The Snow Leopard in China

China holds possibly the greatest proportion of the world's snow leopard population of any single country. This endangered species occupies the mountains of Central Asia, occurring within 12 countries. The area of good quality suitable habitat for snow leopards in China is estimated at nearly 300,000km², more than half that available across their entire range. The scale and diversity of the county's ecosystems and human infrastructure present great challenges and also potential opportunities to engage the Chinese public with conservation issues at a critical time in the country's development.

The Pamir Mountains range across Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, forming a hub with the Karakorum Mountains connecting the remaining major mountain ranges of Central Asia. The connectivity of these mountain ranges is critical for the long term survival of snow leopards. In China, these mountains are found in the province of Xinjiang in the northwest of the country. The Taxkurgan Reserve was established in 1984 in west Xinjiang and lies along the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. On the Pakistan border the reserve is positioned adjacent to the Karakorum National Park and there is a long term goal to promote transboundary conservation in this area for the benefit of endangered species such as snow leopard and Marco Polo sheep. The  importance of this region is further highlighted by its position at the junction of two designated biodiversity hot spot areas: the Mountains of Central Asian and the Himalaya. In both hot spot areas the significance of these high mountain environments for biodiversity conservation and their fragility are common themes.

This area was surveyed for snow leopard in the 1980s, at which point few snow leopard sign were apparent across the wider area. The exception was the area in the vicinity of the Mariang community, where the population of snow leopards was estimated to be between 50 and 75. In more than two decades since these initial surveys, social and economic situation within China has changed markedly and the status of snow leopards in this area has remained uncertain amidst this change. We therefore deem it essential, for the development of conservation for this region, that evidence be gathered urgently to determine if former hot spots are still potentially viable. Here we aim to follow up recent surveys carried out by WildCRU and BFU (Riordan, Shi et al. submitted) showing that snow leopards may still occur in Mariang and other communities in Taxkurgan after a period of 23 years, although their distributions may be seasonally skewed by human activity, principally grazing.

Preliminary surveys and interviews with local communities were carried out in the north area of Taxkurgan Reserve in 2007 and 2008 by a collaborative team including BFU, WildCRU, WCAX and XFA. From these surveys, evidence for the current presence of snow leopard was reported in the vicinity of Mariang (Riordan, Shi et al. submitted). This reconfirmed earlier surveys carried out in the 1980s (Schaller, Li et al. 1987). Other wildlife surveys have been carried out in the northern reserve, including on Marco Polo sheep (Ovis ammon polii). Snow leopard surveys have been carried out in the neighbouring areas of Pakistan along with surveys for other wildlife.
 
Conservation action for snow leopard in China is of vital importance and legal protections exist. Population assessments of snow leopard in China have been made on the basis of the area of suitable habitat and estimates of population density from other parts of the species range. Surveys such as those we are proposing are a critical first step towards devising conservation planning for the snow leopard in China.

Within WildCRU particularly there is an existing and growing expertise with felid biology, including lion, cheetah, jaguar, tiger, wild cats to name a few. There is also a growing expertise in camera trapping wild felids at low densities, such as clouded leopard in Borneo, puma in Chile and tigers in Butan. This project sits within this growing programme of research and expertise and will both drawn benefits and make contributions, yielding what we believe will be truly ground breaking conservation research in a country of vital importance for the survival of snow leopards.

Within the wider programme, we are building capacity within Taxkurgan Reserve by providing both equipment and training for staff. We are deploying native language computers and providing training for key software (Microsoft Access, Excel and Word and ArcGIS) and basic data management. Field survey equipment and training will be provided in an on-going field-based capacity. Field-based "on the job" training will provide direct appreciation of the techniques being used and evening discussions will set these techniques in the context of general ecological and conservation principles.

Training and experience will be provided in the first instance for up to five key staff at both reserve-wide (2-3 staff members) and community centric levels (2 community representatives). Field training will include GPS use, data recording, transect based methods, distance sampling using binoculars and telescopes, sign surveys, camera trapping (placement and maintenance). It is also our intension to find potential candidates for the Diploma course on conservation biology being run by WildCRU and funded by Panthera.

We collaborate closely with both the Xinjiang Forestry Authority and the State Forestry Authority ensuring that the results of our surveys are effectively communicated to high levels of government.

Riordan, P. (1998). "Unsupervised recognition of individual tigers and snow leopards from their footprints." Animal Conservation 1(4): 253-262.

Riordan, P., K. Shi, et al. (2009). "Reconfirmation of snow leopards in Taxkurgan Nature Reserve, China after 20 years." Oryx.