Diet of the snow leopard (<i>Panthera uncia</i>) in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

Oli, Madan K.; Taylor, Iain; Rogers, David M.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1993.tb01924.x

Cited by 73 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Although in the current study the occurrence of livestock was found in higher proportions of the scats, wild prey also made up a significant proportion of the diet of the snow leopard in Chitral compared to previous studies, i.e. in Manang, Nepal (Oli et al, 1993); Shule Nanshan, China (Schaller et al, 1988); Hemis Ladakh, India (Chundawat and Rawat, 1994); and Pin Valley, India (Bagchi and Mishra, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…The current study in Chitral was compared with those from other parts of Asia, such as the Manang region of the Annupurna conservation area in Nepal (Oli, 1993), the Yashu and Shula Nanshan regions of Qinghai Province in China (Schaller et al, 1988), the Hemis region of Ladakh (Chundawat and Rawat, 1994), and the Spiti region in India (Bagchi and Mishra, 2006), as shown in Table 5.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The food habits of mammalian predators are difficult to analyze because of the problems faced by researchers in observing the feeding behavior of solitary and elusive species like the snow leopard (Oli et al, 1993). A common problem in fecal analysis of mammalian predators is that the more obvious characteristics of the prey consumed are lost in the processes of mastication and digestion.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Large bones and teeth are generally fragmented and are of little importance, but the hair suffers little in the process of digestion and retains many identifiable features. Thus, the identification of remains, in particular hairs, has been reliably used in the dietary studies of a wide range of mammalian carnivores (Oli, 1991).…”

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Diet selection of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in Chitral, Pakistan

Khatoon¹,

Hussaın²,

Anwar³

et al. 2017

Turk J Zool

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IntroductionThe snow leopard is categorized as endangered in the 2009 IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2009). In Chitral Gol National Park, the status of snow leopard had changed from Tenuous Security to Seriously Threatened by 1974 as a result of hunting (Schaller, 1976). According to Ahmed (1994), the snow leopard faces problems of survival caused by the fur trade, conflicts with grazer communities, and the reduction of natural prey.Snow leopard inhabits high mountainous regions of Central and South Asia. Generally, it is found at altitudes ranging from 3000 m to 4000 m. However, it may descend to as low as 1500 m during winter (Schaller, 1977).In Pakistan, the snow leopard has a wide distribution in the northern mountainous region. It occurs sparsely in the northern Chitral, Dir, Swat, and Kohistan districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; the Gilgit-Baltistan districts of the Northern Areas (NA); and the Muzaffarabad district in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Ahmad, 1994).The total estimated wild population of the snow leopard is between 4500 and 7500 individuals in the world (Jackson et al., 2010). The number of snow leopards in Pakistan has been estimated to be 200-300 (Snow Leopard Network, 2014), while the total estimated population of snow leopard in Chitral was reported by Schellar (1977) as fewer than 250 individuals.Snow leopard has a critical role in the ecosystem and serves as an indicator species for Asia's high mountain ecosystems, as it resides at the top of the food chain, requires large home ranges, moves over vast areas, and flourishes under pristine conditions. It is also a flagship species around which people rally in support of farreaching conservation initiatives. By protecting snow leopards, one also protects the habitat for a host of other plant and animal species. Where the snow leopard occurs in good numbers, the environment is considered to be more productive and healthy. Snow leopards keep other species' numbers down and also improve their own genes with survival adaptations (Jackson and Hunter, 1996).An adult snow leopard requires approximately 3000-4000 kcal per kilgram of its body weight per day as determined by the mass-energy equation developed by Kleiber (1975). In a similar study, Emmons (1987) reported this requirement to be 40-45 g of food per Abstract: Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is an elusive endangered carnivore found in remote mountain regions of Central Asia, with sparse distribution in northern Pakistan, including Chitral and Baltistan. The present study determined the food habits of snow leopard, including preferred prey species and seasonal variation in diet. Fifty-six scat samples were collected and analyzed to determine the diet composition in two different seasons, i.e. summer and winter. Hair characteristics such as cuticular scale patterns and medullary structure were used to identify the prey. This evidence was further substantiated from the remains of bones, claws, feathers, and other undigested remains found in the scats. A total of 17 prey species were identified; 5 of them were l...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diet selection of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in Chitral, Pakistan

Khatoon¹,

Hussaın²,

Anwar³

et al. 2017

Turk J Zool

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“…For instance, the habitat of blue sheep is spaced out in mountainous terrain from the Qilian Mountains in the north to the Himalayas in the south (Aryal et al 2014), which includes Nepal, India, China, Pakistan and Mongolia. Unfortunately, there are no accurate estimates of blue sheep abundance (Schaller 1977;Oli et al 1993). Its other prey species include pika (Ochotona spp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abundance and threats to the survival of the snow leopard – a review

Valentová

2017

European Journal of Environmental Sciences

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Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is an endangered species and its population size is steadily declining. This review attempts to introduce and analyse the main factors threatening its survival in each of the countries in which it occurs: China, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. To conserve the remaining snow leopard populations, it is necessary to determine where it occurs in the various areas. Here, recent data on its worldwide distribution are presented. Snow leopard has a very secretive lifestyle, which makes it difficult to estimate its abundance. Therefore, I also present an overview of the methods, such as searching for signs of its presence, capture-recapture, predator : prey biomass ratios, photographic-capture rate and genetic analyses, used for estimating the abundance of snow leopard in different studies and discuss their advantages and disadvantages.

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Foods, macronutrients and fibre in the diet of blue sheep (Psuedois nayaur) in the Annapurna Conservation Area of Nepal

Aryal

Coogan

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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Food resources are often critical regulating factors affecting individual fitness and population densities. In the Himalayan Mountains, Bharal “blue sheep” (Pseudois nayaur) are the main food resource for the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia), as well as being preyed upon by other predators. Blue sheep, however, may face a number of challenges including food resource competition with other wild and domestic ungulates, and hunting pressure. Here, we characterized the diet of blue sheep in the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) of Nepal and conducted proximate nutritional analysis on a limited number of plants identified as foods. Furthermore, we investigated the macronutrient and fiber balance of these plants using nutritional geometry which is a state‐space approach to modeling multidimensional and interactive nutritional aspects of foraging. A total of 19 plant species/genera were identified in blue sheep pellets using microhistological analysis. On average, across seasons and regions of the study area, the two most frequently occurring plants in pellets were graminoids: Kobressia sp. and Carex spp. The macronutrient balance of Kobresia sp. was relatively high in carbohydrate and low in protein, while other plants in the diet were generally higher in protein and lipid content. Analysis of fiber balance showed that the two most consumed plants of blue sheep (i.e., Kobresia spp. and Carex spp.) contained the highest concentration of hemicellulose, which is likely digestible by blue sheep. The hemicellulose and lignin balance of plants ranged relatively widely, yet their cellulose contents showed less variation. Foraging by blue sheep may therefore be a balance between consuming highly digestible high‐carbohydrate plants and plants less‐digestible but higher in protein and/or lipid.

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Diet of the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

Cited by 73 publications

References 5 publications

Diet selection of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in Chitral, Pakistan

Diet selection of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in Chitral, Pakistan

Abundance and threats to the survival of the snow leopard – a review

Foods, macronutrients and fibre in the diet of blue sheep (Psuedois nayaur) in the Annapurna Conservation Area of Nepal

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