Engaging women in conservation efforts can lead to improved and more equitable outcomes. However, most conservation programs build upon existing community structures, where men tend to be in charge and women’s input can be easily overlooked. If community-based conservation programs do not incorporate women’s voices adequately during planning and implementation, it could compromise the effectiveness of the conservation efforts and reinforce existing gender disparities. Our team of researchers recently brought attention to this concern and focused on two case studies in Mongolia and India, where Snow Leopard Trust has been conducting community-based conservation initiatives for over 15 years. Agvaantseren Bayarjargal is our Regional Conservation Program Manager and co-author of the paper. She says: “Enhancing the role of women in snow leopard conservation has been one of my life’s missions. Our paper shows the gender-segregated roles of men and women in societies, and reiterates the critical importance  of incorporating women’s ideas, needs, and contributions in conservation.” The two case studies describe different approaches that can be followed to leverage women’s unique and important experiences, knowledge, and skills for biodiversity conservation in snow leopard landscapes. For example, the role of women in India’s Kibber Village in managing irrigation means they have specialized knowledge about water, a crucial resource threatened by climate change, and can make informed decisions about their community’s sustainable water usage. In Tost, Mongolia, women have pursued conservation-linked jobs that diversify family income and can shore up their conservation leadership, as well as improve their resilience against drought or extreme climatic events. In Mongolia, there are encouraging signs that women are in key positions to influence snow leopard conservation, such as directorships of multiple protected areas. Women in Tost have also become more active in conservation-related decisions by pursuing roles in the local government – comprising 33% of elected officials in the Gurvantes District where Tost is located. Click to view slideshow. Communities across the high mountains of Asia are being exposed to globalization, changes in land use, new market forces and new information and ideas. Climate change is also adding new pressures on this ecosystem, putting livelihoods and wellbeing – as well as snow leopards and other wildlife – at risk. New opportunities and aspirations for women are emerging alongside these changes, and conservation practitioners must ensure that their conservation efforts are gender-inclusive and strongly incorporate the roles of women.  Read the full paper titled: Applying a gender lens to biodiversity conservation in High Asia here. You can help expand access to women-led community-based conservation initiatives by donating today. Photo credits: Fidget Films and SLCF-Mongolia Acknowledgments: Special thanks to the Tost and Kibber communities and the women who participated in the study, as well as the Government of Gurvantes, South Gobi and the Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve.  SLT would also like to acknowledge:  People’s Trust for Endangered Species, IKI Small Grants Project – GIZ. The post Women in Conservation appeared first on Snow Leopard Trust.

Understanding how landscapes affect animal movements is critical for effective conservation and management. From a snow leopard’s perspective, a landscape is variable and consists of steep hills or flat valleys, areas rich or poor in prey abundance, areas that have good or poor hunting sites, etc. Individual animals settle in areas that fit their needs. However, when young individuals disperse from the area where they were born, they may need to travel through terrain that is unsuitable, such as areas with no water or poor in prey abundance. Knowledge of how different landscape features affect snow leopards’ ability to move around can help identify important corridors between mountains and assess how connected the populations are. In the paper, the researchers describe the independent movements of three young snow leopards that crossed long distances on the steppe (vast flat grassy plains) in their attempts to reach the next mountainous habitat. If you’re a snow leopard, the landscape surrounding the Tost Mountains, our study area in South Gobi of Mongolia, can be compared to an archipelago where the mountains constitute suitable islands and the surrounding steppe represents the unsuitable sea.  While crossing the steppe, the snow leopards typically traveled at night, and moved more than six times faster than they do in the mountains. This behavior indicates that snow leopards perceive the flat steppe as dangerous, hence the need to travel fast under the cover of darkness. The longest distance a snow leopard traveled in the steppe was almost 160 km. One snow leopard traveled south towards the border between Mongolia and China, where it appears to have encountered a border fence it was unable to cross, illustrating how linear infrastructure like border fences or fenced railway tracks can isolate snow leopard populations. A fascinating finding of this research is that the dispersing snow leopards traveled towards the next  mountain range that was visible from their departure points in Tost. This suggests that relatively undisturbed flat areas themselves may not be isolating snow leopard populations, as dispersing snow leopards can cross long distances on the steppe, provided that there are visible mountains to aim for at their departure points. On the other hand, human-built structures such as fences hinder their movements and can cause populations to get disconnected and fragmented. This study underscores the importance of a landscape approach when working to conserve species such as snow leopards that have extensive spatial requirements. Even though the steppe is not a habitat for snow leopards, in the sense that they do not settle there, it can serve as an important travel corridor that connects populations. Linear infrastructure like fences, roads and mining developments fragment the landscape and can disrupt the natural movement of snow leopards and their prey, and must be planned carefully.   The full paper titled: Natal dispersal and exploratory forays through atypical habitat in the mountain-bound snow leopard can be read here.  Sign up for our monthly E-News to get all the latest snow leopard conservation updates. Photo credits: SLCF-Mongolia Acknowledgments: We are thankful to the Ministry for Environment and Green Development, the Government of Mongolia, and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences for supporting our work. We thank the Disney Conservation Fund, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, National Geographic Society, and the Whitley Fund for Nature for their support. The post Where the wild things go appeared first on Snow Leopard Trust.

