Snow Leopards and Global Warming

In the great mountains of central Asia, the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is facing the consequences of climate change. In Pakistan the snow leopard’s range is being impacted by warmer temperatures that both reduce the population of prey animals and open the snow leopard high mountain range to common leopards (Panthera pardus). Common leopards are more aggressive than snow leopards which makes them poor neighbors in the high mountain ranges that were once the sole province of the snow leopard.

The snow leopard has a wide habitat range of about 80,000 square kilometres in Pakistan and mostly lives above the treeline. In the Hindu Kush range, it is found in the Chitral district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and in the Karakoram range it is found in Gilgit, Ghizer, Hunza-Nagar, Skardu and Ghanche districts. Mehmood Ghaznavi, the conservator with the government of G-B’s Parks and Wildlife Department said that the estimated population of the snow leopard in Gilgit Baltistan is around 200.

Photo traps are providing evidence that common leopards are using the same game trails as snow leopards.

“We couldn’t believe that it was the camera trap photo of a common leopard captured in prime snow leopard habitat,” Hussain said. “The common leopard has never been reported in the Chitral Gol National Park before.”

According to Hussain, field experts believe that it is likely that climate change caused the common leopard to intrude on the snow leopard’s habitat.

“There is a likelihood that the common leopard might have come from the closest common leopard habitat, but that is yet to be known. The presence of the common leopard in the snow leopard’s territory can be dangerous for the snow leopard due to its aggressive nature.”

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