This is a snow leopard captured by remote camera in Afghanistan. A team of researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society have discovered a surprisingly healthy population of these elusive big cats. (Credit: Wildlife Conservation Society)
Posted on 07/14/2011 2:35:50 PM PDT by Red Badger
The Wildlife Conservation Society has discovered a surprisingly healthy population of rare snow leopards living in the mountainous reaches of northeastern Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, according to a new study.
The discovery gives hope to the world's most elusive big cat, which calls home to some of the world's tallest mountains. Between 4,500 and 7,500 snow leopards remain in the wild scattered across a dozen countries in Central Asia.
The study, which appears in the June 29th issue of the International Journal of Environmental Studies, is by WCS conservationists Anthony Simms, Zalmai Moheb, Salahudin, Hussain Ali, Inayat Ali and Timothy Wood.
WCS-trained community rangers used camera traps to document the presence of snow leopards at 16 different locations across a wide landscape. The images represent the first camera trap records of snow leopards in Afghanistan. WCS has been conserving wildlife and improving local livelihoods in the region since 2006 with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
"This is a wonderful discovery -- it shows that there is real hope for snow leopards in Afghanistan," said Peter Zahler, WCS Deputy Director for Asia Programs. "Now our goal is to ensure that these magnificent animals have a secure future as a key part of Afghanistan's natural heritage."
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
This is a snow leopard captured by remote camera in Afghanistan. A team of researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society have discovered a surprisingly healthy population of these elusive big cats. (Credit: Wildlife Conservation Society)
Let’s export our environmentalists and our EPA over to Afghanistan to save the snow leopard. That’ll destroy their country from within.
And here all this time I thought a snow leopard was a cougar in the lounge of a ski chalet....
Beat you by two seconds!
Special cat/big cat PING on behalf of Slings And Arrows. :)=^..^=
Special cat/big cat PING on behalf of Slings And Arrows. :)=^..^=
Pretty cool.
Excellent, excellent book.
You’re awesome, Biggirl. Thanks for the ping!
Your welcome!
Wow. That’s wonderful!
My Nephew just came back from Afghanistan, came up for visit and spring bear. I asked him what kind of animals did he see flying around in the pavehawks.He said nothing, Afghans had everything cleaned out, so poor their cows lived inside house with them for protection.
I found this out while watching Planet Earth on Discovery about three years ago.
A cow is piss poor protection. A dog is better, but they are moslems after all.
laughing
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