What is GSLEP? GSLEP is a first-of-its-kind intergovernmental alliance comprised of environment ministers from all snow leopard range countries. Snow Leopard Trust was instrumental in creating and supporting this path-breaking model of cooperative nature conservation.  This 13th steering committee meeting will bring together environment ministers from snow leopard range countries, representatives from partner organizations and international financial institutions to discuss the current status of snow leopard conservation.  Sessions will focus on climate action and adaptation support for local and indigenous communities and snow leopard conservation, the ethical conservation movement, transboundary cooperation, innovative conservation financing mechanisms, and sustainable practices in linear infrastructure. And the snow leopard will be promoted as an international icon of climate resilience. Why focus on climate adaptation programs? The high mountains of Asia known as Earth’s Third Pole, provide water to support a third of humanity. It is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change, with the rate of warming expected to be twice that of the Northern Hemisphere. Melting glaciers, extreme events, changing seasonal patterns and enhanced risk of diseases are putting the region’s people and wildlife populations at greater risk. Climate Adaptation strategies are urgently needed for the communities that have a high dependence on ecosystem services.  According to a GSLEP representative, “While the world is aware of the plight of the North and South Poles, the “Third Pole” – Asia’s high mountains – faces a silent crisis. The endangered snow leopard is the symbol of the importance and vulnerability of the Third Pole. This magnificent species has brought all our nations together to collaborate for conservation and climate action in Asia’s high mountains under the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program.”  During this week’s sessions, representatives from our team will ask environmental ministers and political leaders across snow leopard range countries to take the following actions: Strengthen efforts to protect snow leopards and turn this iconic mountain species into the international symbol of climate resilience across the Earth’s Third Pole. Implement climate-resilient livelihood and income development programs for local and indigenous communities linked to people’s well-being and conservation of snow leopards. Strengthen disease and healthcare management in snow leopard habitats to minimize disease risks for people, livestock and wildlife. Ensure that economic and infrastructure development in mountain ecosystems are sensitive to the needs of snow leopards and their habitat. Thank you for answering the call to protect snow leopards and the people who live alongside them by signing and sharing the petition. Your voice matters for snow leopards and for humanity. Thank you to the generous sponsors for supporting the 13th GSLEP Steering Committee Meeting. Hosted by: Ministry of Ecology, Environment Protection and Climate Change, Government of Uzbekistan and the Secretariat of the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program Supported by: International Snow Leopard Trust, United Nations Environment Program, World Wildlife Fund, United States Agency for International Development, and Peace Nexus Foundation Photo credit: Tashi R. Ghale The post Snow leopards have the power to unite people and bring nations together appeared first on Snow Leopard Trust.

