Sign Surveys (SLIMS)

How many Snow Leopards are left in the wild?
Where should the Snow Leopard Conservancy concentrate its resources and effort to best effect?

Finding answers to these two questions are fundamental to our success at conserving this endangered species. Although scientists believe that some 3,000 to 7,500 snow leopards roam across their vast range in Central and South Asia, in truth this figure is merely a “best guess” that could be far off the target – unless we act quickly and embrace new tools for enumeration. Such numbers are based, rather tenuously, upon sparse and sporadic information extrapolated from a few limited places where biologists have made concerted efforts to count this elusive and superbly camouflaged carnivore. Their conclusions are based largely upon the distinctive sign that snow leopards leave in their environment, as well as from crude computer-generated habitat models. Clearly, if we are to ensure a future for this charismatic species, we need to know far more about its distribution and population trend in the twelve countries where snow leopards range. That requires monitoring their populations in representative areas and habitats to determine their current and future status. Are we dealing with the worst-case scenario of widespread, declining numbers, or are populations stable and even possibly increasing in some places?

Naturally, the Snow Leopard Conservancy’s goal calls us to help increase snow leopard and prey populations across the range. Toward this objective 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 have often failed to use a standardized or comparable method.

Rodney Jackson, Don Hunter and the International Snow Leopard Trust were instrumental in developing SLIMS or the Snow Leopard Information System protocol. This method depends largely upon detecting scrapes, feces and pugmarks and using this information to establish the species presence or its presumed absence (since negative surveys may simply reflect the observer’s inability to find and/or detect snow leopards where they might have occurred!). The amount and type of sign found offers a crude index of relative abundance; thus in each area, we tally the number of sign (by type) along fixed transects that follow routes most likely to be also traveled by snow leopards. These data are then compared with similar data from areas where the number of snow leopards present are known with greater certainty -- such as Nepal’s Langu Valley where Rodney Jackson conducted the first radio-telemetry study of snow leopards in the early 1980s.

Although the following documents were developed in support of scientific research, it isn’t necessary to possess a scientific degree in biology to conduct a snow leopard sign transect. Rather, one should be an observant and diligent naturalist, skills well within the capacity of some rural residents living within snow leopard habitat. 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.

Marking in Free-ranging Snow Leopards in West Nepal: A Preliminary
        Assessment (pdf - 1.36 Mb)

Snow Leopards in Nepal – Home Range and Movements (pdf - 1456 kb)

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