Snow Leopard Manual: Field Study Techniques for the Kingdom of Nepal

1. What they did

This manual was written to help mid-level professionals in Nepal, such as protected area staff and students, survey snow leopards and their prey on their own. It follows a field workshop on snow leopard and prey census techniques held in Shey-Phoksundo National Park, Dolpa, in 1999, and a field survey there the same year. Shyam Bajimaya of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) prepared it for the WWF Nepal Program, adapting the 1996 Snow Leopard Survey and Conservation Handbook by Rodney Jackson and Don Hunter of the International Snow Leopard Trust (ISLT). Kristen Froede and Rodney Jackson of the Snow Leopard Conservancy edited it.

The manual has three sections and two annexes:

• The snow leopard. Physical features, distribution, habitat, home range, activity, breeding, prey, mortality and threats, with a focus on Nepal and lists of further conservation actions.
• Conducting a survey with the Snow Leopard Information Management System (SLIMS). Five steps: identify the survey area and sign transect locations; schedule and prepare; conduct the field survey (presence/absence or abundance); analyse the data; report and make recommendations.
• Surveying blue sheep. Rapid site visits and fixed-point counts of the snow leopard’s main prey, and how to study snow leopard food habits from scats.
• Annexes. The SLIMS field forms with their codes (presence/absence, sign transects, prey census), a livestock depredation interview form, and a questionnaire for local residents.

2. What they found

As a manual, it sets out methods and background rather than new results.

Background on snow leopards in Nepal

• Nepal’s population is roughly estimated at 300 to 500, a figure the manual says must be confirmed by field surveys with standard methods.
• Density is estimated at 10 to 12 snow leopards per 100 km² in the Langu Valley of Shey-Phoksundo National Park, the highest reported anywhere in the range at the time, and 4.8 to 6.7 per 100 km² in the Manang area of Annapurna Conservation Area. Most of Nepal probably has fewer than 0.1 to 0.5 per 100 km².
• In the Langu Valley, the ranges of five radio-tagged snow leopards overlapped almost entirely, but individuals used particular areas at different times and were on average 1.9 to 3.2 km apart.
• Snow leopards are most active at dawn and dusk, but become nocturnal where disturbed. They often stay within about a square kilometre for a while before moving to another part of their home range.
• An adult is estimated to kill 20 to 30 adult blue sheep a year, a large animal every 10 to 15 days, and stays at a kill for an average of 2.7 days. Scat analysis indicates livestock make up 15 to 25% of the diet, even in some national parks.
• The main threats named are poaching for fur and for bones used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, loss of prey, retaliatory killing by herders, loss of habitat, and lack of local awareness and support.

The snow leopard’s signs

The manual describes five kinds of sign:

• Scrapes: the most common and among the longest-lasting marks (up to a year), made with the hind feet, often in clumps of 2 to 10 or more, sometimes with urine. Sites reused over generations are called relic sites. Most scrapes are made in the January to March mating season.
• Scent sprays: sprayed onto upright or overhanging boulders and cliff bases, with the top of the mark 70 to 85 cm above the ground. Hair on the rock shows where a cat has cheek-rubbed.
• Feces (scats): usually on or within a metre of a scrape, or along trails.
• Claw rakes: on tree trunks or rock faces (claws rarely show in pugmarks because they are retracted).
• Pugmarks: adult pugmarks are 9 to 11 cm long and 7 to 9 cm wide. The front pugmarks are clearly larger and rounder than the more rectangular hind ones, and the heel pad has two front lobes and three rear lobes. A wolf track of similar size has a triangular heel pad with a single front lobe. Pugmarks of young animals are smaller, with more pointed toes and a more angular heel pad.

A table lists ways to tell snow leopard scrapes from common leopard scrapes: for example, snow leopard scrapes are often re-scraped, sculpted and arranged in tight circular clusters at relic sites, while common leopard scrapes run in a line beside the trail, look hastily made and are rarely re-scraped. Sign codes on Form 2 give age classes for each kind of sign, from very fresh to very old.