The Women for Snow Leopards project will train local women to monitor and estimate snow leopard populations in their region. Understanding population size and trends is critical to evaluating threats and solutions to help inform global conservation efforts to protect these endangered cats. Read Deepshikha’s first-hand account below.  “I visited Kibber village in October to start training women for winter camera trapping. (no physical trapping, only motion-activated research cameras) We spent 5 days training and setting up camera traps in the landscape around Kibber. The cameras were active for the duration of winter. http://snowleopard.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Deepshikha-WhatsApp-Video-2024-01-12-at-18.40.18.mp4 During the workshop, we discussed how camera trapping is an essential tool for population estimation of species. We learned how to set up, place, and monitor a camera trap and how to use a GPS device. Then we went out in the field and placed the camera traps in 10 locations across the village pastures, where we observed signs of snow leopard-like scat, scraps or scent markings.  Ten women participated in the workshop and are now part of the core camera trapping team in Kibber Village. The youngest is 27 years old and the oldest is 53. Of the ten women, two do not have any formal education and one is a college graduate. However, all of them participated equally. The older women also shared some interesting folk tales about the animals found in their landscape. They were also more knowledgeable about the landscape and guided the younger participants. The younger, more formally educated women helped the older women navigate some technical aspects of the camera traps. It was wonderful to see them partner with and help each other. Although we had initially planned to remove the camera traps, the team decided to replace the batteries and memory cards in the cameras while keeping them in the same locations. We have now obtained our first set of photos captured by our camera traps!”  Deepshikha and the team will soon begin instruction on “tagging” their captured photos. Tagging is the practice of identifying the species captured and adding that information to the images. After that, Deepshikha expects to work with her team to develop the skills necessary to review the photos using a laptop. They will discuss the ethics of camera trapping (and how to avoid ethical quandaries where possible) and potentially even work with the women to learn how to identify snow leopard individuals captured on camera. This program is so successful that a neighboring village already has an interested group of women eager to be the region’s next team of camera trappers. Sign up for our monthly E-News to stay up to date on this exciting program and other snow leopard conservation news. Deepshikha’s Conservation Nation Fellowship was made possible with the support of Catmosphere.org, a foundation dedicated to raising awareness for crucial work in Big Cat conservation. Photo credits: NCF-India The post Women for Snow Leopards appeared first on Snow Leopard Trust.

