Snow Leopards in Nepal : Predator-Prey System on the Top of the World

Snow leopard ( Panthera uncia ) is an endangered species, and its population size is steadily declining. The main threats to the snow leopard include illegal trade, conflict with locals (human-snow leopard conflict), lack of conservation, awareness and policy, and climate change. To avoid its extinction, we badly need a good knowledge of its ecology, distribution and population dynamics, including interactions with its prey, which will take into account various scenarios of changes in climate and human impact on snow leopard. This book aims to put together a considerable amount of unpublished data collected by the co-author of most of the chapters, Bikram Shrestha, which might be useful for other researchers working on snow leopard. In addition, researchers might find it useful to have a key for determining the diet of snow leopard based on remnants of its food in its scats. Last, but not least, based on the difficulty we experienced trying to compare and combine different sets of results, we propose a general methodology for collecting data. Thus, this book is not an all-encompassing compendium, but an attempt to fill some gaps in the literature and to show, how to publish new data on snow leopard in a useful and workable way. The first part, describing the main features of snow leopard and its main prey ecology, is followed by a comprehensive review of data available on its abundance and threats to its survival. The third, most extensive part―the substance of the book―presents new data from 15 years of intensive camera trapping combined with scat sampling. These data are analyzed by means of advances GIS and genetic techniques, which yields a large amount of conservation implications. The purpose of this book is to provide a tool for both environmental managers and researchers to find quickly what is known about this species for conservation planning and for an effective protection of snow leopard. However, enthusiasts interested in wild cats may welcome the book, too. Preface 5 Acknowledgements 9 Contents 10 Contributors 12 1 Distribution, Threats and Conservation of Snow Leopard Throughout the World 14 1.1 Introduction 14 1.1.1 Nomenclature, Description and Conservation Status 14 1.1.2 Snow Leopard Reproduction and Diet 16 1.2 Worldwide Distribution of Snow Leopard 17 1.2.1 Distribution in the World 17 1.2.2 Distribution in Nepal, India and Bhutan 20 1.2.3 Population and Distribution in China and the Former Soviet Union 21 1.2.4 Population and Distribution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia 27 1.3 Threats to Snow Leopard 29 1.3.1 Human-Snow Leopard Conflict 29 1.3.2 Illegal Trade 30 1.3.3 Lack of Awareness and Policy 30 1.3.4 Climate Change 31 1.4 Conservation Aspects of Snow Leopard 33 1.4.1 Legislation 33 1.4.2 International Cooperation 34 1.4.3 Education and Awareness 35 1.4.4 Financial Support 36 1.5 Conclusions 37 References 38 2 Snow Leopard in Nepal—A Case Study 46 2.1 Introduction 46 2.2 Data Sampling 47 2.2.1 Database 47 2.2.2 Literature 47 2.2.3 Studies: Then and Now 49 2.3 Distribution of Snow Leopard in Nepal 49 2.3.1 Estimating Snow Leopard Abundance 50 2.3.2 Population Status 50 2.3.3 Habitat Ecology and Home Range 54 2.4 Diet of Snow Leopard in Nepal 57 2.5 Human-Snow Leopard Conflict and Public Attitude to Conservation in Nepal 63 2.6 Threat and Trade in Nepal 66 2.7 Conservation Measures in Nepal 66 2.8 Future Perspectives 67 References 68 3 Methods of Estimating Snow Leopard Abundance 74 3.1 Sign Surveys (SLIMS) 74 3.2 Predator-Prey Biomass Ratio 76 3.3 Genetic Analyses 78 3.4 Camera Traps 79 3.5 Capture-Recapture Method 80 3.5.1 Buffering Capture Locations to Obtain Size of Area Effectively Sampled 80 3.5.2 Spatial Explicit Capture-Recapture Method (SECR) 81 3.6 Biotelemetry (Global Positioning System, Collaring and Radio Collaring) 82 3.7 Comparison of the Methods Used for Estimating the Population Density of Snow Leopards 83 References 84 4 A Key for Identifying the Prey of Snow Leopard in Nepal