Using Camera Traps and Sign to Count the Elusive Snow Leopard
No one knows how many 
snow leopards exist in the wild. Our estimates are “best guesses,” based on signs the cats
leave in the environment, and from crude computer-generated habitat models. If we are to ensure a future for the magnificent, endangered snow leopard,
conservationists must know far more about their distribution and population trend in the twelve countries where they range. That requires monitoring
snow leopard populations in representative areas and habitats to determine their current status. Are we dealing with the worst-case scenario of widespread
declining populations, or are numbers stable or possibly increasing in some places?
It is of course the Snow Leopard Conservancy’s goal that numbers should increase; to this end we apply a threats-based approach in order to identify the underlying root causes for any decline or disappearance of the cat from its historic range. Such baseline data is vital to helping scientists as well as donors evaluate the effectiveness of conservation actions and promote wise investment of both funds and human resources. Regular, consistent and scientifically valid monitoring is essential for establishing the extent of the species’ occupied range, or to detect changes in population size. The census tools employed must be accurate, reliable, cost effective and relatively easy to apply. Snow leopards are solitary, shy, and notoriously difficult to count, so it is hardly surprising that their current status and distribution remain so poorly known compared to other large cats. Surveys are logistically difficult to mount in the cat’s rugged and often politically sensitive mountain habitat, especially given the severe funding constraints most range countries are facing in protecting mountain biodioversity. And where surveys have been undertaken, the researchers often failed to use a standardized or comparable method.
Handbook on Camera Trapping of Snow Leopards
Thus, the Snow Leopard Conservancy is focusing on training range-country biologists and village stewards in conducting sign transects and setting remote camera traps for deriving reliable population estimates or counts. Our definitive Surveying Snow Leopard Populations with Emphasis on Camera Trapping: A Handbook is based on four years of in-depth research undertaken in the Hemis National Park, Ladakh supplemented with training workshops held in Nepal and Pakistan. We anticipate that this non-invasive technology will be more widely applied as camera traps become more affordable and easier to operate, and as digital technology improves. See below for downloading your own copy of the handbook.
To date, conservationists have relied on sign transects to estimate snow leopard abundance. Based on the scrapes, feces and pugmarks which indicate a cat’s presence, biologists have developed a crude index of relative abundance using the SLIMS (Snow Leopard Information System) protocol, developed by the International Snow Leopard Trust. The numbers of sign are tallied on fixed transects placed along routes traveled by leopards, and then compared with similar data collected in areas where the number of snow leopards is known, i.e., in Nepal’s Langu Valley where Rodney Jackson conducted the first radio-telemetry study of snow leopards in the early 1980s.
Unfortunately, the relationship between the amount of sign and the number of cats is poorly known and is likely too imprecise. For these reasons, the Snow Leopard Conservancy pioneered the use of non-invasive, remote camera traps to photographically “capture” this seldom-seen carnivore. Individuals are identified on the basis of their unique pelage patterns making it possible to estimate population size, identify resident cats and track individuals over time. Working with filmmakers Hugh Miles and Mitchell Kelly, we obtained the first remote video of snow leopards scraping and scent-marking their home ranges. See the PBS Nature Series (Silent Roar). Such footage helped determine what works best for identification purposes, a task made more difficult by the snow leopard’s thick, luxuriant coat.
Example of identification of two separate individuals based on pelage pattern; HNP-1 (top row) and HNP-3 (bottom row). Red lines indicate the primary features and the blue lines indicate the secondary features used for identification. The number of features varies with body posture.
We are now laying plans to apply camera trapping techniques elsewhere and to train range country biologists and researchers in this very promising technique. Also,
we have concluded that wildlife guards and local villagers can be trained in remote camera trapping using relatively inexpensive passive infrared cameras
deployed over long time spans at frequently visited rock-scents. The identification of individuals from their pelage pattern and the on-going cataloging of
all images accrued over time will provide information on the minimum number of individuals present and the duration of their “residency”
within the area surveyed. Knowing the individual snow leopards inhabiting a particular area helps promote stewardship of the species among interested
households in the local community.
Handbook Now Available in Chinese
This definitive handbook on camera-trapping of snow leopards has now been translated into Chinese. This translation brings an important non-invasive survey technique to researchers and protected area managers working in the four provinces: Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan, and two autonomous regions: Xinjiang Uygur, and Xizang (Tibet) harboring the endangered snow leopard.
Download the Chinese language handbook
Scientists estimate that China contains as much as 60% of all snow leopard habitat, with the primary threats being the growing trade in furs and bones (for traditional Asian medicine) and retaliation by shepherds when snow leopards kill their livestock.
Translation of the handbook is a collaborative effort between the Conservancy and the Xinjiang Conservation Fund, Irbis Mongolia, Fauna and Flora International-China, and the Japanese Wildlife Research Center in Tokyo.
For details contact the Conservancy or
Ge Yun at the Xinjiang Conservation Fund (XCF):
Liu Fang Bei Li No.9 Building, Unit 10, Room 102,
Chaoyang District, Beijing 100028, China
Phone: +86-10-64650701
Camera Trapping and Sign Survey Documents
Surveying Snow Leopard Populations
with Emphasis on Camera Trapping: A Handbook
There are three versions available of increasing print quality:
Lower resolution “Screen Version” (pdf file – 2.7 Mb).
Higher resolution “eBook” (pdf – 4.3 Mb).
If you would prefer to have this document on CD at nominal cost, please email us with your address and preferred postage option: Snow Leopard Conservancy
Camera Trapping of Snow Leopards, (307kb)
A more detailed technical paper has been submitted to the Wildlife Society Bulletin and is currently under review.
Although the following documents were developed for scientific research, it isn’t necessary to possess a scientific degree in biology to conduct a snow leopard sign transect. Following a training workshop, villagers in Northern Pakistan were able to conduct more than a dozen transects, providing the first such information on snow leopards in Skoyo (Baltistan) and prime leopard habitat along the buffer of the Khunjerab National Park, Pakistan’s premier snow leopard protected area. Of course, we also hope that this technique will be widely used by range country biologists and others conducting research on snow leopards. The necessary instructions and forms are available below.
Snow leopard sign transect method (pdf - 225kb)
Snow leopard sign transect form & spreadsheet for calculating sign density (Excel file - 95kb)
Rodney Jackson and Don O. Hunter, November 1996. Snow Leopard Survey
and Conservation Handbook, Snow Leopard Information System (SLIMS),
International Snow Leopard Trust, Seattle, Washington.
Copyright © 2005 Snow Leopard Conservancy
All Rights Reserved