KATHMANDU — The elusive snow leopard (Panthera uncia), often described as the “ghost of the mountains,” has captivated the imagination of researchers, the general public and mountain communities for centuries. Fables related to this enigmatic big cat have been handed down from generation to generation, weaving a sense of mystery and reverence for the cat of the rugged mountain terrain. Its uncanny ability to blend seamlessly into its surroundings, coupled with its natural aversion to human presence, makes direct encounters exceptionally rare. The snow leopard is so elusive that even researchers dedicated to studying this animal often go years without seeing one in the wild. Despite their elusive nature, they play a crucial role in the mountain ecosystem as its apex predator and keystone species. That’s why the animal is one of the priority species for conservation activities in Nepal, where researchers deploy several techniques such as camera traps, tracking footprints in the snow and studying scat samples to learn more about snow leopards. The year 2024 marked significant milestones for the animal for several reasons. While a snow leopard was spotted for the first time in living memory in Nepal’s plains, the government shifted its conservation focus from research to conflict mitigation. Similarly, a government committee is aggregating various studies carried out around the country to come up with a scientific estimate of its population. Here’s a summary of Mongabay’s coverage of snow leopards in Nepal in 2024: Rare snow leopard sighting in Nepal’s ‘home of tiger’ puzzles conservationists…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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