So elusive it earned the name "ghost of the mountains", the snow leopard was barely counted for decades — and conservationists feared the worst. Better camera-trap surveys eventually revealed a more hopeful picture: 4,000–6,500 individuals 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, reflecting improved survey methods and population estimates of 4,000–6,500 individuals across 12 countries.
>> "Community-based programs that compensate herders for livestock losses have proven among the most effective conservation tools in the mountains."
The cat faces continued pressure from retaliatory killings by herders whose livestock it preys on, poaching for the illegal wildlife trade, and climate change pushing its prey species to higher — and eventually unliveable — altitudes. Community-based programs that compensate herders for livestock losses have proven among the most effective conservation tools.