Snow Leopard Survival Strategy - Panthera

Solanki, G. S. and R. M. Naik. 1998. Grazing
interactions between wild and domestic herbivores.
Small Ruminant Research 27(3): 231-235.
Grazing interactions among blackbuck, chinkara, nilgai,
four-horned antelope and domestic heifers and goats
were studied on the campus of Agriculture University in
India. Chinkaras and blackbucks preferred grasses, while
forbs were preferred by nilgai, four-horned antelope, and
heifers. Goats were browsers, using mostly trees and
shrubs. All animals had a high preference for legumes.
Nilgai displayed the most diverse food habits.
Spearing, A. 2002. A note on the prospects for snow
leopard census using photographic capture. Pages
173 – 185 in T. M. McCarthy and J. Weltzin, editors
Contributed Papers to the Snow Leopard Survival
Strategy Summit. International Snow Leopard Trust,
Seattle, Washington, USA.
Here I have demonstrated that camera-traps can provide
a crude estimate of cat numbers, and could be used to
examine the correlation between cat numbers with sign
and prey densities across the range. In addition it will be
a useful tool in examining the effect of pilot conservation
initiatives on local snow leopard populations: knowledge
of which will be useful in range-wide conservation
planning. A high visitation rate here also points to the
possible use of photographic rates to study snow leopard
population trends and density.
Spong, G., M. Johansson and M. Bjorklund. 2000. High
genetic variation in leopards indicates large and
long- term stable effective population size. Molecular
Ecology 9:1773-1782.
In this paper we employ recently developed statistical
and molecular tools to analyse the population history of
the Tanzanian leopard (Panthera pardus), a large solitary
felid. Because of their solitary lifestyle little is known
of their past or present population dynamics. Eighty-one
individuals were scored at 18 microsatellite loci. Overall,
levels of heterozygosity were high (0.77 +/- 0.03), with
a small heterozygote deficiency (0.06 +/- 0.03). Effective
population size (N-e) was calculated to be 38 000-48
000. A N,:nr ratio of 0.42 (average from four cat studies)
gives a present population size of about 100 000 leopards
in Tanzania. Four different bottleneck tests indicated that
this population has been large and stable for a minimum
of several thousand years. F-ST values were low and no
significant genetic structuring of the population could
be detected. This concurs well with the large migration
values (N-m) obtained (>3.3 individuals/generation).
Our analysis reveals that ecological factors (e.g. disease),
which are known to have had major impact on other
carnivore populations, are unlikely to have impacted
strongly on the population dynamics of Tanzanian
leopards. The explanation may be found in their solitary
life-style, their often nonconfrontational behaviour
toward interspecific competitors, or that any bottlenecks
have been of limited size, localized, or too short to have
affected genetic variation to any measurable degree.
Since the genetic structuring is weak, gene flow is not
restricted to within protected areas. Local loss of genetic
variation is therefore not of immediate concern.
Stahl, P., J.-M. Vandel, V. Herrenschmidt and P. Migot.
2001. Predation on livestock by an expanding
reintroduced lynx population: long-term trend and
spatial variability. Journal of Applied Ecology 38:674-
687.
In recent decades, the Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx has
recolonized former habitat, bringing it into potential
conflict with livestock. We studied the spatial and
temporal distribution of lynx attacks on sheep in the
French Jura between 1984 and 1998, during and after
its population expansion. We estimated the local and
regional impact of lynx predation on livestock. The
number of attacks increased from three in 1984 to 188
in 1989, concurrently with the colonization of the main
sheep range by lynx. During subsequent years, 66-131
attacks were recorded annually (92-194 sheep killed
per year). On average, 1.6 sheep were killed per attack.
Lynx preyed disproportionately on lambs and subadult
sheep. A small percentage of flocks (9.5-22.9%) were
attacked, most of which (75.2%) were attacked once or
twice a year. At the regional level, annual sheep losses
to lynx were 0.14-0.59% of the total number of sheep.
The major lynx-livestock problem was due to clustered
attacks in a few small areas. Each year, two to six ‘hot
spots’ (33-69% of the attacks) were identified. Hot
spots covered 0.3-4.5% of the total area where attacks
occurred (1835-4061 km 2 ). Roe deer abundance was
higher in hot spots and, even here, sheep only made up
3.1% of the lynx diet. These data show that lynx were
not killing sheep due to shortages of alternative prey or
in response to an increased need for food when rearing
young. The concentration of hot spots in only nine small
areas between 1984 and 1998 indicated that only a few
individual lynx were involved. The reappearance of hot
spots at the same sites, after years of interruption and
despite the removal of lynx, suggested that the ultimate
factors causing hot spots were factors inherent to those
sites. Further investigation is needed to identify causal
factors with a view to eliminating them. These may
relate to landscapes features, animal husbandry practices
or the behavioural ecology of lynx. In future, where
large predator reintroductions are planned, the potential
for concentrated, localized, impact should be evaluated
and mitigation measures put in place. For scattered and
episodic lynx damage, financial compensation is the
only realistic option at present. In hot spots, the costeffectiveness
of guard-dogs or the selective removal of
some individual lynx should be evaluated
Stahl, P., J.-M. Vandel, V. Herrenschmidt and P. Migot.
2001. The effect of removing lynx in reducing attacks
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