Where in the Wild? India
Document Actions
Read how wild snow leopards live in India, one of the range countries where the Trust works
By Charudutt Mishra, Ph.D., India Program Director
Editor's note: This is one in a series of articles about how wild snow leopards live in the different range countries where the Snow Leopard Trust works.
About 600 snow leopards are believed to survive today in the rugged mountain terrain of northern India, the third-largest snow leopard population of any range country. The cats roam over an area of about 90,000 square kilometers between 3,000 and 5,000 meters in elevation. Their range includes parts of five of India's administrative states, and lies mostly along international borders.
Some of India's snow leopards inhabit the Trans-Himalayan areas that lie in the rain shadow to the north of the main Himalayan range, a landscape reminiscent of the arid steppe habitat in Tibet and Mongolia. The remaining cats are found in the relatively moist Greater Himalayan ranges, with these towering peaks representing the southern fringe of the cat's global distribution.
The distribution of the snow leopard in India closely matches that of its principal prey, the blue sheep. Other important prey include the ibex (a kind of wild goat), birds, and marmots. The snow leopard also shares its habitat with a diversity of peoples who have eked out a livelihood from the harsh landscape for at least 3,000 years. Hungry cats occasionally prey on local people's livestock, sometimes leading to retaliatory killings of snow leopards. These human-snow leopard conflicts are further aggravated as the populations of blue sheep and other wild prey species decline due to hunting or excessive livestock grazing in their habitat. In addition, there are increasing linkages between snow leopard poaching and the lucrative illegal international trade in its pelt and body parts. The Trust is working to alleviate these conflicts through its community-based conservation programs and through its participation in Project Snow Leopard, a collaborative effort to increase protections for the cat and its habitat in India.
Blue sheep are the snow leopard's main large prey in India. These animals and, in turn, the snow leopards are threatened by poachers and overgrazing resulting in competition for food with domestic livestock. The Trust's conservation programs in India work to alleviate these conflicts, in collaboration with the human communities that share the snow leopard's habitat.
Editor's note: This is one in a series of articles about how wild snow leopards live in the different range countries where the Snow Leopard Trust works.
About 600 snow leopards are believed to survive today in the rugged mountain terrain of northern India, the third-largest snow leopard population of any range country. The cats roam over an area of about 90,000 square kilometers between 3,000 and 5,000 meters in elevation. Their range includes parts of five of India's administrative states, and lies mostly along international borders.Some of India's snow leopards inhabit the Trans-Himalayan areas that lie in the rain shadow to the north of the main Himalayan range, a landscape reminiscent of the arid steppe habitat in Tibet and Mongolia. The remaining cats are found in the relatively moist Greater Himalayan ranges, with these towering peaks representing the southern fringe of the cat's global distribution.
The distribution of the snow leopard in India closely matches that of its principal prey, the blue sheep. Other important prey include the ibex (a kind of wild goat), birds, and marmots. The snow leopard also shares its habitat with a diversity of peoples who have eked out a livelihood from the harsh landscape for at least 3,000 years. Hungry cats occasionally prey on local people's livestock, sometimes leading to retaliatory killings of snow leopards. These human-snow leopard conflicts are further aggravated as the populations of blue sheep and other wild prey species decline due to hunting or excessive livestock grazing in their habitat. In addition, there are increasing linkages between snow leopard poaching and the lucrative illegal international trade in its pelt and body parts. The Trust is working to alleviate these conflicts through its community-based conservation programs and through its participation in Project Snow Leopard, a collaborative effort to increase protections for the cat and its habitat in India.
Blue sheep are the snow leopard's main large prey in India. These animals and, in turn, the snow leopards are threatened by poachers and overgrazing resulting in competition for food with domestic livestock. The Trust's conservation programs in India work to alleviate these conflicts, in collaboration with the human communities that share the snow leopard's habitat.