Our colleague, Deepshikha Sharma, from Snow Leopard Trust’s India Program based at the Nature Conservation Foundation, has been working to strengthen the connections between people and snow leopards for many years. Thanks to a Conservation Nation Fellowship, made possible with the support of Catmosphere.org, she is currently leading a project to develop the first team of local women champions conducting science-based snow leopard conservation in India.
It’s that time of year again in the high mountains of Central Asia. No, not Valentine’s Day but something similar in the big cat world. It’s snow leopard mating season. And a bit more than three months later comes snow leopard cub season. How does the mythical ghost of the mountain compare to other big cats when it comes to love and family? We asked Senior Scientist Dr. Örjan Johansson and Assistant Director of Science Dr. Gustaf Samelius to share some of their insights into snow leopard mating habits and reproduction.
As part of our long-term efforts to track and better understand snow leopards and their prey, we are currently following four GPS-collared cats. Since 2009, we have tracked a total of 37 snow leopards in this protected area.
We love hearing from you! Many of you write to tell us which stories resonate and which conservation programs inspire you. Since we have so many new members of our snow leopard family, we thought we’d revisit some of your favorite 2023 blog posts.
A letter of gratitude from Executive Director Dr. Charu Mishra
The cutest quiz you’ll ever take – how much do you know about snow leopard cubs?
It’s no secret that the BBC Studios Natural History Unit produces extraordinary wildlife programming. Their latest endeavor, Planet Earth III, is no exception. And, as always, the behind-the-scenes stories about the challenges the film crews faced are as gripping as the series itself.
In 2013, under the leadership of the then-President of the Kyrgyz Republic, we helped create the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP). Since then, the Snow Leopard Trust has continued to support the Secretariat of this intergovernmental cooperation alliance of Environment Ministers of all 12 snow leopard range countries. Recently, the incumbent President, Sadyr Zhaparov, visited snow leopard habitat with our staff and recorded a video appeal to the people of the world.
The Ethical Conservation Alliance (ECA) is inspiring a growing collaborative movement towards ethical nature conservation across the world’s lands and oceans. Dedicated to changing the way conservation is practiced, this global alliance is establishing new standards to make conservation more equitable, just and effective.
Many of you know we use motion-activated cameras to study snow leopard populations, behavior, and habitat use. But those cameras, while crucial for research, only take low-resolution images. The beautiful photos you see in our calendars and newsletters are nearly always donated by talented wildlife photographers who support our mission to protect snow leopards. We asked one such photographer, Sascha Fonseca, about his recent expedition with our team in Kyrgyzstan.
