News about conservation around the world.
Today, May 8, the world celebrates Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday, a century of life that has inspired generations to care about the natural world. Few voices have done more to turn wonder into action. Our Executive Director, Dr. Charu Mishra, shares what Sir David has meant to him personally.
Few people know snow leopards and Eurasian lynx as intimately as Snow Leopard Trust Senior Scientist Dr. Örjan Johansson. Before he returned to Mongolia for spring snow leopard field work, he reflected on what these two elusive predators have in common and why the differences between them matter for conservation.
Deep in the high Himalayas, camera traps set up to track snow leopards have been quietly capturing something else as well, a cast of brilliantly colored, rarely seen birds that may be just as important to the mountain ecosystem. Researcher Adithi Rao explains what happened when curiosity led her team to take a closer look at what else was showing up in the frame
Those words, spoken by a woman living in the heart of snow leopard country in Pakistan, capture something that has been unfolding across mountain communities for decades. Since Snow Leopard Enterprises (SLE) first launched in Mongolia in 1998, a growing number of people have found that protecting snow leopards and building a better life for their families are not competing goals. They are the same goal.
Journey to the heart of the Himalaya as we celebrate our official expansion into Nepal. Through interviews with our newest colleagues, Dr. Tulshi Laxmi Suwal and Sanjan Thapa, discover how a new community-centered partnership is turning the snow leopard into a symbol of local pride and conservation leadership.
In the mountain valleys of northern Pakistan, a snow leopard lived a long life. He hunted and roamed freely. He survived the most dangerous years an apex predator can face in a human-dominated landscape. And then, at roughly 12 years of age, he died quietly in a forested area above the village of Wakht, in Chitral’s Garam Chashma valley.
Over twenty years ago, a journey to Kenya’s Southern Rift planted a seed that would change the Cincinnati Zoo’s approach to conservation forever. It was there that David Jenike, now the Zoo’s Director, first met John Kamanga, the Co-Founder of SORALO, a community-led conservation organization based in Kenya that represents 30 Indigenous Maasai communities. Their vision is simple but powerful: a healthy, intact landscape that sustains pastoralist communities and wildlife alike.
What have the collared individuals been up to since we last saw them? We’re currently tracking seven GPS-collared cats and one ibex roaming Mongolia’s Tost Mountains. They are part of our long-term monitoring program, which has followed 45 individual snow leopards across generations since 2009, giving us unique insights into the lives of these endangered predators and their prey.
In the vast, arid landscapes of southern Mongolia, the delicate balance between nature and human survival is shifting. New research highlights how climate change and different land uses affect the Gobi’s life-sustaining ecosystem services—and how the people living there perceive these growing threats.
Deep in the northern highlands of Pakistan lies Laspur, a valley like no other. Nestled near Shandur, the world’s highest polo ground, this alpine region is known for its dramatic peaks, expansive green meadows, vibrant summer polo festivals, and the quiet presence of the snow leopard, often called the Ghost of the Mountain.
