Research overview: snow leopard core areas and ridge-following movement

Snow leopards are strongly associated with broken, cliffy terrain, and this overview examines how their fine-scale movement follows ridgelines, cliff bases, and rugged features that provide stalking cover and vantage. Step-selection and habitat analyses of GPS tracks consistently show selection for steep, topographically complex ground and travel routes that hug ridges and ravines rather than crossing open valleys. These movement preferences concentrate activity in core areas of prime terrain and influence where scent-marking and hunting occur. The overview discusses how understanding terrain-driven movement improves habitat modeling, the placement of camera traps and surveys, and predictions of where cats will travel, including across potential corridors. The tight coupling of snow leopard movement to landform is a defining feature of their spatial ecology and a useful predictor for conservation planning.