When are snow leopards old enough to breed? Based on data available from the wild, it appears that female snow leopards are ready to have their own cubs by age 3 or 4. Male snow leopards are likely sexually mature by age 2 or 3 but are not big or experienced enough to defend a territory until they are around 4 years old. Therefore they likely don’t participate in mating until this age.  http://snowleopard.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/mongolia_tost_2022.11.27_SLT190_prenel-cubs_video.mp4 How do snow leopards find each other in such vast and remote habitat? Female home ranges are generally centered on the border between two or more males, providing them with a choice as to which of the overlapping males to mate with. Scent marking is likely important before mating season as the cats need to show where they are, who they are, etc. These also serve as territorial markings so they are needed year-round. Vocalizations occur in mating season, but we don’t know how common they are. It is windy in the mountains and the cats can probably not hear sounds from too far a distance. Though to find a cat within, say 500 m – 1 km, they are likely useful. http://snowleopard.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/RCNX0083.mp4 Video: snow leopard scent marking When do snow leopards typically mate? Mating season for wild snow leopards is between January and March. During this time, a male and a female will travel together for a few days and copulate. We have four instances when GPS-collared males and females traveled together during the mating season. These lasted between 1 and 8 days. Most likely, the 1-day occasion is an underestimate. It could be that one of the collars did not take locations as programmed or that another, unmarked, cat came in and pushed one of the collared cats away, as it seems rather short. But we don’t know for sure.  In one of those instances, the mating pair of snow leopards were together for four days in early March. Most of the time, they were not more than 10 meters away from each other. Three months after that, the female started to decrease her home range size and two weeks later, we found her den site where she had a small cub.  Interestingly, one February, while following GPS signals from collared female F12, Gustaf noticed signs of two cats walking on the same track for quite a while. “It was F12 and male M15. Then I came across what I think were signs in the snow of two cats mating. I can’t be sure, but the timing and the situation make it likely.” Do snow leopards hunt cooperatively when they are together for mating? The average interval between snow leopard kills is 8 days though it is not uncommon for cats not to kill anything for 14 days. It would not be unusual if they didn’t hunt during the time they are together for mating. Though, if an opportunity presented itself, I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to make a kill.  What is the gestation period for female snow leopards? The female is typically pregnant for 90-105 (mean 96) days before retiring to a sheltered den site and giving birth to her cubs between April and July (the mean date for the litters we have studied is June 3). The mother raises her offspring alone, providing food and shelter for her cubs. The cubs open their eyes when they are around seven days old. Between one and three cubs are usually born in each litter. Do male snow leopards pose a threat to young snow leopard cubs? In many other large carnivore species, it has been shown that females mate with several males. It is suggested that this is a way to reduce the risk of infanticide (males killing offspring). We do not think that infanticide is common in snow leopards because they have a fixed mating season, and males and females are very similarly sized, implying that females could protect their cubs with aggression. We suspect that in the event that a male killed the cubs, the female would not come into oestrus again (until the next mating season). Though again, we do not know this for sure.  How long do cubs stay with their mothers? Cubs typically remain with their mother until their second winter (20–22 months of age), when they start moving away and leave their mother for a few days at a time. This initiation of independence appears to coincide with their mother mating again. In our research, two female cubs remained in their mothers’ territory for several months after the initial separation, whereas the male cub quickly dispersed. When examined across 11 Felid species in relation to their body size, it was clear that snow leopard cubs stay with their mothers longer than any other medium-to-large-sized cat. This may be related to their mating behavior and the difficulty juvenile snow leopards might face hunting their prey in steep terrain. For example, the mountainous habitat, low density and large size of the prey relative to their own body size could imply that snow leopard mothers may have fewer opportunities to release large prey for their cubs to practice successful hunting. This could be one of the factors contributing to young snow leopards becoming independent at an older age.  Female snow leopard with sub-adult cubs How does this research benefit snow leopard conservation? Reproductive data including breeding ages, mate selection, birth rates, sex ratios, litter sizes, dispersal ages, etc., are all critical to our work to protect snow leopards. These variables are largely unknown for wild snow leopards but essential for developing conservation actions to ensure this endangered cat’s future.  Photo credit: Lionel Falcao The post The Secret Love Lives of Wild Snow Leopards appeared first on Snow Leopard Trust.

