# Markings as Indicator of Snow Leopard in Field Survey, in Xinjiang

> How do you study a cat you almost never see? In the mountains of Xinjiang, China, survey teams walked 67 transects and found 118 snow leopard signs, from footprints in the snow and clusters of up to 20 scrapes to scent spray on rock walls and yak carcasses. The signs showed where snow leopards still live, which terrain they favour, and how herder conflict and lost prey have emptied parts of their range.

Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 9 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/2005-ming-munkhtsog-markings-indicator-snow-leopard/

## Citation and access

- **Authors:** Ma Ming, Bariushaa Munkhtsog, Xu Feng, Mardan Turghan, Yin Shou-Jing and Wei Shun-De
- **Year published:** 2005
- **Journal or source:** Chinese Journal of Zoology (动物学杂志)
- **Full citation:** Ma, M., Munkhtsog, B., Xu, F., Turghan, M., Yin, S.-J. and Wei, S.-D. 2005. Markings as indicator of snow leopard in field survey, in Xinjiang [新疆雪豹调查中的痕迹分析]. Chinese Journal of Zoology 40(4): 34-39. (In Chinese with an English abstract.)
- **Access status:** Publisher link only
- **Where to find it:** https://snowleopardnetwork.org/b/show.php?record=681

## Tags

- **Species:** Mammals > Snow leopard
- **Region:** Asia > China
- **Tracking:** Beds; Blood; Claw marks; Feeding signs; Hair; Scat; Sign surveys; Snow tracks; Track measurements; Track photographs; Tracking; Tracks; Tracks and signs identification; Urine
- **Behaviour and ecology:** Behaviour; Communication; Habitat selection; Human disturbance
- **Methods and technology:** Descriptive statistics; Global Positioning System (GPS); Interviews; Survey instruments
- **Data type:** New field data
- **Observer qualification:** Not reported
- **Discipline:** Behaviour and ecology; Wildlife tracking
- **Year published:** 2005

## Detailed keywords

- **Species:** Studied: snow leopard (Uncia uncia). Prey named: argali (盘羊), Siberian ibex (北山羊), hares, marmots, snowcocks and chukar (石鸡); the paper gives no scientific names for these. Prey remains found: at least 8 yak carcasses eaten by snow leopards at Yinyar, and remains of Siberian ibex and argali in the Baitag Mountains. Possible confusion when identifying signs: lynx and wolf.
- **Location and habitat:** Xinjiang, China: Altay Mountains and Tianshan Mountains, at 9 sites in Mori (East Tianshan), Qitai (Baitag Mountains and Baitag Pasture), Qinghe (Altay) and Wensu (Tomur Peak area of the Tianshan: Muzat Vale, Kozbay Vale, Tomur Vale, Yinyar and Tailan Vale) counties. Transects at 1801 to 3878 m; signs found at 2000 to 3900 m. Habitats: grass, forest, shrub and barren ground; ridge lines, cliff bases, hill sides, valley bottoms, stream beds and terraces or bluff edges.
- **Topics:** snow leopard sign survey; sign types (footprints and trails, scrapes, scats, scent spray, urine, claw rakes, hair, sleep sites, bloodstains, prey remains, roars); marking and non-marking signs; scrape reuse; relative abundance from signs per km; distribution; habitat selection by terrain and vegetation; sign persistence (snow cover, human disturbance); estimating age and sex from footprints; retaliatory killing by herders; prey decline; questionnaire survey of local people.
- **Statistics or models:** Descriptive only: counts of signs per transect and site, and sign density (signs per km). Totals and densities count only the 5 sign types recorded by the Snow Leopard Information Management System (SLIMS): footprints, scrapes, scats, scent marks and claw rakes. A trail of footprints counted as one sign. Inconsistency: Table 1 gives Tailan Vale a density of 2.14 signs per km, but its 16 signs over 7982 m work out to about 2.0 per km. All other rows and the totals check out.
- **Data type:** New field data: 67 transects at 9 sites, 16 September to 5 November 2004, and more than 200 questionnaires with herders, hunters and reserve staff.

## Synopsis

### 1. What they did

Snow leopards are rare, secretive, solitary and active at night, and they live at high altitude, so they are hard to study directly. Signs are one of the most important ways to learn about them. The Xinjiang Snow Leopard Group, funded by the International Snow Leopard Trust (ISLT) and the Xinjiang Conservation Fund (XCF), surveyed snow leopard signs in the Altay and Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang, China.

- Preparation. The team wrote a field survey manual, and every member was trained beforehand in basic methods, including how to recognise snow leopard scrapes, footprints, scats, scent spray, hair and claw rakes.

- Transects (September to November 2004). They walked 67 transects at 9 sites, following the Snow Leopard Information Management System (SLIMS) designed by the ISLT. Transects were 250 to 1000 m long and 10 m wide, at least 1 to 3 km apart. For each, they recorded the Global Positioning System (GPS) position, length, number of signs, habitat, grazing and protection status. They measured and photographed footprints and scrapes to learn about individual differences, age and sex.

- Questionnaires. They talked with more than 200 local herders, hunters and reserve staff about snow leopards, their prey and conflicts with people.

### 2. What they found

Signs on transects

- The 67 transects covered 47,776 m (713 m on average). Snow leopard signs were found on 27 of them: 118 signs in total, or 2.47 signs per km.

- These were 41 footprint trails, 45 scrapes, 28 scats, 1 scent mark and 3 claw rakes.

- Sign density varied widely between sites, from none at Mori and Kozbay Vale to 7.37 per km in the Baitag Mountains and 4.41 per km at Yinyar.

- On one 311 m transect, three parallel trails (a female and two young) plus two other signs gave 16 signs per km.

