Overview

• The state estimates 83 snow leopards excluding cubs, with a 67–103 confidence interval, up from 51 in the 2021 assessment.
• The Wildlife Wing and NCF finished the survey in one year using about 271 camera traps across roughly 26,000 square kilometers, detecting 44 unique animals in 262 captures, with analysis generating the statewide estimate.
• Estimated density ranges from 0.16 to 0.53 per 100 square kilometers, with the highest values in Spiti and Pin Valley, followed by Upper Kinnaur and Tabo.
• Many detections occurred outside protected areas such as Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary and eat HiHimalayan National Park, underscoring the need for community-based conservation across the wider landscape.
• The study recorded the first official Pallas’s cat sighting in Kinnaur and the woolly flying squirrel’s rediscovery in Lahaul, while refining distribution maps for key prey and other high‑altitude mammals.