UN Development Programme and the Government of Kyrgyzstan agree on US$ 1m GEF-financed global project to conserve snow leopards. The Snow Leopard Trust will be the implementing agency of the project.
Category: News
Only 35% Of Snow Leopard Habitat Are Safe From Climate Change
A new study shows that climate change is threatening to disrupt or fragment large parts of the snow leopard’s mountain habitat. There are three core habitat zones that appear to have the potential to be safe refugia for the species though.
First Pictures of Snow Leopards in Kyrgyz Ala-Too Range
Researchers have captured the elusive big cat on camera in Shamshy, a former hunting concession that has been co-managed as a Wildlife Sanctuary by the Kyrgyz government and conservationists since 2015.
The Man Who Used To Hate Snow Leopards
Amarsaikhan is a herder in the Tost Mountains of Mongolia. Everyone here calls him Amara. He has spent his entire life living alongside the elusive snow leopard – not seeing the cat very often, but feeling its presence much more frequently than he’d have cared for. Every year, snow leopards killed several of his horses and fawns—an expense he and his community could hardly withstand. Amara not only feared these cats – “to be honest, I think I hated them”, he says. On several occasions, he attempted to kill snow leopards that had come near his camp. Luckily, he never succeeded.
Understanding Snow Leopard Home Ranges
Snow Leopard Trust researcher Örjan Johansson recently published a groundbreaking study where he could show that most Protected Areas in the cats’ habitat are too small to hold viable snow leopard populations. In this article, he explains how he and his team calculated snow leopard home ranges using data from cats they tracked with GPS collars.
Protected Areas Are Too Small for Snow Leopards
40% of Protected Areas in Asia Are Unable to Sustain Even One Pair of Breeding Snow Leopards
Enthusiasm and Progress at Snow Leopard Conservation Forum in China
An expert meeting held in Urumqi highlighted the enormous progress that’s been made in snow leopard research and conservation in China over the past years. Shan Shui, Snow Leopard Trust and Panthera have worked in partnership in China since 2009.
Rare Footage of Pallas’s Cat Cubs
The Pallas’s cat is a small, little known wild cat species living in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia. Through a new research initiative “PICA” (Pallas’s Cat International Conservation Alliance) launched earlier this year, we’re hoping to better understand this feline. The project is still in its early stages, but it has already produced some outstanding, rare footage of Pallas’s cats, including video of wild cubs.
Understanding Dogs to Protect Cats
Feral dogs have been seen chasing snow leopards and bears away from their prey. Growing populations of free-ranging dogs are becoming a real threat to wildlife in many parts of the snow leopard’s range. Liu Mingyu, a researcher in China, is tracking dogs with GPS collars to better understand their behavior – and eventually address the threat they pose.
Kyrgyz Team Visits Nature Education Camp in India
In our eco-camps, school kids in snow leopard habitat learn to reconnect to nature. The program has been a success in India and Mongolia for many years. Next year, we’re planning to launch eco-camps in Kyrgyzstan as well – so our Kyrgyz team visited a camp in Spiti, India, to learn from their colleague’s experience.