Nepal's elusive snow leopards,
thought to number just 500 in the wild, are under threat from warmer and wetter
weather in the Himalayas that is reducing their habitat. Changing
weather patterns are pushing forests further into the leopards' territory and
they could lose 40 percent of their hunting grounds by the end of the century,
scientists from environmental group WWF have concluded.
"Loss of alpine habitat not only means less room for snow
leopards, but also has the potential to bring them closer to human activities
like livestock grazing," said WWF snow leopard expert. "As grazing
intensifies and the leopards' natural prey decline, they could begin preying
more heavily on livestock, resulting in increased retaliatory killings."
Experts believe just 500 adults survive in Nepal's Himalayas, and
few can claim ever to have seen the secretive, solitary animal sometimes
referred to as a "mountain ghost".
The animal lives in high alpine areas, above the treeline but
generally below 5,000 metres (16,500 feet), where they are able to stealthily
track their prey, usually wild goat-like ruminants, deer, boars and some
smaller mammals.
The scientists used computer climate models and on-the-ground
tracking of snow leopards' movements in the Nepalese Himalayas and its other
known habitats.
They envisaged a worst-case scenario of the big cat's 20,000
square kilometre (7,700 sq mile) territory being reduced to 11,700 sq km by the
end of the century
