Read: The Ghost of the Mountains by Kulbhushansing Suryawanshi ★★★★ 📚
Our review of the world’s studies on snow leopard populations had found that less than 10,000 of the estimated 3 million square kilometres of the snow leopard distribution range had been surveyed by researchers using rigorous scientific methods. The total snow leopard habitat in the state of Himachal Pradesh alone was 25,000 square kilometres.
The largest area to have been surveyed was a mere 1,500 square kilometres in the Gobi in Mongolia.…..
We decided to take the challenge head-on and estimate the snow leopard population for the state of Himachal Pradesh – an area two and a half times larger than all the previous surveys put together. An area the size of Belgium covered in some of the tallest mountains and deepest gorges in the world.
The survey would test us to our limits. Not only our physical ability to walk such a large and mountainous area to collect the necessary data but our ability to think through technical problems of study design and analysis.
A personal history of studying snow leopards over 20 years. Interesting in surprising ways. Connects the conservation efforts to politics, tourism, & local people. Nicely personal. The changes over time are especially powerful.