In the autumn of last year, our team of international and Mongolian conservationists collared two new snow leopards in Mongolia – Sym (M21) and an as-yet-unnamed male (M22). This means we are currently tracking four cats, the two others being Presnel (F15) since fall 2022 and Suul3 (M20) since spring 2023. Tracking these cats in the Tost Mountains of South Gobi gives invaluable insight into the lives of snow leopards, such as the size of their home ranges and the type of terrain they prefer. The collars are programmed to fall off, typically in 20 months, and our teams then go and recover them for downloading data and refurbishing. This valuable information helps inform where and how we enact conservation programs to protect this endangered species. The GPS data provides a window into the little-known aspects of the lives of snow leopards and allows us to make basic inferences about them.  So, what have these snow leopards been up to? The map below shows the general movements over time for the cats, with each dot being a GPS data point. Over time, this gives us an idea of their home ranges and where they spend most of their time. Collared cats shaded relief – Red is Presnel (F15); Green is Suul3 (M20); Light blue is Sym (M21); Dark blue is M22. The brown and purple dots are from cats we are no longer tracking. Presnel’s GPS movements suggest she is hunting one large prey about every three days – though we are still trying to make a more exact calculation. This would be a much higher rate than an average adult snow leopard, even when taking into account that a female with cubs would need to hunt more frequently. Amongst the prey she killed, two individuals were known to us – both of the female ibexes that our team had collared last fall. Presnel’s cubs seen below were born in 2022 and may have separated from their mother by now. We’ll monitor our cameras closely to see if Presnel has a new litter of cubs this year. Click to view slideshow. Suul3 (M20) was seen on camera traps for multiple years before our team collared him. While it may not be obvious from the map, he has a fairly small home range compared to an average male. This may be because he is squeezed between the home ranges of two other males and has not had the opportunity to expand. Our scientists note that he seems to have a couple of favorite spots, notably a very interesting pass-through cave (photo below) and a mountaintop near a herder’s camp. Click to view slideshow. Sym (M21) is a big male we have seen on cameras a number of times. Camera trap photos suggested he had established a sizable home range last year. However, when our team collared him in the spring he had lost an eye and had noticeable scars on his face, likely in confrontations with other males. He has since shifted to the west and now roams without a concentrated range. It’s possible he is no longer able to effectively defend a territory, and the map above suggests he is now floating across multiple other cats’ ranges. Click to view slideshow. M22 is also floating around the western edges of this mountain range and overlaps considerably with Sym. This male has so far evaded our cameras, so he is likely young and still establishing himself. Both he and Sym noticeably do not overlap with other nearby males Kurzawa and The Dude, suggesting that both are still around and defending their territories. You may have noticed the dark blue dot outliers on the map above – at some point in the fall, M22 wandered onto the steppe to the north, returning to the mountains the following night. We can’t know for sure why he made the journey to the steppe – perhaps curiosity got the best of him. These collared individuals are part of a long-term ecological study spanning multiple animals and species. This comprehensive research aims to understand the whole ecosystem in the study area, from the snow leopard at the top of the food chain down to its prey, both wild and domestic, and the interactions between people and the environment. This crucial information helps us better understand these species and the threats they face enabling us to inform global conservation efforts to protect them and foster coexistence.  Please consider a gift today to help protect and better understand the endangered snow leopard. This long-term ecological study is in collaboration with Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation in Mongolia and Snow Leopard Trust with special thanks to the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism, the Government of Mongolia, and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences for their support. SLT would also like to acknowledge: Acton Family Giving, Bioparc Zoo de Doue la Fontaine, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, Idaho Falls Zoo at Tautphaus Park, Kolmarden Zoo, Korkeasaari Zoo, Nordens Ark, Play for Nature, Tierpark Berlin, The Big Cat Sanctuary/Wildlife Heritage Foundation, Tulsa Zoo, Whitley Fund for Nature, Zoo Basel, Zoo Dresden, Zoo New England and the many incredible partners who have supported programs like our Long-term Ecological Study and research in Mongolia since it began in 2008. We could not do this work without you. Thank you to all the many incredible partners who have supported our Long-term Ecological Study and research in Mongolia since it began in 2008. We could not do this work without you. The post Where Are They Now? Collared Cat Updates appeared first on Snow Leopard Trust.

My Favorite Memories of 2022 – Letter from our Executive Director How Women in Pakistan are Protecting Snow Leopards Want to Test Your Snow Leopard IQ? Amazing Video of Snow Leopard Hunting Prey Success! Collared Cat Number 35 Now On Air The 2022 Snow Leopard Selfies are Here! What’s Your Bird IQ? What Will Climate Change Mean for Snow Leopards? What do Mountain Gorillas and Snow Leopards have in Common? Watch our Award-Winning Documentary Short Film Series A Vision for Global Nature Conservation Have you seen the spectacular snow leopard footage in Planet Earth III? The post Our favorite stories from 2023 appeared first on Snow Leopard Trust.

Venice’s first day of charging a fee to enter the historic center went mostly smoothly, but there were some protests and polemics.

“The fate of the hostages and the civilian population in Gaza, who are protected under international law, is of international concern,” the leaders said in a joint statement.

Of the 160 whales stranded near the town of Dunsborough on Thursday morning, more than 100 were returned to the ocean. Twenty-nine others, however, died on the beach.