So elusive it earned the name "ghost of the mountains", the snow leopard was barely counted for decades, and conservationists feared the worst. Today scientists estimate there may be between 3,920 and 6,390 left in the wild, across 12 countries. In 2017, the IUCN quietly upgraded their status from Endangered to Vulnerable.
The Ghost of the Mountains
The snow leopard has always been one of the most elusive cats on Earth, a ghost of the mountains, rarely seen and even more rarely counted. For years, conservationists struggled to assess whether populations were stable or crashing.
A Quiet Milestone
In 2017, the IUCN reclassified the snow leopard from Endangered to Vulnerable, and scientists now estimate there may be between 3,920 and 6,390 snow leopards left in the wild, across 12 countries.
>> "Livestock insurance schemes that compensate herders for animals lost to snow leopards help keep both the cats and the herders' livelihoods safe."
The cat faces continued pressure from retaliatory killings by herders whose livestock it preys on, poaching for the illegal wildlife trade, and climate change, which could make up to a third of its habitat unusable. Livestock insurance schemes that compensate herders for losses help reduce the conflict.
_Sources: Snow Leopard Trust, "Snow leopard facts" and "The threats". WWF-UK, "Snow leopard" species page. McCarthy et al., "Panthera uncia", IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2017._