Nepal Successfully Attaches GPS Collar to Wild Snow Leopard

After 45 days of tracking a snow leopard in the mountains of Nepal, a team successfully collared the animal with a GPS tracker, the first time Nepalese researchers have successfully attempted such a feat.

Now that the snow leopard's movements can be tracked, researchers will be able to better understand the animal's behavior and how it is adapting to a changing environment.

"Snow leopards are highly elusive creatures and given the terrains they reside in, monitoring work on the species is a highly challenging task," stated Narendra Man Babu Pradhan, Coordinator for Development, Research and Monitoring at WWF Nepal. "While past studies on the snow leopard have been limited to areas that are accessible to people, this technology will help provide important information on the ecology and behavior of the wide ranging snow leopard."

The collared snow leopard, named Ghanjenzunga, is 5-year-old male that weighs about 40 kilograms and measures nearly 2 meters long head-to-tail, the WWF reported in a news release.

"The snow leopard collaring is indeed a new win for Nepal," said Megh Bahadur Pandey, who is the director general of Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. "It reiterates the commitment of the government to strengthen measures to better understand and protect the snow leopard whose survival is under threat from anthropogenic actions and the pervasive impacts of global climate change."

While snow leopards have been collared in Nepal before, this is the first success in attaching a GPS-enabled collar to one of the big cats. The data transmitted by the collar will make it possible to track the snow leopard's movements, habitat use and preferences. Researchers will also be able to identify the cat's home ranges and critical core habitats, including climate-resistant habitats and trans-boundary habitat linkages.

"Nepal's Himalayas are a rich mosaic of pristine habitat, freshwater and wildlife species including the iconic snow leopard," said Anil Manandhar of WWF Nepal. "The success of the collaring expedition opens up new frontiers in snow leopard conservation as well as new avenues to profile Nepal as a living laboratory to help build on international collaboration in conservation science."

Since being collared and released, Ghanjenzunga had covered an area of 80 square kilometers between Nov. 25 and Dec. 16. The snow leopard will be intensively monitored for the next two years.

Information collected from the collared snow leopard will reveal data on the spatial ecology and behavior of the snow leopard and further enable local research and conservation efforts, the WWF said.

The project was led by the Government of Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation with collaboration from WWF Nepal, the National Trust for Nature Conservation and the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area Management Council/Snow Leopard Conservation Committee-Ghunsa.

Click here for more photos of the snow leopard and the process of its collaring.