IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Mallon, D. | |
| The snow leopard in Ladakh | |
| 1984 Book Chapter | |
The snow leopard, Panthera uncia, is notoriously difficult to study in the wild. Its natural environment is usually remote and difficult of access; its population density is very low and its territory large; it is mainly nocturnal in its habits and shy and elusive in its nature. This formidable combination of difficulties has so far greatly restricted our knowledge of the snow leopard, - knowledge that is vital for its conservation. In most of its range the snow leopard is under threat from hunting, from the hunting of its prey animals and from the expansion of the human population and their livestock, which restricts wildlife to an ever decreasing area. The present study of the snow leopard was undertaken as part of a wider survey of the ecology and wildlife of Ladakh, northern India, an area which has so far seen little ecological research, largely because it was closed to outsiders until 1974. The aims of my study were: (1) To establish how widely snow leopards are distributed in Ladakh. (2) To attempt to estimate the size of the snow leopard population in Ladakh. (3) To establish whether any measurable decline has taken place in this population, and to suggest reasons for such a decline, if any. (4) To assess the populations of the major prey species, and their conservation prospects. (5) To establish the extent of the role of the snow leopard as a predator on domestic stock. (6) To collect information on the ecology of the snow leopard in Ladakh. (7) To assess the prospects for survival of the snow leopard in Ladakh. (8) To work out a conservation programme in conjunction with the local Forest Department. |
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(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union) |