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Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
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ANIMALIA
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Phylum:
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CHORDATA
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Class:
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MAMMALIA
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Order:
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CARNIVORA
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Family:
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FELIDAE
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Scientific Name:
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Uncia uncia
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Species Authority:
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(Schreber, 1775)
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Common Name/s:
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OUNCE (Eng)
SNOW LEOPARD (Eng)
IRBIS (Fre)
LÉOPARD DES NEIGES (Fre)
ONCE (Fre)
PANTHÈRE DES NEIGES (Fre)
LEOPARDO NIVAL (Spa)
PANTERA DE LA NIEVES (Spa)
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Assessment Information
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Red List Category & Criteria:
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EN C2a(i) ver 3.1 (2001)
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Year Assessed:
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2002
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Assessor/s:
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Cat Specialist Group
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Evaluator/s:
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Nowell, K. Breitenmoser, U., Breitenmoser, C. & Jackson, P. (Cat Red List Authority)
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Justification:
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Based on estimates of density and geographic range (Nowell and Jackson 1996), the snow leopard’s total effective population size is estimated at below 2,500 mature breeding individuals, with a declining trend due to habitat and prey base loss and persecution, and no subpopulation containing more than 250 mature breeding individuals.
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History:
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| 1986 | - | Endangered as Panthera uncia (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986) |
| 1988 | - | Endangered as Panthera uncia (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988) |
| 1990 | - | Endangered as Panthera uncia (IUCN 1990) |
| 1994 | - | Endangered (Groombridge 1994) |
| 1996 | - | Endangered (Baillie and Groombridge 1996) |
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Geographic Range
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Range Description:
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The snow leopard has an extremely patchy and fragmented distribution, consisting of a mix of long narrow mountain systems and islands of montane habitat scattered throughout a vast region surrounding the Central Asian deserts and plateaus (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Although the snow leopard’s range extends over some 2.3 million km² of Central Asia, occupied habitat is estimated at only 1.6 million km², most of which is in Tibet and other parts of China (Fox 1994).
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Countries:
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Native:
Afghanistan; Bhutan; China; India; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Mongolia; Nepal; Pakistan; Russian Federation; Tajikistan; Uzbekistan
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Population
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Population Trend:
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Habitat and Ecology
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Habitat and Ecology:
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Through most of their range, snow leopards are associated with arid and semi-arid shrubland, grassland or steppe (Fox 1989, Jackson 1992). In the mountains of Russia and parts of the Tian Shan they occur in open coniferous forest, but generally avoid dense forest (Heptner and Sludskij 1972, E. Koshkarev pers. comm.).
The species is generally found at elevations between 3,000-4,500 m, although they occasionally go above 5,500 m in the Himalayas, and at the northern limits of their range can be found between 600-1,500 m (Heptner and Sludskii 1972, Fox 1989, Schaller et al. 1994). Steep terrain broken by cliffs, ridges, gullies and rocky outcrops is preferred (Koshkarev 1984, Mallon 1984, Jackson and Ahlborn 1984 and 1988, Chundawat 1990, Fox et al. 1991), although in Mongolia and on the Tibetan Plateau they can be found in relatively flat country (Mallon 1984b, Schaller et al. 1994), especially if ridges offer suitable travel routes, and shrub and rock outcrops provide sufficient cover (Schaller et al. 1988).
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System:
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Terrestrial; Freshwater; Marine
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Threats
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Threats:
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Large ungulates have been hunted out of many areas of the high Central Asian mountains (Schaller 1977, Cai et al. 1989, Fox et al. 1991b, Jackson 1992), and large-scale pika and marmot poisoning programs have also been conducted on the Tibetan Plateau (Smith et al. 1990, Miller and Jackson 1994). Livestock depredation tends to be greater in areas where wild sheep and goat populations have been depleted (Miller and Jackson 1994, Schaller et al. 1994).
There is demand for snow leopard bones for use as substitutes for tiger bone from the Chinese medicine trade (Liao and Tan 1988). Garments of snow leopard fur were once highly prized in the fashion world and although no longer in international trade, fur coats and "novelty" furs have been seen for sale in shops throughout China, Taiwan and in Mongolia (Nowell and Jackson 1996).
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Conservation Actions
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Conservation Actions:
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Included on CITES Appendix I. U. uncia is also protected by national legislation across most of its range (Nowell and Jackson 1996), with hunting bans in place in Bhutan (only in protected areas, which cover most of snow leopard range in this country), China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
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