As part of our long-term efforts to track and better understand snow leopards and their prey, we are currently following three GPS collared snow leopards and two collared ibex (more on how three ibex became two below). Since we collared our first snow leopard in the South Gobi in 2008, we’ve collected more than 60,000 locations from a total of 34 snow leopards.
The beauty of snow leopard conservation is that it’s not just about protecting snow leopards. It’s about saving a whole diversity of species and habitats. As apex predators with large home ranges, snow leopards create an “umbrella” effect: protecting them implies protecting the entire high mountain ecosystem.
Hear how one woman’s transformation into a snow leopard advocate is influencing her entire community. This is Chuluuntsetseg (Chuka) Dashzeveg’s inspiring story, shared in a recent conversation with two of our team members, Dr. Justine Shanti Alexander and Pujii Lkhagvajav. Chuka lives in western Mongolia’s Khovd Province.
“Have you seen the snow leopard? No! Isn’t that wonderful?” That famous quote by renowned author and naturalist Peter Matthiessen invokes a mysticism about the snow leopard like no other. Once-in-lifetime tourist expeditions to snow leopard habitat in search of the elusive mountain ghost are becoming increasingly popular. But should you go?
Government representatives from ten of the twelve snow leopard range countries recently gathered in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, with one common goal – the conservation of the endangered snow leopard. It was the first in-person meeting in three years of a remarkable intergovernmental alliance supported by the Snow Leopard Trust. But what brought such a diverse group of sovereign nations together in the first place?
We’re excited to announce that we have two new snow leopards on air and these latest additions have turned our tracking study into a full-fledged family affair.
Our colleague in Mongolia shared a moving story about the challenges of living with snow leopards. While it’s easy to understand how its mythical nature and wild beauty inspire such awe and wonder, it can be difficult to reconcile that with the other dimension of this apex predator. Yes, it’s a carnivore that kills wild prey but it also sometimes kills domestic livestock. Many of the people living in snow leopard habitat depend on their herds of sheep, goats, camels, cattle or yaks for their livelihood. Losing even one animal to snow leopard predation can be devastating, as detailed in the story below.
DOWNLOAD FULL PRESS RELEASE How the power of nature conservation fosters international cooperation Seattle, WA | September 22, 2022 The BBVA Foundation’s Biodiversity Conservation Awards honored Snow Leopard Trust with its Worldwide Award in recognition of its role in helping to create and support the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP), a first-of-its-kind …
We’ll let you in on a little secret, when our field teams upload a new batch of camera trap photos to our dropbox, we’re like little kids opening a present. We can’t wait to see what our research cameras captured. These snow leopard ‘selfies’ collected by our scientists and rangers are essential to our conservation work. They tell us so much about snow leopard populations, behavior, ecology and habitat use and help inform global conservation efforts. Bonus – they’re also really beautiful. Meet the cats of Nemegt in our latest update from the field.
You’re never too young (or too old) to fall in love with snow leopards. Some of our greatest supporters are less than ten-years-old. Just in time for back-to-school month, a group of 3rd-graders asked six of our Senior Conservation Scientists some pretty amazing questions about snow leopards.
