Good news is always welcome in the dire state of affairs of environmental degradation and species extinction. Headlines earlier this year featured the presumed extinct but rediscovered Ivory Billed Woodpecker. News last year of a new species of macaque in India and a new variety of titi in Bolivia was welcome, as was a recent report of a new species of monkey Highland Mangabey (Lophocebus kipunji).
Most recently the elusive snow leopard was spotted in Nepal. This animal of legend is more famous in books such as Peter Mathiessen's The Snow Leopard or featured by wildlife funds such as this conservancy, or this trust, than in real life. Native to Asia and the mountains of Central Asia, Earthwatch says about the rare feline:
"[S]now leopards are distributed across 12 countries and 2 million square kilometers, making their populations difficult to study. Snow leopards are nowhere considered common, and there are an estimated 4,500 to 7,000 left in the wild. Despite being protected in parts of their range, they are still hunted for their pelts, for body parts used in traditional medicine, and to protect livestock."
The snow leopard has been tracked by Som Ale, a doctoral student at the University of Illinois, Chicago, for the past 15 years. He finally sighted and photographed the leopards in Nepal. On this first fruitful outing, he successfully tracked the leopards by noting the behaviour of the Himalayan tahr, a wild goat that is prey for the leopard.
While scientists know that many unidentified species exist, it's somehow welcome news when they are discovered or uncovered. At the same time, however, you wonder whether uncovering these fragile ecosystems will actually help or further endanger these more inconspicuous species.
