Recovery of snow leopard Uncia uncia in Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park, Nepal

by jakedai | March 27, 2007 at 07:40 am

960 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

This is great news...The Snow Leopard, Uncia uncia, is returning to the Khumbu (Everest) Region of Nepal! I first reported on this in my blog on August 10, 2006, citing an article I had read in on Nature.com. It is great to find the same information again online from a scientific publication.

The Snow Leopard, an elusive and graceful big cat of the Himalaya, has been dwindling in numbers for many years. While some populations have been known in Tibet and in the more remote regions of Nepal, none have been documented in the Khumbu Region since 1950. Some scientists attribute the resurgence of the Snow Leopard in Khumbu to the return of their principle prey, the Himalayan Tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus).

If you are interested in reading more about the Snow Leopard and about Nepal, I highly recommend Peter Matthiessen's famous 1978 book The Snow Leopard

Recovery of snow leopard Uncia uncia in Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park, Nepal

Abstract

From September to November 2004 we conducted surveys of snow leopard Uncia uncia signs in three major valleys in Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park in Nepal using the Snow Leopard Information Management System, a standardized survey technique for snow leopard research. We walked 24 transects covering c. 14 km and located 33 sites with 56 snow leopard signs, and 17 signs incidentally in other areas. Snow leopards appear to have re-inhabited the Park, following their disappearance c. 40 years ago, apparently following the recovery of Himalayan tahr Hemitragus jemlahicus and musk deer Moschus chrysogaster populations. Taken together the locations of all 73 recent snow leopard signs indicate that the species is using predominantly grazing land and shrubland/open forest at elevations of 3,000–5,000 m, habitat types that are also used by domestic and wild ungulates. Sagarmatha is the homeland of c. 3,500 Buddhist Sherpas with >3,000 livestock. Along with tourism and associated developments in Sagarmatha, traditional land use practices could be used to ensure coexistence of livestock and wildlife, including the recovering snow leopards, and ensure the wellbeing of the Sherpas.

(Received August 8 2005)

(Revised January 16 2006)

(Accepted April 25 2006)

Key Words: Hemitragus jemlahicus; Himalayan tahr; Mount Everest; Nepal; Sagarmatha National Park; snow leopard; Uncia uncia.

Correspondence:

c1 Correspondence: Resources Himalaya Foundation, GPO Box 2448, Kathmandu, Nepal. E-mail habitat@resourceshimalaya.org