The snow leopard mascot, one of three at the Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia, February 2014.

Next Month the 2014 Winter Olympics begin in the Russian city of Sochi and one of Russia’s most endangered predators, the snow leopard, will feature as a mascot.

But the snow leopard does not live anywhere near Sochi, which is in southern Russia on the Black Sea at the western edge of the Caucasus Mountains. Its  native habitat is over 4000 km  away, in the remote mountains of the Altai Region in Siberia.

Sadly Russia’s snow leopards have been decreasing rapidly in numbers due to illegal poaching for the last 20 years. But scientists and conservationists have been working in the remote Altai to bring the cat numbers back.

Local herder family in their yurt in the Altai. Photo by Sibylle Noras

“It’s just fantastic that the snow leopard is being featured as the mascot of the Sochi Olympics. The creature does need all the attention it can get. It is extremely endangered throughout its range,” said Dr. James P. Gibbs, a conservation biologist at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, N.Y., who has been involved in snow leopard research and conservation efforts in Russia for the last five years.

In a big collaborative effort, Gibbs works with Sergei Spitsyn of the Russian Protected Areas system, Mikhail Paltsyn of WWF-Russia and Jennifer Caster of The Altai Project.

“Five years ago, I would’ve said it’s hopeless but now we’re finding ways to control poaching and provide economic opportunities for desperately poor local herders as alternatives to poaching,” said Gibbs.

“Poachers target snow leopards because their luxurious pelts can be sold to middlemen and ultimately fetch thousands of dollars in big cities such as Moscow and Beijing. While traditional anti-poaching methods such as patrols and snare removal are still in use, part of the solution to the poaching problem is creating economic development opportunities for poor herders so they have options other than poaching.

Herders move across the steppes of Siberia and over the Altai mountains with their families and domestic sheep and goats. They share snow leopard habitat in this part of Russia. Photo by Sibylle Noras.

“If we can create opportunities for local women to sell their handicrafts, they won’t have to rely on their husbands’ poaching to pay school and medical fees for their children.

“We have to find a way to make snow leopards worth more alive than dead to local people. We all want them; they’re wonderful creatures but we don’t bear the cost of living with them, so finding a way for local people to live with them without paying the costs is the challenge.”

Read more about the search for Russia’s last snow leopards in the Altai.

More information on Russia’s snow leopards, their habitat and research and conservation efforts.

“Beautiful things don’t call attention to themselves” says the Sean Penn character, Sean O’Connell in the movie Walter Mitty just as he is about to film an elusive snow leopard. Photo (c) Walter Mitty 2013.

Call us biased. We saw the film ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ the other day with megastars Ben Stiller (as office worker Walter Mitty) and Sean Penn. But the show stopper was definitely the magnificent snow leopard that the wildlife photographer Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn’s character) finds after months of gruelling high altitude searching. In the movie the photographer character has been as elusive as the snow leopard is in real life, but finally Walter Mitty catches up with O’Connell just as he is about to photograph the snow leopard.

When O’Connell tells Mitty to keep completely still, he calls the snow leopard the “ghost cat” and says, “Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.”

We hope though, that this short clip brings attention in a good way, to the plight of this endangered beauty.

PS – its is a shame that the snow leopard clip was not included in the credits of the film. We have no way of knowing who took the real footage or where. Something the studio should fix – give credit where credit is due.

Credit: ©Y. Protas/Panthera/WWF Central Asia Program/Uzbek Biocontrol Agency/Gissar Nature Reserve.

Hard work and perseverance by snow leopard conservationists has chalked up another first for the world’s most elusive big cat. For the first time we have remote camera photographs of snow leopards in Uzbekistan. Two of the beautiful cats were caught in photos in the Gissar Nature Reserve in the Pamir Mountains.

Uzbekistan is one of the twelve Asian countries that have snow leopards but little is known about them in this country.

The images have been released by two conservation organisations with snow leopard programs, Panthera and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Ongoing work in this region is also supported by Snow Leopard Grants from the global Snow Leopard Network.

Panthera announced that “in November and December of 2013, a team of rangers and biologists led by Bakhtiyor Aromov and Yelizaveta Protas, in collaboration with Panther and WWF Central Asia Program, conducted a snow leopard camera trap study in the Kizilsu area of Gissar Nature Reserve, on the border of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Images taken through the study have confirmed the presence of at least two individual snow leopards in the region, along with other large predators – lynx and bear – and an abundance of prey animals, including ibex, wild boar, and hare.”

