High waterhole visitation rate by a breeding female snow leopard in summer
Water is a limiting resource in arid environments where space use of animals is often driven by access to water during the dry times of the year. Here we report on a breeding female snow leopard visiting a waterhole 37 times in June and July in 2015. These observations show that space use of snow leopards can be driven strongly by access to water during certain times of the year such as when lactating and the need for water is increased. Strong dependence on water during certain times of the year suggest that climate change and high human pressure on limited water sources may have negative impact on snow leopards and other wildlife in the mountains of High Asia.
Authors
- Charudutt Mishra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3982-458X)
- Choidogjamts Byambasuren
- Koustubh Sharma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7301-441X)
- Gustaf Samelius (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1067-9796)
- Justine Shanti Alexander (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7474-9247)
- Örjan Johansson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9977-0405)
- Purevjav Lkhagvajav (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7924-5526)
Institutions
- Leopardstown Park Hospital (IE)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- Wildlife Conservation Society United Kingdom (GB)
- Nature Conservation Foundation (IN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Snow Leopard Reports
- Published
- 2024-10-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.56510/slr.v3.23251
- Primary Topic
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00