the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust was established to resolve this conflict between the interests of man and beast. What was required was an economic incentive to shift local attitudes towards the leopard. Rinchen Wanchuk, co-founder of the trust, gathered the villagers together and put an idea to them: why not set up a network of traditional homestays that would provide trekkers with an alternative to canvas, and an authentic local experience to boot? The scheme has proved a roaring success. A co-operative spirit infuses the whole enterprise; each of the village houses takes its turn to receive guests, and a portion of the income is put into a central pot that is used for programmes of land management, conservation and even insurance against livestock losses. A family might host 30 visitors a year, and earn three times more than it did in the past. Villagers guide visitors to the leopard hot spots, and sightings are now greeted with excitement rather than worry – the animal embraced as an asset more valuable alive than dead. And the leopard appears to be prospering as a consequence. In the late 1990s, a BBC camera team took more than six weeks to capture one on film; now the trust estimates that half of the week-long winter trips it organises in search of leopards are successful. It’s 7am and I’m sure I’m crouching over a pile of snow-leopard droppings. My patient guide, Chosgan (Chos for short), is equally sure I’m crouching over a pile of donkey droppings. I put his muffled sigh down to the breeze through the willows. Life starts early in Rumbak. When I rose from my bed at 6am, the day was already in full swing. Our hosts had herded the animals from their pens beneath the house, and the village was filled with a bleating flow of sheep heading to pasture. Chos and I are on a trek along the Jingchan Valley, aiming for the peak of Ganda La, a few kilometres away. I’m told there’s no realistic chance of seeing a snow leopard in autumn – the leopards don’t venture this low until winter – but I’m undeterred, and Chos has assured me earnestly that he’ll keep his eyes peeled for clues. A stream babbles alongside us and mountain partridges skit away as we approach, sending trickles of pebbles in their wake. The bare rock of the valley flashes in the sunlight, its colour changing with every step – now white as a seagull’s feather, now the polished grey of a gun barrel, now the rich hue of lavender. On the slopes above, a nervous herd of sheep stands rigid as we pass; golden eagles hang in the air as if on strings. It’s hot work and sweat runs into the crooks of my elbows. This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. And then a rustle and a snap and a shadow in a clump of bushes to our left. Please – surely – it must be? Is that the shape of a snow leo …? “Cow!” Chos says, without a backward glance. Our quest continues …COMPACT FACTSHow to get thereAdrian Phillips travelled to Ladakh courtesy of Mahindra Homestays ( 020-3140 8422 020-3140 8422; mahindrahome stays.com), which offers rooms for £35 per night, inclusive of all meals. Adrian also stayed at the Trendy B&B in Delhi, which charges £56 per room per night, including breakfast, and at the Hotel Kang-Lha-Chen in Leh, which offers rooms for £50 per night, including all meals. Jet Airways ( 0808 101 1199 0808 101 1199; jetairways.com) offers return flights from Heathrow to Delhi for about £450, and return internal flights between Delhi and Leh from £145.http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/asia/indian-trail-of-the-ghost-of-the-mountains-1834834.html:p>

Photographer Steve Winter’s snow leopard photographs currently on display in London

December 1, 2009

Story behind the picture: Snow Leopard, 2008

Photographer Steve Winter on his candid picture of the elusive cat

Steve Winter

The editor of National Geographic asked its photographers: “What would be your dream project?” I wrote “snow leopards”. I’d read a book about them years before I started photographing animals. We did a recce in Hemis National Park in Ladak, northern India, and met local people. Standing in the valley, it felt like being on the Moon: no trees, just rock. I’m a jungle guy, used to hot and steamy but I thought, I can do this. It took us four days to get our equipment in by horse and set up a base camp. Snow leopards are habitual: they mark locations by rubbing their necks on rocks to leave a scent, especially during the mating season. To see one, you have to find a trail: you won’t see one just walking around. I found a trail with the help of a local man named Tashi. We set up 14 remote cameras that use an infrared system with a laser beam. I wanted the photograph to be composed the way it would have been if I were lying on the ground, taking it myself. I wanted to make people say “wow”. This project was the hardest thing that I’ve ever done. We spent six and a half months in the valley and at night, it reached -50C (-58F). I spoke to my wife at night on the satellite phone until my hands were freezing. We would check the cameras every one to two weeks so that we didn’t leave our scents there and put the leopards off. There was one camera with a frame that I loved, but the cats never went past it. Then one day there was this shot of a leopard in a snowstorm at night. I couldn’t have asked for better. You look at it and your jaw just drops. Steve Winter’s Snow Leopard is on display at the World Press Photo exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall, London, until December 13, 2009. www.southbankcentre.co.uk http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article6937721.ece

