Status of the snow leopard Panthera uncia in Northwest India

Abstract

A nine-month survey of snow leopard Panthera uncia status was carried out in selected regions of India's three northwestern Himalayan states. Evidence of snow leopard presence was most abundant in central Ladakh, decreased southward toward the crest of the Himalaya, and was least on the southern side of the main Himalaya, where evidence of common leopard Panthera pardus was also found near the timberline. Prey populations, primarily blue sheep Pseudois nayaur and Asiatic ibex Capra ibex, were also more plentiful in the areas surveyed to the north of the main Himalaya. Perhaps 400 snow leopard occur throughout northwest India. Several national parks in India's Himalaya probably include small numbers of snow leopard, but the stronghold of this species in India is apparently the trans-Himalayan ranges in Ladakh where new parks and reserves are being established, some in association with a ‘snow leopard recovery programme’ of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and a ‘Project Snow Leopard’ of the central Indian government. Because of the generally low density of snow leopard, conservation measures must also be considered within the large areas of its range lying outside parks and reserves.