Snow Leopards Cover Territories Forty Times Bigger Than Previously Thought
27 Dec 2016
Researchers successfully collared 16 snow leopards with GPS trackers and were able to gain insight on how they lived and the fact they require a lot of land. There were previous studies conducted of these big cats that tracked them using VHF radio. But, scientists were only able to collect data if they were able to keep up with the leopards on foot.
These beautiful and rare snow leopards live in Central Asia in the mountains. They have thick hair that insulates their bodies and their wide feet covered in fur work like natural snowshoes. Their legs are very powerful and they are able to leap and jump up to 15 meters (50 feet).
The snow leopard does range in size, but tend to be a bit smaller than other large cats. They typically weigh around 60 to 121 pounds with the males reaching as big as 165 pounds and the females around 55 to 60 pounds.
Various agencies like the Snow Leopard Conservancy, Snow Leopard Trust, Panthera Corporation, the Cat Specialist Group and the Snow Leopard Network are all working together to conserve this threatened species and their mountain ecosystems.
Each snow leopard lives in a home range that is well-defined. And their habitat ranges in size immensely. There are only some habitats in Asia that are protected and are big enough to accommodate 15 females.
Researchers are able to use the GPS tracking devices to track and locate the leopards 4 times every day. They use the data they obtain to figure out the huge home range of the snow leopard and while hunting, the land they claim as their own.
The GPS tracking system showed the land of the snow leopards was up to 44 times bigger than their VHF technology estimates earlier. This means males had approximately 80 square miles and females had 48.
The study showed researchers that male leopards would defend their own land against other male leopards which indicated that the huge habitats they lived in are exclusive. This could jeopardize the preservation of the populations.
Researchers successfully collared 16 snow leopards with GPS trackers and were able to gain insight on how they lived and the fact they require a lot of land. There were previous studies conducted of these big cats that tracked them using VHF radio. But, scientists were only able to collect data if they were able to keep up with the leopards on foot.
These beautiful and rare snow leopards live in Central Asia in the mountains. They have thick hair that insulates their bodies and their wide feet covered in fur work like natural snowshoes. Their legs are very powerful and they are able to leap and jump up to 15 meters (50 feet).
The snow leopard does range in size, but tend to be a bit smaller than other large cats. They typically weigh around 60 to 121 pounds with the males reaching as big as 165 pounds and the females around 55 to 60 pounds.
Various agencies like the Snow Leopard Conservancy, Snow Leopard Trust, Panthera Corporation, the Cat Specialist Group and the Snow Leopard Network are all working together to conserve this threatened species and their mountain ecosystems.
Each snow leopard lives in a home range that is well-defined. And their habitat ranges in size immensely. There are only some habitats in Asia that are protected and are big enough to accommodate 15 females.
Researchers are able to use the GPS tracking devices to track and locate the leopards 4 times every day. They use the data they obtain to figure out the huge home range of the snow leopard and while hunting, the land they claim as their own.
The GPS tracking system showed the land of the snow leopards was up to 44 times bigger than their VHF technology estimates earlier. This means males had approximately 80 square miles and females had 48.
The study showed researchers that male leopards would defend their own land against other male leopards which indicated that the huge habitats they lived in are exclusive. This could jeopardize the preservation of the populations.
Comments are closed.