KYRGYZSTAN: By 2050, only 2% of glaciers may remain and temperatures could increase by 4-6 degrees centigrade by the end of the century

KYRGYZSTAN: Fewer glaciers = more deserts

BISHKEK, 16 November 2009 (IRIN) – Rapidly melting glaciers in mountainous regions of Kyrgyzstan over the next few decades could lead to increased desertification and land degradation, according to experts.

By the end of the century, we could see temperatures rising 4-6 degrees centigrade, and by 2050 the number of glaciers could fall from 8,200 to 142, Zukhra Abaikhanova, environment programme adviser with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Kyrgyzstan, told IRIN. The figures are also contained in Kyrgyzstan‘s submission to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

“In the last few decades, we have witnessed the melting of our glaciers. Many have disappeared… The result could be desertification and soil degradation,” she said.

According to Bakyta Mamytova, a specialist in mountain soil biology at the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences, such a temperature rise, assuming precipitation remains at its current level, would lead to increasing desertification.

The result would be soil erosion which “could affect living standards, the economy and the environment. We are experiencing this today already,” Mamytova said.

Deputy Director of the State Agency for the Preservation of the Environment and Forestry Aitkul Burkhanov said some of the land currently used in Central Asia for grazing and growing crops may not be fit for purpose in a few decades.

He said glacier melt would reduce the amount of water available for drinking and irrigation.

Agricultural zoning

Ninety percent of all water in the country is used for irrigation, said UNDP’s Abaikhanova. We need to reconsider “agricultural zoning” to ensure food security; and more efficient use of water at household and state level needs to be implemented, she said.

On “agricultural zoning” (moving crops to other areas or introducing new ones), Abaikhanova said work on that front was just beginning. “There will be a pilot project in the northern province of Chui. The main aim is to assess the prospects of agricultural adaption in the identified area, taking into consideration climate, temperature and humidity changes… We need to identify how the soil will change, what type of adaption measures will be needed in crop production, animal husbandry and preserving pasturelands in Kyrgyzstan.” A June 2009 World Bank report entitled Adapting to Climate Change in Europe and Central Asia warned that climate change’s impact in the Europe and Central Asia Region could be exacerbated by post-Soviet era environmental mismanagement and poor infrastructure.

Marianne Fay, the author of the report, said: “Increases in temperature are affecting hydrology, with a rapid melting of the region’s glaciers and a decrease in winter snows. Many countries are already suffering from winter floods and summer droughts – with both southeastern Europe and Central Asia at risk of severe water shortages. Summer heat waves are expected to claim more lives than will be saved by warmer winters.”

A joint report, entitled Global Glacier Changes: facts and figures, by the UN Environment Programme and the World Glacier Monitoring Service released on 1 September 2008 said mountain ranges in Central Asia function as water towers for millions of people. “Glacier runoff thereby is an important freshwater resource in arid regions as well as during the dry seasons in monsoonal affected regions,” the report said, adding that during the 20th century, the glacier area is estimated to have decreased by 25-35 percent in the Tien Shan area of Kyrgyzstan.

gm/at/jk/cbhttp://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=87051

Tiger skin trade in China exposed (snow leopard skins noted)