Fist ever snow leopards caught on camera trap in Uzbekistan. Credit: ©Y. Protas/Panthera/WWF Central Asia Program/Uzbek Biocontrol Agency/Gissar Nature Reserve .

Researchers will continue work in this Reserve during 2014. We wish them great luck and look forward to learning more about these snow leopards.

Following on from the previous post here is a video the soldiers at the Chinese Pakistan border took recently of a young snow leopard very close by. The cat stayed still for a long time and then went on to hunt a herd of ibex (small wild goats).

This photo is rare for a number of reasons. Firstly it shows a snow leopard in Xinjiang, China at over 5,000 metres. Secondly it is not a camera trap photo but one of a series taken by Chinese soldiers who were on patrol near the China – Pakistan border. They were able to film the cat from close up as it stayed motionless near a river and then chased ibex, a small wild goat and one of snow leopards favourite prey.

Story Credit–

Photo Samuel Maglione.

The big goal recently identified by the Global Snow Leopard Forum in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, is “Secure 20 by 2020” meaning all the 12 range countries that signed the Bishkek Declaration will now work together over the next 7 years to identify and secure at least 20 healthy populations of snow leopards across the cat’s range by 2020 or, in shorthand – “Secure 20 by 2020.” The program is called the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Progam (GSLEP).

Secure snow leopard landscapes are defined as “those that contain at least 100 breeding age snow leopards conserved with the involvement of local communities, support adequate and secure prey populations, and have functional connectivity to other snow leopard landscapes, some of which cross international boundaries.”

The objective of the GSLEP “Secure 20 by 2020” is to lay the foundation for the ultimate goal of saving the snow leopard from extinction in the wild by  ensuring the species remain the living icon of mountains of Asia for generations to come. Each country will now work with its government officials, people and scientists to help make this happen.

A drawing of Panthera Blytheae, possibly the ancestor to todays snow leopards. By M. Anton.

It is possible that a new fossil find is a skull of the ancestor of todays snow leopards.  The oldest big cat fossils ever found – from a previously unknown species “similar to a snow leopard” – have been unearthed in the Himalayas. Pieces of skull of the newly-named Panthera blytheae have been dated between 4.1 and 5.95 million years old.
The findings by US and Chinese palaeontologists now points to big cats having evolved in Central Asia and not Africa as previous theories suggest. Both anatomical and DNA data was used by the researchers to determine that the skulls belonged to an extinct big cat, whose territory appears to overlap many of the species we know today.

“This cat is a sister of living snow leopards – it has a broad forehead and a short face. But it’s a little smaller – the size of clouded leopards,” said lead author Dr Jack Tseng of the University of Southern California. Snow leopard facial structure evolved to help them survive in extreme cold and high altitudes.

The skull believed to be the ancestor of todays snow leopards. Photo by J. Tseng.

“This ties up a lot of questions we had on how these animals evolved and spread throughout the world. “Biologists had hypothesised that big cats originated in Asia. But there was a division between the DNA data and the fossil record.”
“We were very surprised to find a cat fossil in that basin,” Dr Tseng told BBC News.
“Usually we find antelopes and rhinos, but this site was special. We found multiple carnivores – badgers, weasels and foxes.”
The researchers believe that they have found bone fragments from at leat three individual cats. One specimen is a complete skull. The fragments were dated using magnetostratigraphy – which relies on historical reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field recorded in layers of rock.
However, Prof William Murphy of Texas A&M University, questioned whether the new species was really a sister of the snow leopard. “The authors’ claim that this skull is similar to the snow leopard is very weakly supported based on morphological characters alone,” he told BBC News.(Morphology is a branch of biology studying the form and structure of organisms.)
Murphy says, “It remains equally probable that this fossil is ancestral to the living big cats. More complete skeletons would be beneficial to confirm their findings.”

See more by James Morgan Science reporter, BBC News

President Almazbek Atambayev of the Kyrgyz Republic supporting the Bishkek Declaration on the conservation of snow leopards and their ecosystems. (Photo SLT).

As a followup to last month’s historic meeting in Bishkek Kyrgyz Republic, here is the full document of the declaration by all 12 snow leoaprd range countries to save the species and protect its environment.

