KATHMANDU — A snow leopard found well outside its mountainous habitat in Nepal at the start of this year may have gotten lost while seeking out new territory, a new study says. The male snow leopard (Panthera uncia), believed to be between 1.5 and 2 years old, was found on Jan. 23 in the town of Urlabari in eastern Nepal, near the border with India. The town sits at an elevation of 146 meters (480 feet), while snow leopards in Nepal have only ever been recorded at elevations higher than 2,000 m (6,600 ft). There were initial fears that the snow leopard, which was found injured, may have been linked to the illegal wildlife trade. But an analysis of its droppings points to a more innocuous reason for how it got lost, according to the recent study. A snow leopard discovered in Urlabari town in eastern Nepal in a cage at the Central Zoo in Nepal. Image courtesy of Madhu Cheri “We found strands of hair belonging to naur [blue sheep, Pseudois nayaur] in the scat of the snow leopard collected after it was brought to [Kathmandu’s] Central Zoo,” study lead author Madhu Chetri told Mongabay. “This finding suggests that the snow leopard may have lost its way during dispersal and ended up in Urlabari.” Naur are only found at elevations that overlap with snow leopard range, meaning the juvenile cat must have ventured down from those heights shortly before it was found. Dispersal is the natural process in which…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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