Tiger skin trade in China exposed By Jody Bourton
Earth News reporter

An undercover investigation has revealed the continued trade in tiger skins in China. Covert filming by the Environment Investigation Agency shows traders selling skins of tigers and other rare animals such as snow leopards. The skins are sold as luxury items and are used for clothes and home decor. The campaigning group has published its investigation a few days before an international summit on big cat conservation in Kathmandu, Nepal. Buying and selling big cat skins and body parts is illegal in China. People are buying them for prestige, skins are very expensive and tend to cost around 20,000 US dollars each
Alasdair Cameron Environmental Investigation Agency However, a team from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), based in London, UK and Washington DC, US says its investigations reveal the trade in big cats still occurs in many parts of the country, including Tibet. Between 25 July and 19 August 2009 the EIA carried out investigations in markets in five cities in western China. Skin sale In just 21 days the team was offered four full tiger skins, 12 leopard skins, 11 snow leopard skins and two clouded leopard skins as well as associated bones and teeth from the species. “It’s really quite significant,” says EIA spokesperson Alasdair Cameron. “What’s interesting is the market has changed. Previously the market was for skins amongst the Tibetan community, that market has largely collapsed and what we’re seeing now is skins bought for decoration and taxidermy amongst Chinese businesspeople,” he says. “People are buying them for prestige, skins are very expensive and tend to cost around 20,000 US dollars each,” Mr Cameron explains. “We’re also being told skins are being used for non-financial bribery within China, so the demand is increasing outside of the Tibetan areas.” The EIA says the animals are being smuggled into China from various places including Tibet, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Covert operation The team captured the illegal trade on film using a hidden camera while they enquired about animal skins on sale. What surprised the team was how easy it was to find and purchase the endangered animal products. “There is some law enforcement in China, in a few regions, but there are whole swathes of the country where this trade is allowed to carry on with almost no fear of detection,” Mr Cameron says. “Some of the places we have been to, skins are openly displayed in shop windows while police cars drive past.” Debbie Banks, lead campaigner of the EIA, believes not is enough is being done by the Chinese authorities to combat the trade. “If China can put a man into space, they can do more to save the wild tiger,” she says. Tiger meet On the 27 October a summit is being held in Kathmandu, Nepal to discuss how best to save wild tigers from extinction. The Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop will bring together tiger experts and conservation organisations from around the world to further efforts to protect the animal, especially running up to the Chinese calendar’s year of the tiger in 2010. However, Mr Cameron has mixed feelings about the forthcoming year of the tiger. “We’re hoping to use the year of the tiger as a way to highlight the threats faced by the animal but traders in China are actually saying that next year is going to be great because people will want to get a piece of the tiger in the year of the tiger.” “There could actually be a spike in demand.” Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8321000/8321033.stm

Published: 2009/10/23 12:51:09 GMT

From PlanetSKI: Discover more about snow leopards

Sunday October 11, 2009

They are one of the most beautiful animals on the planet, but they are an endangered species. Here on PlanetSKI we set out to discover a little bit more about them.

We first wrote about snow leopards when we found they were being bred in captivity in a zoo in Wales and that this was part of a much wider breeding programme across the globe.

Without this there is a genuine fear they may become extinct.

Its estimated there are 3,500 left in the world and a recent survey in Nepal revealed the numbers have dropped to 300 – 400 in the area; a fall of 25% on the previous year.

Snow leopard habitatThe animals live in the mountains of Central Asia and Russia.

They have evolved to be able to cope with the cold, snowy conditions with thick fur, a stocky body, wide feet and small ears.

They also have a long tail, the same size as the rest of their body, that helps with balance as they walk over snow; they also wrap it round themselves like a blanket when asleep.

They live 15-18 years and can bring down and kill an animal three times bigger than itself. They can leap an incredible 14m when they ambush their prey.

Recently a camera trap caught a rare photo of a snow leopard in the wild in north-east Afghanistan.

For further video of these animals see this video section on the BBC wildlife web site that has some quite stunning footage of these rare animals.

For further news on the breeding programme in Wales and video of the new born cubs see this story.

http://www.planetski.eu/news/905