Xinjiang Snow Leopard Project

Mariang and Shaksgam Expedition. To those of you following Phil's blog, this is old news, but we had fantastic success on this expedition. We found recent evidence of snow leopard in Mariang and, to top it all, came up trumps with the camera traps (photo below).

As a bonus the remote camera that took this photo was set by Khometti Taklashur, one of our local team for whom we are providing training.

We were very pleased to have been able to survey in the Shaksgam valley region and are grateful to the Chinese army for their support and hospitality when putting us up for the occasional night. Snow leopard activity in Shaksgam was low, despite relatively little livestock farming or human activity of any kind. Wolf numbers appeared to be high and we are considering the implications of this for snow leopards.

Mariang and Shaksgam Expedition. Philip Riordan and Shi Kun are preparing for the winter season in Taxkurgan (brrr!). The team are undertaking an expedition to continue the Mariang surveys, including the use of camera traps and also to attempt to survey the notoriously difficult Shaksgam valley area and the southern end of the Taxkurgan Nature Reserve. Eric Shipton's accounts are required reading for the team (although he approached from the other side) and we're "carbing up", although both Phil and Kun always eat a fair bit anyway.

More details and the continuing saga in a blog near you... View Blog.

Snow Leopard Conservation Grant Award. The team are delighted to have been granted an award towards their continued work in Xinjiang. This money will specifically contribute to winter fieldwork to be carried out in February and March next year. Many thanks!

Mariang Survey success! We are pleased to reconfirm the presence of snow leopard in the Taxkurgan area of Xinjiang Province in northwest China after a period of 20 years. Sign surveys and reported sightings by local livestock herders confirmed snow leopard presence in the area. None of the encountered signs were fresh, and we estimate they date from the previous winter. We are now planning to carry out a follow-up survey in early 2009.

Mariang Survey The last published surveys for snow leopard in this area in the 1980s, revealed few signs of snow leopard. The exception was in the vicinity of the Mariang community, where the population size was estimated by George Schaller and his team to be between 50 and 75 individuals. In more than two decades since these initial surveys social and economic conditions in China have changed markedly and the status of snow leopards is uncertain amidst this change. We therefore plan to undertake a survey designed to determine the current status of snow leopards in Mariang and other communities in Taxkurgan after an interval of 23 years.