Snow Leopard Awareness Event Organized to Aid Conservation of the Endangered Species
SocietyUlaanbaatar,
October 21, 2024 /MONTSAME/. Each year October 23 is remarked
as the International Snow Leopard Day, to raise awareness and emphasize how
crucial it is to conserve them.
The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) range is only found in 12 countries in northern Asia. Therefore, the snow leopard is among the endangered species; hunting for the snow leopard is prohibited throughout the world. Mongolia hosts about 20 percent of the estimated global snow leopard population.
In anticipation of the
International Snow Leopard Day, the WWF-Mongolia held a Promotion Day of Snow Leopard
at Ulaanbaatar Park.
According to the first nationwide snow leopard
survey, there are 953 (806 – 1127) of these adult big cats in Mongolia.
WWF-Mongolia and its partners, including the Snow Leopard Conservation
Foundation, Snow Leopard Trust, and Irbis Mongolia Center conducted the
large-scale study to assess the current range and the population size of snow
leopards in Mongolia with support from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism
of Mongolia. The assessment, initiated in 2017, was completed with more than 40
field surveys over 4 years, involving over 500 people: researchers from the
partner organizations, the National University of Mongolia and the
Mongolian Academy of Sciences, rangers from the State Protected Areas, and
local citizens.
During the survey, 15 snow leopards were
collared, and 1,475 camera traps were deployed at 29 mountains which provided
photographic evidence of the elusive big cats across the habitat, confirming
their presence. At the end of the survey, it was estimated that about 953 adult
individuals, ranging from 806 to 1127, roam Mongolia, inhabiting approximately
328,900 square km area of the Altai, Sayan, Khangai Mountain ranges.
Known as a shy and mysterious big cat which is
also incredibly well camouflaged, the snow leopard is an indicator of the
health of the ecosystem. The presence of a healthy population of the big cat in
Mongolia shows that high mountain ecosystems remain healthy, which is critical
as they are the source of water for millions of people downstream.
Snow leopards are declining across their range
due to a wide range of threats such as poaching and illegal trade, habitat loss
due to overgrazing, depletion of prey species, and conflict between snow
leopards and humans as well as climate change. A study on climate change to the
snow leopard habitats showed that by 2100, 39 percent of the current snow
leopard habitat in the world would be vulnerable to loss under a high emissions
climate scenario, including the Gobi and Khangai regions of Mongolia, while Altai
Sayan Ecoregion will continue to be an important habitat.
WWF-Mongolia, one of the most experienced conservation organizations in
Mongolia, focuses its efforts on critical conservation issues in two of the
world’s outstanding places for biodiversity conservation, the Altai-Sayan
Ecoregion – “Land of the Snow Leopard” in Western Mongolia and Amur-Heilong
Ecoregion Complex – “The Beauty of Peaceful Black Dragon” in Eastern Mongolia.