A large-scale wildlife-tracking effort in northern India has yielded unexpected but encouraging results.
The Indian Express reported that 271 trail cameras were deployed over an area of 26,000 square kilometers (around 16,000 square miles) in Himachal Pradesh, India, to capture footage of rare snow leopards.
This was the latest effort to document the species' presence in the mountainous state. The first, from 2018 to 2021, found 51 stalking the mountains. The latest survey revised that figure to 83 adult individuals.
Finding a snow leopard in the wild is a rare treat, for they are one of the most elusive predators in the world. They are suspected to exist in the highlands of a dozen Asian nations.
Still, much of their habitat hasn't been thoroughly documented, according to the World Wildlife Fund, with over 70% of it remaining unexplored.
The IUCN Red List classifies snow leopards as "vulnerable." Human encroachment is one of the primary threats to snow leopards. They are no threat to people, but they will attack livestock given the chance, which fuels human-animal conflicts, per Wildlife SOS.
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Other noteworthy findings were the first confirmed sighting of the Pallas's cat in Kinnaur and a rediscovery of the woolly flying squirrel in Lahaul.
Like snow leopards, the Pallas's cat is a resourceful hunter that makes use of stealth in the mountains to take down its prey. Its name comes from the Prussian biologist Peter Simon Pallas, who initially thought the creature was an escaped Persian cat.
The woolly flying squirrel, meanwhile, is one of the rarest and least-studied mammals in the world. According to research published in the journal Integrative Conservation, it is so rare that it was thought extinct in the wild for 70 years until it was rediscovered.
The survey demonstrates the immense value of trail cameras in aiding conservation work. The better an area's wildlife is surveyed, the more effective local measures to protect it can be.
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An official from the Forest Service speaking to the Express also mentioned the importance of community engagement in conservation efforts and of protecting habitats.
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