Snow Leopard Distribution Maps Don’t Always Show True Picture

When we speak of the ‘snow leopard range’, we’re talking about a huge area – almost 2 million square kilometers, or roughly the same size as Mexico. But how do we actually know where these cats live, and where they don’t? In certain areas, we know snow leopards are present because we’ve seen the cats (or their signs). In other parts, there are reliable accounts from local people. But vast stretches of what we call snow leopard habitat haven’t ever been studied systematically, so nobody really knows if there are any snow leopards. Instead, we put our faith in geophysical models. We look at things such as location, altitude, climate or terrain. If these factors match, we assume an area to be suitable for snow leopards — and so it becomes part of the 2 million square kilometer range of this cat. Looks like perfect snow leopard habitat — but how do we know if there actually are any cats? Of course, this approach has its limits. We may well be missing some good habitat, perhaps because it’s at a lower altitude than what we think is typical. On the other hand, we may also be considering areas as snow […]