Planet Earth – Mountains 2.
David Attenborough and his team do it again. Amazing beautiful film of 4 snow leopards, a female and her cub and two males. “Snow leopards, surviving at the very edge of existence. Only the toughest survive among the savage beauty of the world’s highest mountains.”
A Wildlife Conservation Society video made with US Department of Defense. Narrated by acclaimed actor/director and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity, Edward Norton, it informs U.S. military personnel about the consequences of buying illegal wildlife products, including snow leopard pelts, when stationed in Afghanistan.
We don’t often see snow leopards climb trees, they tend to prefer rocks, but a zoo in the UK has created a feeder to stimulate its cats to be more agile and get more exercise. They used a block and tackle system with strong climbing rope and winched the cat’s food up the tree. Fascinating to watch this snow leopard jumping for its supper.
Dr Terry Moore of the Cat Survival Trust talking about his latest snow leopard cubs bred at the Trust. He discusses how the cubs are tame when young but not after sexual maturity. Dr Moore is working on potentially reintroducing captive bred cubs into the wild in the Himalayas.
A world first stem cell therapy for 5 year old female snow leopard Kamala at Sydney Zoo. Kamala has severe arthritis in the knee and the veterinary staff decided to trial this therapy as Kamala is still relatively young and they want to increase her quality of life.
A camera trap set up by Panthera and the Snow Leopard Trust at their Tost Mountains in South Gobi, Mongolia recently captured 61 close-up images of three beautiful young snow leopards. One especially, full of curiosity, is in front of the camera a long time, sniffing the air. The video was produced by linking the stills together. Trust and Panthera staff believe the three cheeky young snow leopards are siblings that have recently left their mother, but are still travelling together before they will spilt up when a little more confident.
Rinchen Wangchuk Interview from Snow Leopard Conservancy on Vimeo.
This video made by Mateo and David Willis show how Rinchen Wangchuk and the Snow Leopard Conservancy encourage local villagers to conserve the snow leopard in Ladakh, the magical snow leopard region in the Indian Himalayas. Rinchen says “the people used to see the cat as a pest. Now you see the sign in Rumbak village that says “welcome to the snow leopard capital of the world.”
I’ve never heard snow leopard cubs as noisy as this! They are obviously not happy being away from their mother. In the wild the noise could give them away but also, scare away any small predators. Cape May Zoo, USA
Rodney Jackson, Ph.D., director/founder of the Snow Leopard Conservancy, has been nominated for the 2010 Indianapolis Prize, the most prestigious endangered species conservation prize in the world. (He was also nominated in 2008.)This is in recognition for his groundbreaking radio-tracking study of snow leopards in the 1980s and his subsequent dedication to building local communities capacity as key players in conserving the species. Jackson works tirelessly to save snow leopards from the threat of poachers and shrinking habitats, which often put the big cats in conflict with local villagers. Jackson toils alongside locals to protect livestock from snow leopards, yet finds ways for all to coexist peacefully. He believes local farmers who are involved in the stewardship of snow leopards offer the best long-term chance of the species survival. Towards this goal, he assists communities to predator-proof corrals, better guard their livestock and enhance local livelihoods in environmentally friendly ways.
Fauna & Flora International have been working with the Sarychat Ertash Reserve Park team in Kyrgyzstan for the last five years to improve the protection of the Reserve and its species, including snow leopards. The Reserve is located in the Tien Shan Mountains, close to the border with China. This footage is taken by the Reserves ranger team, out on patrol in their new 4×4 vehicle and on horse back, keeping an eye out for poachers and surveying wildlife. Working in this part of the world is tough with the average temperature in January being minus 21.5 degrees. Even the wildlife struggles to cope and the rangers come across a group of mountain sheep, known as Argali, who got themselves stuck in a frozen river.
Video on the change affecting Himalayan Glaciers from Greenpeace which will affect both the local people and the wildlife.