We, as leaders in the governments of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Kingdom of Bhutan, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of India, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan, the custodians of the world’s snow leopards and the valuable high-mountain ecosystems they inhabit, having gathered at a Global Snow Leopard Conservation Forum in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, from 22-23 October 2013, with the shared goal of conserving snow leopards and their fragile habitats;

Acknowledge that the snow leopard is an irreplaceable symbol of our nations’ natural and cultural heritage and an indicator of the health and sustainability of mountain ecosystems;

Recognize that mountain ecosystems inhabited by snow leopards provide essential ecosystem services, including storing and releasing water from the origins of river systems benefitting one-third of the world’s human population; sustaining the pastoral and agricultural livelihoods of local communities which depend on biodiversity for food, fuel, fodder, and medicine; and offering inspiration, recreation, and economic opportunities;

Express strong concern about the increasing threats arising from growing human footprint and climate change to the survival of snow leopards and associated mountain biodiversity and to the maintenance of watershed and ecosystem services their habitats provide;

Affirm the need for urgent collective action to conserve snow leopards and their fragile habitats;

Understand that the conservation of the snow leopard must be achieved by securing the involvement, livelihoods, and balanced development of human communities who share the habitat, striving to reconcile the conflict between economic growth and environmental sustainability;

Reconfirm that conserving snow leopards and their habitats is a shared responsibility of our countries, the international community, civil society, and the private sector;

Reiterate the importance of international conventions and agreements on the conservation of biological diversity and protection of endangered species, including snow leopard.

Given our commitment to present and future generations, we must act now with resolution and authority to protect and recover snow leopard populations and their fragile habitats for all people to enjoy. We, the Snow Leopard Range Countries, resolve to work together to:

• Evaluate and map the current status of key snow leopard populations and habitats to set baselines and indicators against which to assess future change, conduct economic valuation of snow leopard habitats, and intensify scientific research and monitoring to support future policy and action.
• Intensify conservation efforts in the large landscapes required for snow leopard survival by identifying and designating critical habitats of key snow leopard populations as no-go areas for destructive land uses, maintaining their integrity and connectivity through natural corridors, and strengthening their protection on the ground.
• Enhance the role of local communities in snow leopard conservation efforts by adopting and implementing policies and laws that favor the involvement of such communities as stewards of biodiversity and champions of conservation.
• Take firm action to stop poaching and illegal trade of snow leopards and other wildlife by adopting comprehensive legislation, strengthening national law-enforcement systems, enhancing national, regional, and international collaboration, and developing effective mechanisms to eliminate the illegal demand for snow leopard and other wildlife products.
• Encourage meaningful participation of industry and the private sector in snow leopard conservation.
• Ensure that industry, mining, infrastructure, and rural development programs and projects are fully sensitive to the conservation needs of snow leopards and their ecosystems, do not adversely affect or fragment key populations or critical habitats, and employ wildlife-friendly design, offsets, and other mitigation tools.
• Increase bilateral and regional cooperation for snow leopard conservation in transboundary landscapes.
• Strengthen capacity for community-based conservation, law enforcement support, and wildlife and ecosystem management, among policy makers, front-line managers and staff, community leaders, and civil society by supporting knowledge exchange and communities of practice and communication and cooperation among stakeholders.
• Communicate to citizens and particular stakeholders, including local communities, youth, governments, civil society, and the private sector, about the value of snow leopards and their ecosystem, and sustain the effort by celebrating 23 October 23 each year as the International Snow Leopard Day with presentation of an annual International Snow Leopard Conservation Award, and 2015 as the International Year of the Snow Leopard.

As the trustees of the will of our peoples, we:

Endorse a comprehensive, long-term Global Snow Leopard Conservation Program (“Program”).

Resolve to commit resources for its implementation, including mobilization of financial and technical support from the international community, and welcome and sincerely appreciate the pledges to support the Program made during the Global Snow Leopard Conservation Forum.

Agree to form a high-level Steering Committee to guide Program implementation, regularly review its progress, and maintain a strong political commitment to its objectives, and to establish a Program Secretariat to coordinate Program implementation that is adequately resourced and staffed by the range countries and the international community.

Agree to establish a Working Secretariat in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, to facilitate Program development after the Global Snow Leopard Conservation Forum.

Appreciate the support of the Global Environment Facility, Global Tiger Initiative, Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), Snow Leopard Conservancy, Snow Leopard Trust, United Nations Development Programme, United States Agency for International Development, World Bank, World Wildlife Fund, and others for the cause of snow leopard conservation, and invite all interested stakeholders to expand partnerships to enhance the Program.