Abstract
The endangered snow leopard is a large felid that is distributed over 1.83 million km2 globally. Throughout its range it relies on a limited number of prey species in some of the most inhospitable landscapes on the planet where high rates of human persecution exist for both predator and prey. We reviewed 14 published and 11 unpublished studies pertaining to snow leopard diet throughout its range. We calculated prey consumption in terms of frequency of occurrence and biomass consumed based on 1696 analysed scats from throughout the snow leopard's range. Prey biomass consumed was calculated based on the Ackerman's linear correction factor. We identified four distinct physiographic and snow leopard prey type zones, using cluster analysis that had unique prey assemblages and had key prey characteristics which supported snow leopard occurrence there. Levin's index showed the snow leopard had a specialized dietary niche breadth. The main prey of the snow leopard were Siberian ibex (Capra sibrica), blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus), argali (Ovis ammon) and marmots (Marmota spp). The significantly preferred prey species of snow leopard weighed 55±5 kg, while the preferred prey weight range of snow leopard was 36–76 kg with a significant preference for Siberian ibex and blue sheep. Our meta-analysis identified critical dietary resources for snow leopards throughout their distribution and illustrates the importance of understanding regional variation in species ecology; particularly prey species that have global implications for conservation.
Highlights
Apex predators are often considered flagship species for conserving large landscapes due to their charisma and their dominant roles in shaping ecosystem functioning [1,2,3,4]
We identified studies from 18 different areas in 6 countries describing the diet of the snow leopard, which included some measure of prey abundance
Identification of unique snow leopard zones We identified four distinct zones of the snow leopard and studied their predation behavior in these zones
Summary
Apex predators are often considered flagship species for conserving large landscapes due to their charisma and their dominant roles in shaping ecosystem functioning [1,2,3,4]. Conservation of key prey species is crucial for the survival of any large predator as changes in preferred prey abundance could alter its population status [8,9,10]. Most of the snow leopard range overlaps with areas that have been overstocked with domestic ungulates [11,12,13] In these areas, there has been a decline in wild prey availability [7,14] due to competition for resources with domestic ungulates. Disease has further caused a rapid decline of wild prey [14] The effects of such losses contribute to direct decline of snow leopards, as carrying capacity diminishes, and increased use of domestic livestock by snow leopards, elevating conflict and retaliatory killing by pastoralists [16,17,18,19]. Livestock depredation in such cases can be substantial, varying from 2% to .10% [14,16]
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