First-Ever Scientific Exercise Finds 718 Snow Leopards Exist In India; Highest In Ladakh With 477

A total of 718 snow leopards were recorded to exist in India as part of the Wildlife Institute of India's inaugural scientific study (WII). The report was made public by Union Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday during the National Board for Wildlife meeting in New Delhi.

The first-ever scientific endeavour is the Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) programme.

The Nature Conservation Foundation in Mysuru and WWF-India, two conservation partners, as well as all the states that fall under the snow leopard range's jurisdiction, supported this exercise, which is being coordinated nationally by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

The assessment encompassed over 70 per cent of the country's potential snow leopard range, or about 120,000 km2 of vital habitat across the trans-Himalayan region, including states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as the Union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The exercise was carried out using a rigorous two-step framework between 2019 and 2023. Camera traps were used to estimate the number of snow leopards in each stratified region that was identified.

In total, 13,450 km of trails were surveyed for snow leopard signs during the exercise, and 1,971 locations had camera traps set up for 180,000 trap nights.

With an estimated presence in 100,841 km2, the occupancy of snow leopards was recorded in 93,392 km2. A total of 241 distinct snow leopards were captured on camera.