Snow leopards are being killed in large numbers - but not necessarily for the reasons you might suspect. A new report says there may be as few as 4,000 of the big cats left.
Image: Robert Harding Picture Library
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There are likely less than 4,000 snow leopards left in the wild, according to a new report by wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic.
The survey estimates that an alarming 221 to 450 of the magnificent cats have been killed every year since 2008.
"Traffic's analysis confirms the worrying scale of illegal killing of snow leopards," said James Compton, senior program director of Traffic in a statement. More than 90 percent of the poaching occurs in China, Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Tajikistan.
What sets the shy cats apart from other big cats is that they are not primarily threatened by illegal poaching or habitat loss - rather by so-called retaliatory killings.
Ranchers often hunt and kill snow leopards because they sometimes prey on livestock. Guilty or not, these "retaliations" account for 55 percent of all snow leopards killed.
Another 21 percent are killed for trade, and 18 percent are killed by other unintended manmade means such as traps or snares.
But even if the cats aren't initially killed for their skins, the report estimates that those killing them still try to sell the dead animals more than half of the time.
"Even if there is reduced demand for snow leopard skins, the killing will continue unless we all work together to drastically reduce human-wildlife conflict, and ensure that mountain communities can co-exist with snow leopards," said Rishi Sharma, WWF snow leopard program leader and co-author of the report.
"Compensation schemes and innovative predator-proof corrals are making a difference, but we urgently need to expand these to benefit communities - and snow leopards - across Asia's high mountains."
Meet the original migrants of Central Asia
Central Asia is home to the world's largest unbroken grasslands - and a host of mammals that like to keep moving. But with many of these charasmatic creatures threatened, calls are growing for cross-border conservation.
Image: Morteza Eslami
Don't fence me in
The Asiatic wild ass - or Khulan - roams Mongolia and northern China in massive herds. They migrate nomadically from site to site in search of food and water, covering thousands of kilometers in just a few weeks, with a range of up to 70,000 square kilometers (27,000 square miles) each year. They are threatened by hunting for their meat - as well as by infrastructure that blocks migration.
Image: Petra Kaczensky
No visa neccessary
The Argali - or Marco Polo sheep, named in a book by the 13th century explorer - inhabits the rugged mountains of Central Asia, regularly crossing borders between Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Prized for their impressive horns, the biggest threat to the sheep is hunting.
Image: Askar Davletbkov
Making a comeback
Przewalski's horse had been declared extinct in the wild, with the last individual spotted in Mongolia in 1969. But since 1992, reintroduction programs have allowed it to establish a population of about 300 in its historical Mongolia territory. Another 120 of the horses are being released in China seasonally.
Image: Robert Harding Picture Library
Restless nomads
The white-tailed or Mongolian gazelle inhabits rolling steppes and plains, undertaking long-distance nomadic journeys throughout the year outside of rutting and birthing seasons. In just 12 months, an individual Mongolian gazelle can range over 32,000 square kilometers.
Image: Thomas Müller
Summer holidays
The goitered or black-tailed gazelle ranges across some 20 countries in the Middle East and Asia. During the winter, it can cover up to 30 kilometers (20 miles) a day in search of food - but takes things easier in the summer months. Heavy poaching has all but wiped out large herds in Mongolia, cutting population numbers in half.
Image: Petra Kaczensky
Packed lunch
The Bactrian camel makes use of fat stored in two humps on its back for journeys of up to 75 kilometers a day across rocky massifs, arid deserts and sparsely vegetated plains. Hearty wild Bactrian camels have lost their native habitat, and are today only found in three locations in northern China, and in one location in southern Mongolia.
Image: Petra Kaczensky
Running out of room
The Asiatic cheetah once raced across Central Asia and the Middle East, but now clings on to survival only on the plains and deserts of Iran. Even these pockets of habitat are under pressure from overgrazing, and droughts made worse by climate change.
Image: Morteza Eslami
Hitting the road
The Bukhara deer is found in woodlands and plains of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. When habitat is in good shape, it is unusual for the deer to migrate - but these days an estimated 30 to 50 percent of Bukhara deer move seasonally in search of better living conditions.
Image: Yelizaveta Protas/CMS
Bad medicine
Saiga antelopes live on the grassy plains of Central Asia, with spring seeing large herds of females migrating to breeding areas. After dispersing in summer, they gather again in autumn to move to winter feeding grounds. The population dipped precipitously in the 1990s due largely to poaching for Chinese medicine. Researchers are still trying to understand the causes of a massive die-off in 2015.
