A report consolidated on the basis of a study by an NGO has rekindled hopes for maintaining high-altitude biodiversity , confirming year round presence of snow leopards, also referred to as 'grey ghosts' in the Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir.
The snow leopard, one of the world's most elusive big cats, though hard to track, is silently not only surviving but thriving and is a resident population in Jammu and Kashmir all year round, according to findings of a new survey.The existence of these "grey ghosts of the mountains" came to be known through anecdotal sightings in the remote mountains of the Himalayas, and there was no verifiable source to confirm their presence except for some fleeting footage captured by camera traps. This proved to be a major challenge for researchers to estimate the population of these apex predators, which are a highly vulnerable species.
Now, a landmark camera trapping study conducted by the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and the Wildlife Protection Department of Jammu and Kashmir has confirmed year-round presence and breeding activity of snow leopards in the Union Territory -- marking a significant breakthrough for high-altitude biodiversity conservation in India. Conducted between 2022 and 2025 across the Kishtwar Himalayas, this effort was launched under the nationwide Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) protocol and supported by the Royal Enfield Social Mission."We started the project in 2022 and confirmed the presence of snow leopards in the UT of J-K," said Shahid Hameed, Wildlife Research and Project Coordinator at NCF and one of the co-authors of the study.
According to the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme (GSLEP), the total snow leopard population in the world is roughly estimated at between 4,000 and 6,500. For India, the latest population estimate is 718, meaning India has around one-ninth of the total population of snow leopards. Hameed said that previously, there was no verifiable source to confirm the presence of snow leopards, with surveys in the Western Himalayas being limited to Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. However, later surveys established the presence of snow leopards for the first time in the Union Territory of J-K.
The first photographic records of snow leopards (Panthera uncia) in Kishtwar High Altitude National Park were obtained through camera trapping. This was documented in a study published in Oryx, a journal of Cambridge University Press and Assessment. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Kashmir and the National Development Foundation, captured images of at least four different snow leopard individuals using camera traps. Also, he said the snow leopards were previously found in the areas adjacent to Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, and they were unclear whether the snow leopards of J-K are residents or migratory.
"For this, winter monitoring was important, and now we know they are the resident population with year-round presence in the landscape, he said. The survey began in the year 2022 and confirmed the presence of snow leopards in Jammu and Kashmir, but the 2024-25 phase of the project brought new insights -- recording snow leopards during winter months in both Paddar (Jammu division) and Zojila (Kashmir division). This, the survey suggests, is year-round use of the landscape, a critical indicator of stable habitat and a resident population.The Nature Conservation Foundation Coordinator explained that camera trapping is one of the methods to record wildlife without actually being present in the field.
Notably, the presence of at least a mother with cubs in Kishtwar confirms that this is a breeding population, according to the findings of the survey."These findings reaffirm the importance of Jammu and Kashmir as a key snow leopard stronghold. It is time to treat the Kishtwar Himalayas not as isolated valleys, but as part of an interconnected conservation landscape," said Hameed.
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