Snow leopard ecology and conservation in Bhutan

Where snow leopards can live in northern Bhutan, why they take livestock, and how people’s acceptance shapes their future. A PhD project, 2016–2023.

Snow leopards in northern Bhutan share their high mountain valleys with herders and their livestock. This project was Dechen Lham’s PhD. Before it, she had served for several years as Bhutan’s national focal person for snow leopard conservation.

The project asked three questions: where in Bhutan snow leopards can live, what drives their attacks on livestock, and how people’s acceptance of the species affects where it can persist. It modelled the distribution and habitat suitability of snow leopards across northern Bhutan and studied the ecological determinants of livestock depredation. Finally, it brought local attitudes into the habitat models, an approach the group had earlier developed for wolves in Switzerland. The work contributes to the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP).

A snow leopard on a camera trap in northern Bhutan, 2015 (photo: Department of Forests and Park Services, Bhutan)

Dechen Lham in the mountains of northern Bhutan (photo: Dechen Lham)

Years: 2016–2023

Funding: Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship • University of Zurich

People: Dechen Lham (PhD student), Stefan Sommer