Snow leopard census: now it is off endangered species list, 12-nation count of elusive big cat’s numbers begins
The effects of human development and climate change can be felt even in the snow leopard’s natural, mountainous habitat, and just how many remain in the wild is a mystery researchers are trying to solve
Living at extreme altitudes in the steep mountains of the Himalayas, and in a bitterly cold climate, snow leopards are among the most difficult of the world’s top predators to study. Even after decades of research, no one knows exactly how many of these big and extremely elusive cats remain.
The animals call 12 Asian nations home, and researchers from those nations are now trying to count their numbers through a five-year census using camera traps set up on remote mountains, radio collaring and hair and scat identification.
The survey comes on the heels of a controversial decision last year by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to remove the snow leopard from its list of “endangered” species after 45 years. The IUCN reclassified the cat as “vulnerable”, meaning the animal’s risk of extinction is less urgent than experts had believed.
That change was based on estimates that more than 8,000 wild snow leopards exist across Asia, with as many as 2,000 possible in China, where the animal is designated as a Class I protected species, alongside the giant panda, but also on an extrapolation that some researchers say probably dramatically overstated the numbers and understated the cat’s rate of decline.
“We don’t even know the true number of these leopards,” says Tsewang Namgail, director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust. “It’s all guesstimates everywhere.”