Breakthrough!
Rodney Jackson and the staff of the Snow Leopard Conservancy assisted Mitchell Kelly in obtaining the first-ever footage of territorial marking behavior in wild snow leopards. The PBS series Nature broadcast Silent Roar: Searching for the Snow Leopard on January 16, 2005. You may purchase this video through the Nature website.
The footage was shot on a mini DV infrared-triggered video camera. For a “sneak preview” of this footage, including a sequence showing a very curious young snow leopard investigating the camera, simply follow the links below:
A Snow Leopard Conservancy exclusive – the first close-up video of wild snow leopards
Sequence #1 (957kb) shows an adult snow leopard, probably a male. After scraping, the cat walks up the ridge toward the hidden camera. Although snow leopards are an essentially solitary species, they communicate with each other by leaving a variety of sign – scrapes, scats and scent sprays – at strategic points along their travel lanes.
Sequence #2 (4028kb) was shot near the same location as Sequence #1 and shows what we believe to be a recently independent snow leopard “cub,” aged around 20-22 months, checking out a camera (and fogging the lens with its breath!) that was placed near a village trail. Note the other cat in the background, probably a sibling, sniffing at a scrape along the trail.
The video files are formatted as realmedia (.rm). If you do not have Realplayer installed on your computer, you may download it for free through the Realplayer icon below.
Fun, But is it Science?
Camera traps provide us with excellent opportunities for data collection. In addition to the videos, four still cameras were set up to monitor the snow leopard population. These cameras enable us to identify individuals. One cat visited the still cameras, and the videos had a total of seven visits (five snow leopards, one fox and one wild dog). The film shows snow leopards face-rubbing scent-spraying, and exhibiting a scent-triggered response known as flehmen (lip-curl with open mouth and bared canines). This is the first time any of these behaviors have been photographed in the wild. One male almost does a somersault in its eagerness to scent-spray!
Video cameras like these, along with less expensive remotely triggered 35mm still cameras, are proving to be a wonderful tool for long-term research. Using the photos to supplement other sources of information, we can determine the number of snow leopards in an area, their age, gender, their prey base, and with this information we can monitor this important population.
Help Us Save These Magnificent Animals
The Snow Leopard Conservancy is working closely with local communities to protect the endangered snow leopard and its prey. Elsewhere on our web site you can read about how we employ economic incentives and environmental education in an effort to ensure that local people become effective guardians of their snow leopards, and can benefit from the presence of these magnificent cats. Your support to Snow Leopard Conservancy will help ensure that the snow leopards you see in the video can live their lives in full.
Thank-you!
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