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Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

31/01/24 06:52 AM IST

First ever survey puts India’s snow leopard count at 718

In News
  • India has an estimated 718 snow leopards in the wild, according to a first-of-its kind, four-year long estimation exercise.
Major findings
  • The maximum number of cats were estimated to be in Ladakh (477), followed by Uttarakhand (124), Himachal Pradesh (51), Arunachal Pradesh (36), Sikkim (21), and Jammu and Kashmir (9).
  • The current estimate puts the number of Indian snow leopards from 10-15% of the global population.
  • Snow leopard occupancy was recorded in 93,392 sq km, with an estimated presence in 100,841 sq km.
  • Only five per cent or one-third of the region located in Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh was covered before 2016. The latest figures inform the range for 80 per cent area, compared to 56 per cent in 2016.
About the survey
  • The Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) began in 2019 and involves the World Wide Fund for Nature-India and the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysuru, along with the WII.
  • The exercise involved setting up cameras, or ‘camera traps,’ in 1,971 locations and surveying 13,450 km worth of trails which teams surveyed for recording signs of snow leopards such as scat, hair and other body markers.
Source- The Hindu

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