Snow Leopard Survival Strategy - Panthera

were post hoc and harvests were probably biased by Stateimposed
harvest quotas; therefore, statistically significant
harvest trends may or may not reflect population trends.
Gazelle, wolf, marmot, and fox harvests demonstrated
significant decreasing trends, while polecats and rabbits
displayed no significant trends. Analyses suggest that
government-imposed harvest quotas influenced actual
harvests of marmots and foxes. The effect of year on
actual harvests was important for gazelle, wolves, and
marmots, and may reflect population changes. Reports
suggest that poaching is an important source of mortality
for gazelle and marmots. Several other studies report
declines in numbers of Mongolian gazelle, which once
migrated in the millions across most of Mongolia.
Wolves are strongly disliked and heavily persecuted
by local nomads, officials, and biologists at all levels
of government. All species harvested commercially
in Dornod Aimag require more careful conservation
management to ensure the continued existence of viable
populations. Currently, little management or monitoring
is occurring.
Rempel, R. S., P. C. Elkie, A. R. Rodgers and M. J. Gluck.
1997. Timber-management and natural-disturbance
effects on moose habitat: Landscape evaluation.
Journal of Wildlife Management 61(2):17-524.
We used 16 years of survey data for a moose population,
and 3 Landsat satellite scenes, spanning 19 years, to
evaluate the hypotheses that Ontario’s Moose Habitat
Guidelines for timber harvest: (1) mitigate the effects
of unmodified clearcuts on moose populations, and
(2) create enhanced habitat with greater interspersion
of forage with cover and higher habitat suitability
indices than areas dominated by unmodified clearcuts.
The 5 study landscapes compared were 16,000-91,000
ha, and included landscape disturbance from timbermanagement
and wildfire-burn, and landscapes with and
without hunter access. Moose density differed among
landscapes, but while neither main effects of hunter
access (P = 0.083), nor landscape disturbance (P = 0.31)
were significant, their interactions were (P = 0.003), with
density increasing if disturbance occurs without hunter
access. The habitat suitability index in the wildfire burn
was similar (0.80) to both the modified and unmodified
clearcut (0.85 and 0.83), and population rate of increase
was positive in both the burn (B = 0.153, P < 0.0001)
and the unmodified clearcut (B = 0.127, P < 0.0001). The
population did not increase in the modified clearcut (B =
-0.016, P = 0.9901) because hunter access increased as a
consequence of high road density.
Riordan, P. 1998. Unsupervised recognition of
individual tigers and snow leopards from their
footprints. Animal Conservation 1:253-262.
This study presents the testing of two unsupervised
classification methods for their ability to accurately
identify unknown individual tigers, Panthera tigris, and
snow leopards, Panthera uncia, from their footprints.
A neural-network based method, the Kohonen selforganizing
map (SOM), and a Bayesian method,
AutoClass, were assessed using hind footprints taken
from captive animals under standardized conditions.
AutoClass successfully discriminated individuals of both
species from their footprints. Classification accuracy
was greatest for tigers, with more misclassification of
individuals occurring for snow leopards. Examination
of variable influence on class formations failed to
identify consistently influential measurements for
either species. The self-organizing map did not provide
accurate classification of individuals for either species.
Results were not substantially improved by altering
map dimensions nor by using principal components
derived from the original data. The interpretation of
resulting classifications and the importance of using
such techniques in the study of wild animal populations
are discussed. The need for further testing in the field is
highlighted.
Roe, D., T. Mulliken, S. Milledge, J. Mremi, S. Mosha
and M. Grieg-Gran. 2002. Making a Killing or Making
a Living? Wildlife trade, trade controls and rural
livelihoods. Biodiversity and Livelihoods Issues No.6.
The report shows how wildlife products commonly found
on shop shelves often owe their origins to harvesters
living thousands of miles away and the importance these
products can play to the livelihoods of these people. For
the poorest groups, wildlife trade may provide one of
the few opportunities for earning cash income which,
even in small amounts, can make a critical difference
to livelihood security. The report focuses specifically on
the impacts of trade controls linked to the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES).
Roelke M.E., D.J. Forrester, E.R. Jacobson, G.V. Kollias,
F.W. Scott, M.C. Barr, J.F. Evermann and E.C. Pirtle.
1933. Seroprevalence of infectious disease agents in
free-ranging Florida panthers (Felis concolor coryi).
Journal of Wildlife Diseases 29:36-49.
Serum samples obtained from 38 free-ranging Florida
panthers (Felis concolor coryi) in southern Florida, March
1978 through February 1991, were tested for antibodies
against eight bacterial, parasitic, and viral disease
agents. Sera were positive for antibodies against feline
panleukopenia virus (FPV) (78%), feline calicivirus
(56%), feline immunodeficiency virus/puma lentivirus
(37%), feline enteric coronavirus/feline infectious
peritonitis virus (19%), and Toxoplasma gondii (9%).
All samples were seronegative for Brucella spp., feline
rhinotracheitis virus, and pseudorabies virus. In addition,
all the animals tested were negative for feline leukemia
virus p27 antigen as determined by enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay. Feline panleukopenia virus was
considered to be a potentially significant disease agent;
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