The strikingly beautiful snow leopard is one of the most mysterious cats in the world. This roving, high altitude cat is rarely sighted by local people. Because it is so elusive, the accurate population numbers are hard to come by, although estimates range from 100 to 200 individuals. In India, their geographical cover encompasses a large part of the Western Himalaya including the states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand with a sizable population in Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
Snow leopards prefer steep, rugged terrains with rocky outcrops and ravines. Their exquisite smoky-gray fur patterned with dark-gray to black rosettes, camouflage them against rocky slopes. This type of habitat provides good cover and clear view to help them sneak up on their prey. They are found at high altitude of 3000-4500 metres and even higher in the Himalayas.
Snow leopards are considered medium-sized cats, standing about 24 inches at the shoulder and weighing around 30-55kg. Snow leopards are shy and inhabit a definite home range. The species usually mate between January and March. The animal is most active at dawn and dusk.
Snow leopards are mainly found in the following national parks of India:
Hemis National Park, East Ladakh
Nanda Devi National Park, Uttarakhand (UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site)
Valley of Flowers National Park, Uttarakhand
But the declining number is a matter of grave concern. What comes as a major challenge for the protection of this species is poaching. Snow leopards are poached illegally for their pelts, which have a huge market in Tibet. Their bones and other body parts are also in huge demand for use in traditional Asian medicines. Another reason is continuous interference and intrusions by humans and domestic cattle, and snow leopards at times get strayed from their habitat and enter into the human territory to prey on domestic livestock.
Herders in those areas live a precarious economic life and hence the loss of even a single sheep causes a real economic hardship. This has caused several cases of retaliatory killing of snow leopards in the past.
Owing to habitat and prey loss as humans continue to push further into the mountainous areas with their livestock, the snow leopards' habitat is shrinking by increasing human intrusion. Overgrasing has also damaged the fragile grasslands, leaving less food for the wild sheep and goats, which are the snow leopards' main prey. It is very distressing that even the falling number of this cat has done little to help the snow leopard cope successfully with an ever-increasing influx of tourists, sheep-herders, dam-builders, and other humans eager to make use of the spectacular landscape.
By Sachin Kaushik
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