An exciting discovery came from a snow leopard census in Himachal Pradesh. There was photographic evidence for the first time ever of the Pallas’s cat in the state. This feline has the reputation of being called the “world’s grumpiest cat,” captured during a survey conducted earlier this year in Kinnaur, according to a statement from the Snow Leopard Trust in collaboration with the Nature Conservation Foundation.
From the 56 camera traps set up in Kinnaur to estimate the snow leopard population from March to May 2024, photographs of Pallas’s cats were recorded at three locations. These captured 19 images at three instances during the morning that proved their existence. This is the first official record of the Manul, as it is popularly known, in Himachal Pradesh, though the species has been earlier reported in Ladakh and occasionally in Sikkim.
First Photographic Evidence of Pallas’s Cat from Himachal Pradesh, India
©️Snow Leopard Trust pic.twitter.com/8MfVhpnSF3
— Akhil Mehta (@Akhilfrmchd) December 21, 2024
The most data was collected from the Hangrang Valley, where Kinnaur meets Tibet and Spiti, with 18 images taken between 3 AM and 4 AM and one at 10 AM all at an altitude of 3,900–4,100 meters above sea level. Though data was poor, it is confirmed to be of the species and the occurrence is reported to be true; however individual identification cannot be done as the specimen captured was under poor lighting.
“This new finding, while expanding on the record range of the Pallas’s cat also draws attention to the requirements of concerted research and endeavour towards this region’s conservation, with the consideration that it is not dog-free”, note the authors who presented a paper in *Snow Leopard Reports*.
The Pallas’s cat is susceptible to fragmentation of its habitat, to feral species, and to the military presence of the area. The challenges these factors pose necessitate conservation to protect this new documented population.
