Tracking the Snow leopards – Himachal Reveals their rise from 51 to 83
Second state-wide assessment confirms robust snow leopard numbers and sets new benchmark for long‑term monitoring
Dharamshala, 02 Oct
The Wildlife Wing of the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department concluded the state-wide assessment to estimate the snow leopard population. The survey, the second of its kind after 2021, employed a large‑scale camera‑trapping exercise across six sites representative of the 26,000 km² snow leopard habitat in the state. These surveys were conducted in the high and low-density areas to ensure representation. This large-scale camera trapping survey reported the detection of 44 unique snow leopards, the same as in the previous survey, and these individuals were detected 262 times. The snow leopard density, as per the study, ranges from 0.16 to 0.53 individuals per 100 km², with the trans-Himalayan regions of Spiti and Pin valley, followed by Upper Kinnaur and Tabo, recording the highest densities.
The scientific techniques deployed for the project align with the protocols prescribed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) under Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI). This second round of state-wide assessment was completed in just one year, a dramatic reduction from the three‑year timeline of the initial effort. The state’s rapid turnaround for such a large-scale survey demonstrates a scalable, repeatable framework for long-term snow leopard monitoring—a first for any Indian state.
The results of 83 (67-103) individuals suggest an increase in the population of snow leopards from the first population estimation exercise, which estimated 51 (44-73) individuals. While the increase can be attributed to an increase in the population, there are other factors to keep in mind while interpreting the result. Firstly, snow leopards moved around less in the second round (as shown by the sigma parameter), which may be because the habitat had improved and there is more prey available due to improved conservation. Secondly, the number of unique individuals identified is about the same. Finally, conducting the survey in one year instead of three, combined with the team’s experience, likely yielded better and more reliable data.
Beyond snow leopards, we leveraged detections of other mammals found in the same landscape to estimate their distributions using an ensemble modeling approach. Refined distribution maps were generated for key prey species such as blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), Himalayan ibex (Capra sibirica), and musk deer (Moschus leucogaster). Additional mammals—including the Himalayan wolf (Canis lupus), brown bear (Ursus arctos), common leopard (Panthera pardus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), stone marten (Martes foina), mountain weasel (Mustela altaica), and yellow‑throated marten (Mustela flavigula)—also had their distributions refined. Notably, the study recorded the first official sighting of Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul) in Kinnaur and the rediscovery of the woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus cinereus) in Lahaul.
This study was carried out by the Wildlife Wing of the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department in partnership with the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), and the camera trap deployment over these mountainous terrains was led by a team of eight local youth of Kibber village in Spiti who have been working on such surveys across the Upper Spiti Landscape since 2010. Alongside them, 20 frontline officers from the Spiti Forest Division and 15 members of the community were integral in completing the survey on time. Notably, this was the first survey across any site globally, where the indigenous women’s team from Kibber supported the analysis of this study. These surveys provide a robust baseline for the Wildlife Wing to set up a long-term monitoring project to track the population of snow leopard and its wild prey species. Himachal Pradesh is the first state to conduct a second round of state-wide snow leopard population assessment in India. This survey, completed in one year, makes it cost-effective and efficient, which can serve as a blueprint for all snow leopard regions across India to continually monitor their populations.
While snow leopard occurrence was recorded from the protected areas that were surveyed, which included parts of the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary, Great Himalayan National Park, Sechu Tuan Nala Wildlife Sanctuary, and Asarang Wildlife Sanctuary, many of the snow leopard detections were recorded outside protected areas. This underscores that local communities are key to conserving snow leopard habitats, and bolsters the case for community-based conservation initiatives across the snow leopard range in Himachal Pradesh.