Survey methods

• Where to look: along well-defined ridgelines, stream confluences, the base or crest of cliffs and bluffs, and mountain passes and saddles, where snow leopards travel and mark. Spring is the best time for finding sign.
• Presence/absence surveys: interview knowledgeable local people, especially herders, then visit sites to verify what they report. Interview guidelines cover asking the same questions of everyone, gauging each person’s reliability, recording their own words, and cross-checking answers (triangulation).
• Abundance surveys: run many short sign transects (15 to 40 transects, 250 to 700 m long) rather than a few long ones, at least 1 to 3 km apart, searching a strip 5 m wide on each side, and repeat them at the same place, time of year and method each year. Sign frequency is classed as high, medium or low.
• Blue sheep: count from high points with a spotting scope, early or late in the day, in late June to August (after lambing) or late November to February (the rut). A table gives sex and age classes from horn size and body features, adapted from Schaller (1977). A single snow leopard is estimated to need a population of 150 to 230 blue sheep.
• Food habits and conflict: collect and label likely snow leopard scats, identify prey from hair and bone, and interview herders about livestock losses to all causes, not just predators.

3. What they concluded

• Up-to-date status and distribution surveys are urgently needed, and Nepal’s population estimate must be confirmed with standardised methods such as SLIMS.
• Sign surveys give a relative, not absolute, measure of abundance. They are most useful for comparing areas or years when the same methods are repeated.
• Finding sign shows a snow leopard has been there, but finding none does not prove they are absent: prey, habitat and interview information should be weighed too.
• Surveyors should record a species only when fairly sure of the identity of the animal that left the sign, and otherwise use a broader class such as “cat” or “dog”. It is better to err on the side of caution.
• Reports should be submitted promptly to the protected area authorities and to SLIMS, so the data can be entered into the SLIMS database and contribute to conservation.

4. How tracking was or was not used

The whole survey method rests on tracks and signs. Surveyors are taught to identify snow leopard pugmarks, scrapes, scats, scent sprays, urine and claw rakes, to tell them from the signs of common leopards, wolves, foxes and dogs, to judge the age of each sign, and to measure pugmarks (greatest length and width, and stride length). Abundance is measured as the number of signs found along sign transects of known length. Scats are collected to study diet, and tracks and other signs are used to tell which carnivore left a scat. Local people are asked what signs they have seen and where, and surveyors are asked to measure any pugmarks they are shown. No trailing of individual animals is described.

5. Tracker or observer certification

Not reported. The manual is a guide rather than a study, and it describes no certification or test of surveyors’ tracking skills. It asks surveyors to learn the signs before going into the field, to set ground rules so everyone collects data the same way, and to consult a qualified biologist when interpreting the data. Local informants are rated for reliability on a simple scale, and surveyors are encouraged to show them pictures of wildlife to test how reliable their observations are.

6. Other technologies, skills or innovations

• Standard SLIMS field forms with codes for species, site, habitat, landform, feature marked, sign type, sign age and substrate.
• Topographic maps (1:50,000 or 1:100,000), Global Positioning System (GPS), altimeter, clinometer, compass, binoculars and a spotting scope on a tripod.
• A tally counter with 1 m paces to measure transect length and the distance to each sign.
• Laboratory scat analysis, identifying prey from hair scale patterns with a reference collection of hairs and small rodent bones.
• Mapping interview areas so they can be entered into a Geographic Information System (GIS).

7. Implications for conservation (from the paper)

• Retaliatory killing of livestock-raiding snow leopards is described as rapidly becoming the most important conservation issue. Suggested actions include predator-proof corrals, better guarding and animal husbandry, veterinary care, and compensation in special cases such as multiple killings.
• Anti-poaching patrols, stronger law enforcement, a Kathmandu-based enforcement unit and training of customs officials are suggested against the fur and bone trade.
• Prey should be protected, with mapped summer and winter habitat and core areas where livestock grazing is excluded or limited, and parks should be linked by corridors.
• Local people’s support is seen as vital, through awareness programmes, school materials and reporting survey results back to the community.
• Protected area staff need more training in SLIMS methods, better equipment and incentives.