Tibetannet

File Photo: Snowleopard. [Photo/China News Service]

"For research and protection of snow leopards, the biggest problem is the lack of background data. At present, we already have a prototype of background data after monitoring snow leopards in the Sanjiangyuan for more than 10 years, and local herdsmen can be called the main force for collecting those data," Zhao Xiang, director of the Shanshui Nature Conservation Center's Sanjiangyuan Program, said on October 30.

China has the largest distribution of snow leopards in the world with 60 percent of the world's snow leopard habitat. There are estimated to be over 1,000 snow leopards in Sanjiangyuan area, the source of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River. According to the China Snow Leopard Survey and Protection Status of 2018 report released this month, research on snow leopards only covers 1.7 percent of their habitat area, far from the survey target of 20 percent of the world's snow leopard habitat. The largest survey gap is in the southern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, followed by the western Tianshan mountain region in northwest China's Xinjiang.

"Because most snow leopard habitats are in high altitude and remote areas, climate and transportation conditions are very poor, so the cost of conducting research there is high, and it is difficult to establish long-term monitoring systems," Zhao Xiang said. If they need to accumulate basic data on snow leopards and establish a long-term monitoring system, the best way is to train local herdsmen to do so.

In December 2012, Tamdrin Ode, a villager from Yonta Village, Hashul Township, Yushu Prefecture in northwest China's Qinghai Province, and other 13 herdsmen whose families have been living on the grassland for generations, were equipped with infrared cameras, GPS, and telescopes and became the first group of herdsmen monitors.

"We have grown up in this place and we are familiar with the land as if it were our own family," Tamdrin Ode said. The monitors from the village regularly report all monitoring data to researchers, while researchers analyze ecological problems behind the data and guide relevant protection actions.

"Where to place infrared cameras is determined by the herdsmen monitors themselves, because they know the activity paths, regions, and timing of the snow leopards. Scientific guidance needs to be integrated with local knowledge," Xiao Lingyun, a doctorate with the Research Center for Nature Conservation and Social Development at Peking University, said. He said that at present, a set of standardized processes has been established in the Sanjiangyuan area from community training, layout of infrared cameras, establishing databases, and data analysis.

It is reported that starting from Yonta Village, 150 herdsmen began to "go on duty" to monitor snow leopards in the Sanjiangyuan area. They are responsible for collecting imaging data from over 200 infrared cameras and monitoring an area of 4,000 square kilometers. In recent years, herdsmen have used infrared cameras to capture the world's first image of snow leopard mating, a leopard carrying its young, and an image of the sambar deer.

"More than 2,000 stool samples constitute a ‘large database' for snow leopard and its ‘partner' species in Sanjiangyuan area," Zhao Xiang said. "Analysis results showed that snow leopards captured by infrared cameras placed by herdsmen are basically at the same speed as scientists', so community monitoring led by herdsmen is effectively making up for any shortcomings from scientists."