Snow Leopard

• The Snow Leopard has now been declared the national symbol of Kyrgyzstan.

ABOUT SNOW LEOPARD

• Scientific Name– Panthera uncia
• Habitat

• Global- mountainous regions of central and southern Asia.
• India- Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

• They play a key role as a top predator, an indicator of the health of their high-altitude habitat, and, increasingly, an important indicator of the impacts of climate change on mountain environments.
• Threats include poaching, habitat loss and declining prey, human-wildlife conflict and warming in the higher reaches.
• Protection status
  • IUCN Red List – Vulnerable
  • CITES- Appendix I
  • WPA 1972- Schedule-I

OTHER FACTS

• Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme (GSLEP) is an alliance of 12 snow leopard range countries, multi-lateral institutions, NGOs, scientists and local communities, working to save the specie.
• The 12 countries are –Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.