Estimating snow leopard population abundance using photography and capture-recapture techniques

Jackson and colleagues adapted photographic capture-recapture to snow leopards, whose distinctive rosette and spot patterns allow individual identification. Working in the rugged high mountains of Central Asia, they detailed practical adaptations needed for snow leopard terrain, including placing cameras along cliff bases, ridgelines, and scent-marking sites that the cats use as travel routes. The study demonstrated that camera trapping could yield defensible abundance estimates for a species previously surveyed mainly through unreliable sign counts. It established field protocols later refined across the snow leopard range and helped shift the species' monitoring toward rigorous, repeatable methods. The paper is a foundational reference for snow leopard camera trapping and for surveying elusive cats in extreme mountain environments.