Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is an endangered species, and its population size is steadily declining. The main threats to the snow leopard include illegal trade, conflict with locals (human-snow leopard conflict), lack of conservation, awareness and policy, and climate change. To avoid its extinction, we badly need a good knowledge of its ecology, distribution and population dynamics, including interactions with its prey, which will take into account various scenarios of changes in climate and human impact on snow leopard. This book aims to put together a considerable amount of unpublished data collected by the co-author of most of the chapters, Bikram Shrestha, which might be useful for other researchers working on snow leopard. In addition, researchers might find it useful to have a key for determining the diet of snow leopard based on remnants of its food in its scats. Last, but not least, based on the difficulty we experienced trying to compare and combine different sets of results, we propose a general methodology for collecting data. Thus, this book is not an all-encompassing compendium, but an attempt to fill some gaps in the literature and to show, how to publish new data on snow leopard in a useful and workable way.
The first part, describing the main features of snow leopard and its main prey ecology, is followed by a comprehensive review of data available on its abundance and threats to its survival. The third, most extensive part―the substance of the book―presents new data from 15 years of intensive camera trapping combined with scat sampling. These data are analyzed by means of advances GIS and genetic techniques, which yields a large amount of conservation implications.The purpose of this book is to provide a tool for both environmental managers and researchers to find quickly what is known about this species for conservation planning and for an effective protection of snow leopard. However, enthusiasts interested in wild cats may welcome the book, too.
Author(s): Pavel Kindlmann
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 221
City: Cham
Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
Contributors
1 Distribution, Threats and Conservation of Snow Leopard Throughout the World
1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 Nomenclature, Description and Conservation Status
1.1.2 Snow Leopard Reproduction and Diet
1.2 Worldwide Distribution of Snow Leopard
1.2.1 Distribution in the World
1.2.2 Distribution in Nepal, India and Bhutan
1.2.3 Population and Distribution in China and the Former Soviet Union
1.2.4 Population and Distribution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia
1.3 Threats to Snow Leopard
1.3.1 Human-Snow Leopard Conflict
1.3.2 Illegal Trade
1.3.3 Lack of Awareness and Policy
1.3.4 Climate Change
1.4 Conservation Aspects of Snow Leopard
1.4.1 Legislation
1.4.2 International Cooperation
1.4.3 Education and Awareness
1.4.4 Financial Support
1.5 Conclusions
References
2 Snow Leopard in Nepal—A Case Study
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Data Sampling
2.2.1 Database
2.2.2 Literature
2.2.3 Studies: Then and Now
2.3 Distribution of Snow Leopard in Nepal
2.3.1 Estimating Snow Leopard Abundance
2.3.2 Population Status
2.3.3 Habitat Ecology and Home Range
2.4 Diet of Snow Leopard in Nepal
2.5 Human-Snow Leopard Conflict and Public Attitude to Conservation in Nepal
2.6 Threat and Trade in Nepal
2.7 Conservation Measures in Nepal
2.8 Future Perspectives
References
3 Methods of Estimating Snow Leopard Abundance
3.1 Sign Surveys (SLIMS)
3.2 Predator-Prey Biomass Ratio
3.3 Genetic Analyses
3.4 Camera Traps
3.5 Capture-Recapture Method
3.5.1 Buffering Capture Locations to Obtain Size of Area Effectively Sampled
3.5.2 Spatial Explicit Capture-Recapture Method (SECR)
3.6 Biotelemetry (Global Positioning System, Collaring and Radio Collaring)
3.7 Comparison of the Methods Used for Estimating the Population Density of Snow Leopards