Pakistani economist turned conservationist Shafqat Hussain launched Project Snow Leopard (PSL) in 1999 to survey and provide innovative solutions for the conservation of this rare cat. He has developed an innovative community-based livestock insurance scheme; villagers pay a small premium on their domesticated goats to ensure compensation for every goat killed by a snow leopard.
“The project enhances the villagers quality of life while giving the herders responsibility for saving snow leopards.
The scheme is also funded by revenue from an ecotourism agency founded by Hussain called the Full Moon Night Trekking Company.
Hercules, the snow leopard with Big Cat Rescue, here does a ‘chuffing’ or ‘prusten’ sound to communicate with a keeper. When I first played this my boy Australian terrier, Tenzing, pricked up his ears and ran around looking for the big cat on his territory (lucky he didn’t find it 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifY_JgDDMW0&hl=en&fs=1&
Dr Tom McCarthy is the Director of Field Programs for the Snow Leopard Trust. In this video he talks about the decreasing numbers of snow leopards in Kyrgyzstan and the work the Trust is doing with local people to help the cats survive in this part of Asia.
Film maker Mitchell Kelly’s amazing footage of first ever filmed snow leopard mating in the wild. From the film “Silent roar – searching for the snow leopard”.
This video was filmed by a young US Army Sergeant on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. I wrote about it on the blog in February 2010 and it generated a fair bit of controversy amongst snow leopard experts, some of whom thought it was a snow leopard and others believe it to be a marten or weasel.
This is exciting – we can see an indepth examination of the snow leopard cubs at 6 weeks old at Woodland Zoo, Seattle USA. There’s a lot to do, weighing, measuring, checking, vaccinations etc. This is the most comprehensive video of a zoo examination I’ve ever seen. And the little guys are so calm and placid, just quietly staring at everyone with huge sad eyes :-).
Produced by Ryan Hawk.
Beyond the Myth. Nisar Malik, a Pakistani journalist was with the David Attenborough team when they got the first ever video of a snow leopard in the wild in 2004 for the Planet Earth – The Mountains episode. He wanted to do a full length documentary so along with cameraman Mark Smith, they spent 18 months following a mother and cub, gaining valuable insights into the day to day life of snow leopards.
Celebrating 25 years of snow leopard conservation. This video from the Snow Leopard Trust explains the community work the Trust has done, how they’ve achieved recognition in many communities that a snow leopard is worth more alive than dead. This video also has an interview with Helen Freeman, the founder of the Trust, showing how she’s made a huge difference, helping people who live with the snow leopard stop the killing.
Here’s a video of Tashi and Gobi from a zoo visitor recently.
The Melbourne Zoo snow leopard sponsors recently had a wonderful breakfast with Meo and her two new cubs. Over 80 very excited sponsors watched the three cats for about 2 hours as they ate, romped and played. It was a wonderful way to meet each other and some of the zoo staff who made these births happen. This is a video interview I did with Paul Clarke, the Development Manager of the Zoo Foundation where he talks about his own passion for snow leopards and how people can sponsor them at the Zoo.
The snow leopard is one of natures most beautiful but very reclusive animals. The Snow Leopard Trust is leading the way to eduate people on this magnificent feline. Big Cat Rescue is proud to be a huge supporter of the trust. Watch and learn how you can help save the snow leopard.
This amazing footage of a snow leopard hunting in the wild is from the documentary “Silent Roar: Searching for the Snow Leopard.” The Snow Leopard Trust would like to thank filmmaker Hugh Miles, Mitchell Kelly and WNET for allowing us to make this footage available. Mitchell Kelly films the first ever film of a snow leopard hunt.
The BBC wildlife documentary ‘Snow Leopard- Beyond the Myth’ crew in Pakistan film a mother and her young male cub who is learning hunting and life skills from her. Narrated by David Attenborough.
While climbing Stok Kangri Glacier in Ladakh, India in the late spring of 2004, Matthew Millan encountered two snow leopards killing a dzo (hybrid of a cow and a yak), an animal over five times their weight.