Using Features of the Structure of the Hair of Their Prey Present in Their Faeces 88 4.1 Introduction 88 4.2 Hair Collection, Preparation and Identification 90 4.2.1 Reference Collection 90 4.2.2 Microscopical Preparation 90 4.2.3 Hair Identification 94 4.2.4 Identification of Unknow Hairs of Prey in Snow Leopard Scat 95 4.2.5 Macroscopic Observation 95 4.2.6 Microscopic Measurements 95 4.2.7 Microscopic Characteristics 95 4.3 Key for Identifying the Hair of the Prey of Snow Leopard 95 4.4 Summary 99 Box 4.1—Appendix 100 References 106 5 Abundance of Snow Leopards and Their Prey in the Annapurna and Everest Regions of Nepal 108 5.1 Introduction 108 5.2 Study Area 110 5.3 Methodology 110 5.3.1 Locations of the Transects Monitored 110 5.3.2 Snow Leopard Abundance Based on Sign Surveys 113 5.3.3 Snow Leopard Abundance Based on Camera Trapping 113 5.3.4 Prey Survey (Blue Sheep in ACA and Himalayan Tahr in SNP) 116 5.4 Results 120 5.4.1 Comparison of the Transects 120 5.4.2 Non-target Animals in the Areas Studied 128 5.4.3 Indicators of Snow Leopard Abundance and Population Size 128 5.4.4 Numbers of Snow Leopards Recorded Using Camera Traps 131 5.4.5 Population Density per 100 km2 Based on Sign Encounter Rate and RAI 133 5.4.6 Abundance of Blue Sheep in Lower Mustang and Upper Manang 133 5.4.7 Abundance of Himalayan Tahr in the Sagarmatha National Park 137 5.5 Discussion 140 5.5.1 Monitored Transects 140 5.5.2 Snow Leopard Abundance, Population Size and Density 141 5.5.3 Abundance of Blue Sheep in Lower Mustang and Upper Manang 143 5.5.4 Abundance of Himalayan Tahr in the Sagarmatha National Park 144 5.5.5 Take-Home Message of This Chapter 146 Appendix—Box 5.1 147 References 151 6 Assessment of the Suitability of Particular Areas in Nepal for Snow Leopard Based on MaxEnt Modelling 154 6.1 Introduction 155 6.2 Study Area 156 6.3 Methodology 156 6.3.1 Snow Leopard Occurrence Data and Modelling 156 6.4 Results 162 6.4.1 MaxEnt Model Performance 162 6.4.2 Distribution of Suitable Habitat for Snow Leopard with Predictor Variables 162 6.5 Discussion 168 References 170 7 Non-invasive Genetic Sampling of Snow Leopards and Other Mammalian Predators in the Annapurna and Sagarmatha Regions of Nepal 173 7.1 Introduction 174 7.2 Study Areas 175 7.3 Methods 175 7.3.1 Scat Sampling 175 7.3.2 Extraction of DNA Used in the Identification of Snow Leopard 175 7.3.3 ID PCR Used to Determine the Sex of a Snow Leopard 176 7.3.4 Identification of Individuals Based on Microsatellite Loci 177 7.3.5 Identification of Common Leopard 179 7.3.6 Identification of the Sex of Common Leopards 180 7.3.7 Identification of Other Carnivores 180 7.4 Results 181 7.4.1 PCR Identification of Snow Leopards 181 7.4.2 PCR Identification of the Sex of Snow Leopards 182 7.4.3 Processing of Microsatellite Chromatograms 183 7.4.4 PCR Identification of Common Leopards and Their Sex 184 7.4.5 Screening of the Samples for Evidence of Presence of Other Carnivores 184 7.5 Discussion 184 References 187 8 Snow Leopard-Human Conflict and Effectiveness of Mitigation Measures 189 8.1 Introduction 190 8.2 Study Area 192 8.3 Methodology 192 8.3.1 Questionnaire and Survey 192 8.3.2 Threat Assessment 193 8.4 Results 200 8.4.1 Livestock Mortality 200 8.4.2 Livestock Herding 201 8.4.3 Local People’s Knowledge and Perception of Snow Leopards 202 8.4.4 Ways of Mitigating Snow Leopard-Human Conflict Suggested by Local People 202 8.4.5 Mitigation Measures Adopted 204 8.4.6 Threats to Conservation 207 8.5 Discussion 207 8.5.1 Livestock Mortality 207 8.5.2 Livestock Herding 209 8.5.3 Local People’s Perception of Snow Leopards and Suggested Mitigation Measures 210 8.5.4 Threats to the Conservation of Snow Leopards 210 References 211 9 Description of the Study Areas 214 9.1 Administrative Districts in Nepal 214 9.2 Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) 215 9.2.1 Lower Mustang (LM) 216 9.2.2 Upper Mustang (UMS) 217 9.2.3 Upper Manang (UM) 218 9.3 Manaslu Conservation Area (MCA) 218 9.3.1 Tsum Valley (Chhekampar VDC) 219 9.4 Sagarmatha National Park (SNP) 220 References 222