Where snow leopards still live

Populations remain in the Tomur Peak area of the Tianshan and the Baitag Mountains. In the eastern Altay and at Mori in the eastern Tianshan they are now very scarce, although questionnaires suggest there were a fair number about 40 years ago. The main causes given are retaliatory killing by herders and a shortage of natural prey.

What each sign showed

- Footprints: left in snow, mud and sand. Adult prints were 9 to 10 cm wide and 10 to 11 cm long, with four toes around the pad. The authors compare a footprint to a “fingerprint” for telling age and sex.

- Scrapes: the most common sign, possibly from the habit of covering scats. Single, or up to 20 together. Where a snow leopard had been active, there was about a 50% chance of a scrape, and nearly half of all scrapes were at places that already had scrapes.

- Scats: can last a long time, especially where it is dry with little sediment and insect activity. Often near food remains, or at or within 1 m of scrapes. More than 40 were found, about 28 of them on transects.

- Scent spray: a territorial mark at busy sites, usually 70 to 85 cm high at the base of rock walls, sometimes with a distinctive smell. It fades quickly.

- Urine: easily confused with scent spray. At least 3 were found, sprayed in different ways and covering a larger area.

- Claw rakes: on rocks or thick tree trunks, in different places from scrapes, mostly within a few metres of scent-marking sites.

- Hair: found on marking rocks, showing where snow leopards had rubbed their face or body.

- Sleep sites: very hard to find on cliffs, but occasionally found near large prey carcasses, with fine shed hair.

- Bloodstains: smeared on rocks near fresh carcasses, usually where a snow leopard had wiped their mouth. Four were found (not all on transects), and there were also drops of blood along a route where food had been carried.

- Prey remains: at least 8 yak carcasses at Yinyar had been eaten by snow leopards. In the Baitag Mountains there were remains of Siberian ibex and argali, with other snow leopard signs nearby.

- Roars: as winter begins and snow leopards look for mates, sustained roaring was heard twice at night, between 19:00 and 01:00.

Habitat

Signs were found at 2000 to 3900 m. Signs per km differed clearly by terrain: highest on terraces or bluff edges (about 5 per km in Figure 2), then valley bottoms and cliff bases, and lowest on ridge lines. By vegetation, shrub had the most signs (about 2.9 per km in Figure 3), then grass and forest, with barren ground lowest. The authors suggest the cover in shrubland makes it the place snow leopards are seen most often.

Questionnaires

The authors report that the questionnaire results broadly agree with the field results, but give no figures.

### 3. What they concluded

- Combining sign counts and signs per km picked out the most important snow leopard areas among the 9 sites, and gave information on distribution, activity, home range, food and prey, and habitat selection.

- Based on field experience, the number of signs is related to relative population density and can be used as an index. Estimating actual density or numbers needs other surveys as well, such as counts of hoofed prey animals and radio tracking.

- Sign counts are only a relative measure and should be treated with caution: they depend on the number and size of transects, season, terrain, slope, aspect, altitude, climate, vegetation and how long signs last.

- Apart from possible confusion with lynx and wolf, identifying snow leopard signs in Xinjiang is not very difficult, because no other large cat of similar kind lives there. Footprint measurements can help tell individuals, age and sex apart, and DNA analysis of hair and scats would make identification more accurate.

- Heavy snow covers scats and scrapes in winter, which is one reason fewer signs were found in the Tomur Peak area. Grazing, tourism, mining, logging and poaching shorten how long signs last and make surveys harder and less accurate.

- Knowing the distribution and numbers of prey is very important. Prey information came from interviews and from recording all prey species and their signs (such as footprints and scats) found in the field.

### 4. How tracking was or was not used

The whole survey rests on tracks and signs identification. Trained team members walked set transects and recorded snow leopard footprint trails (in snow, mud and sand), scrapes, scats, scent spray, urine, claw rakes, hair, sleep sites, bloodstains and prey remains, and noted roars at night. They measured and photographed footprints and scrapes. Sign counts per km were then used as an index of relative abundance and habitat use. No trailing was reported.

### 5. Tracker or observer certification

Not reported. Team members were trained in basic sign recognition before the survey, using a field manual, but no certification or test of their skill is described. This matters because all the findings depend on correct identification, and the authors themselves note possible confusion with lynx and wolf signs, and between urine and scent spray.

### 6. Other technologies, skills or innovations

- The Snow Leopard Information Management System (SLIMS), a standard sign transect method designed by the International Snow Leopard Trust.

- GPS positions for each transect.

- Footprint measurement and photography (Plate I shows a measured footprint).

- Questionnaires with more than 200 local herders, hunters and reserve staff.

### 7. Implications for conservation (from the paper)

- Sign surveys give a first picture of habitat selection, range, distribution and relative density, which matters for estimating population size and for protecting and managing the species.

- Retaliatory killing by herders and the loss of natural prey are given as the main causes of the snow leopard’s decline in the eastern Altay and eastern Tianshan.

- Surveys of prey numbers and distribution are needed alongside snow leopard surveys.

### 8. Implications for tracking (Original Wisdom's observations)

_These are Original Wisdom's observations, not the authors'._

- The paper is a useful field guide to the range of signs a snow leopard leaves, with sizes, heights and typical places, such as scent spray at 70 to 85 cm at the base of rock walls and claw rakes within a few metres of it.

- It shows how much a sign index depends on the rules for counting: only 5 sign types were counted, and a whole footprint trail counted as one sign, so urine, hair, bloodstains, beds and prey remains added to the picture but not to the density figures.

## Cite this summary

Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: Markings as Indicator of Snow Leopard in Field Survey, in Xinjiang (Ming and Munkhtsog et al., 2005). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/2005-ming-munkhtsog-markings-indicator-snow-leopard/