Research overview: snow leopard dispersal across Mongolia and the Himalaya

This overview synthesizes telemetry evidence on how snow leopards disperse across the vast, rugged mountain systems of Central and South Asia. GPS-collared individuals, especially subadults, have undertaken long movements through high passes and between mountain ranges, crossing valleys and sometimes international borders that complicate conservation. The overview discusses how these dispersal movements maintain connectivity among a naturally sparse, fragmented metapopulation spread across a dozen range countries, and how they expose young cats to conflict with herders. Tracking dispersal is exceptionally difficult given the terrain, small samples, and short collar lifespans, but the data underpin transboundary corridor planning. Snow leopard dispersal research illustrates the challenge of conserving a cat whose movements routinely span political boundaries and some of Earth's most inaccessible landscapes.