Summary
Key takeaway: Healthy snow leopard populations need enough wild prey. Livestock can’t replace wild prey as the cats’ main food source.
Highlights: Field work for this paper was done in 7 sites in India and Mongolia and involved camera trapping, double observer surveys, and genetics research. Our research has established that the availability of wild prey species (ibex, blue sheep, argali) is the most important factor influencing how many snow leopards can live in an area. We’ve also found that while snow leopards do kill livestock, domestic animals can’t replace wild prey as dependable a source of food for snow leopards. We found that when wild prey populations increase, they support a larger number of snow leopards, which in turn can escalate the extent of livestock killing.
Why it matters: The paper highlights the critical importance of protecting and managing populations of wild prey for effective snow leopard conservation. It shows that – contrary to what was earlier believed – increasing wild prey populations can actually lead to a greater, rather than a smaller number of livestock kills. This underscores the importance of livestock insurance and corral improvement programs to accompany any efforts to increase wild prey populations.
Title: Impact of wild prey availability on livestock predation by snow leopards
Publication: Royal Society Open Science