References
4 A Key for Identifying the Prey of Snow Leopard in Nepal Using Features of the Structure of the Hair of Their Prey Present in Their Faeces
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Hair Collection, Preparation and Identification
4.2.1 Reference Collection
4.2.2 Microscopical Preparation
4.2.3 Hair Identification
4.2.4 Identification of Unknow Hairs of Prey in Snow Leopard Scat
4.2.5 Macroscopic Observation
4.2.6 Microscopic Measurements
4.2.7 Microscopic Characteristics
4.3 Key for Identifying the Hair of the Prey of Snow Leopard
4.4 Summary
Box 4.1—Appendix
References
5 Abundance of Snow Leopards and Their Prey in the Annapurna and Everest Regions of Nepal
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Study Area
5.3 Methodology
5.3.1 Locations of the Transects Monitored
5.3.2 Snow Leopard Abundance Based on Sign Surveys
5.3.3 Snow Leopard Abundance Based on Camera Trapping
5.3.4 Prey Survey (Blue Sheep in ACA and Himalayan Tahr in SNP)
5.4 Results
5.4.1 Comparison of the Transects
5.4.2 Non-target Animals in the Areas Studied
5.4.3 Indicators of Snow Leopard Abundance and Population Size
5.4.4 Numbers of Snow Leopards Recorded Using Camera Traps
5.4.5 Population Density per 100 km2 Based on Sign Encounter Rate and RAI
5.4.6 Abundance of Blue Sheep in Lower Mustang and Upper Manang
5.4.7 Abundance of Himalayan Tahr in the Sagarmatha National Park
5.5 Discussion
5.5.1 Monitored Transects
5.5.2 Snow Leopard Abundance, Population Size and Density
5.5.3 Abundance of Blue Sheep in Lower Mustang and Upper Manang
5.5.4 Abundance of Himalayan Tahr in the Sagarmatha National Park
5.5.5 Take-Home Message of This Chapter
Appendix—Box 5.1
References
6 Assessment of the Suitability of Particular Areas in Nepal for Snow Leopard Based on MaxEnt Modelling
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Study Area
6.3 Methodology
6.3.1 Snow Leopard Occurrence Data and Modelling
6.4 Results
6.4.1 MaxEnt Model Performance
6.4.2 Distribution of Suitable Habitat for Snow Leopard with Predictor Variables
6.5 Discussion
References
7 Non-invasive Genetic Sampling of Snow Leopards and Other Mammalian Predators in the Annapurna and Sagarmatha Regions of Nepal
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Study Areas
7.3 Methods
7.3.1 Scat Sampling
7.3.2 Extraction of DNA Used in the Identification of Snow Leopard
7.3.3 ID PCR Used to Determine the Sex of a Snow Leopard
7.3.4 Identification of Individuals Based on Microsatellite Loci
7.3.5 Identification of Common Leopard
7.3.6 Identification of the Sex of Common Leopards
7.3.7 Identification of Other Carnivores
7.4 Results
7.4.1 PCR Identification of Snow Leopards
7.4.2 PCR Identification of the Sex of Snow Leopards
7.4.3 Processing of Microsatellite Chromatograms
7.4.4 PCR Identification of Common Leopards and Their Sex
7.4.5 Screening of the Samples for Evidence of Presence of Other Carnivores
7.5 Discussion
References
8 Snow Leopard-Human Conflict and Effectiveness of Mitigation Measures
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Study Area
8.3 Methodology
8.3.1 Questionnaire and Survey
8.3.2 Threat Assessment
8.4 Results
8.4.1 Livestock Mortality
8.4.2 Livestock Herding
8.4.3 Local People’s Knowledge and Perception of Snow Leopards
8.4.4 Ways of Mitigating Snow Leopard-Human Conflict Suggested by Local People
8.4.5 Mitigation Measures Adopted
8.4.6 Threats to Conservation
8.5 Discussion
8.5.1 Livestock Mortality
8.5.2 Livestock Herding
8.5.3 Local People’s Perception of Snow Leopards and Suggested Mitigation Measures
8.5.4 Threats to the Conservation of Snow Leopards
References
9 Description of the Study Areas
9.1 Administrative Districts in Nepal
9.2 Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA)
9.2.1 Lower Mustang (LM)
9.2.2 Upper Mustang (UMS)
9.2.3 Upper Manang (UM)
9.3 Manaslu Conservation Area (MCA)
9.3.1 Tsum Valley (Chhekampar VDC)
9.4 Sagarmatha National Park (SNP)
References
