First of its kindThe survey conducted between 2019 to 2023 covered 70 per cent of the species’ habitats (120,000 square kilometres) encompassing western and eastern Himalayas which are mostly out of protected regions.The mammoth exercise involved setting out camera traps in nearly 2,000 locations recording more than 180,000 nights — the equivalent to nearly 500 years — to record 241 individual leopards on camera. WII coordinated the exercise with the support of States and conservation partners.Before this survey, there was little to no information about snow leopards in the public conservation domain. Also, the species range in India was undefined. Earlier surveys and research on the species were confined to smaller areas of Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh until 2016. Recent status surveys have significantly increased understanding, providing preliminary information for 80 per cent of the range (about 79,745 km2), compared to 56 per cent in 2016.Based on data analysis, the estimated snow leopard population in different states are as follows: Ladakh (477), Uttarakhand (124), Himachal Pradesh (51), Arunachal Pradesh (36), Sikkim (21), and Jammu and Kashmir (9).The Snow Leopard Trust, a US-based conservation group, says the exact total number is not known but that “there may be as few as 3,920 and probably no more than 6,390 snow leopards” across 12 countries in Asia.
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