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Snow leopards — two of every three in India live in Ladakh
India's first snow leopard count estimated 718 in the country and 477 of them in Ladakh, about two in three. What the 2019–2023 survey found, state by state.
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Look at the picture at the top of this page twice. There is a snow leopard in it, resting among the boulders, almost the same grey as the stone. Animals this hard to see are hard to count, and until recently India had never counted its own. When it did, the answer was striking: about two of every three snow leopards in the country live in one place, Ladakh.
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India's first count
From 2019 to 2023, India ran its first Snow Leopard Population Assessment. The Wildlife Institute of India led it as national coordinator, working with every state where the cat lives, with the Nature Conservation Foundation and WWF-India, and with forest staff, researchers and volunteers. The report was released on 30 January 2024.
Teams covered about 120,000 km² of high, cold country, more than seventy percent of the snow leopard's range in India. Camera traps photographed 241 different snow leopards. From that work the survey estimated how many live in each state.
The estimate, state by state
- Ladakh: 477
- Uttarakhand: 124
- Himachal Pradesh: 51
- Arunachal Pradesh: 36
- Sikkim: 21
- Jammu and Kashmir: 9
- India: 718 in all
Ladakh's 477 out of 718 is roughly two in every three. Every number here is an estimate from the survey, not a count of each animal.
Photos: Ksuryawanshi (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Gozitano (CC BY-SA 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
What the numbers mean
The survey did not find and count every animal. It searched for signs, set camera traps across a huge area, and from what it found estimated how many snow leopards each state holds. The 241 photographed are the ones the cameras actually caught; the 718 is the estimate for the whole country.
Read next
From the same high desert, read why the Khardung La sign is wrong and how villages grow their own glacier. For the park most linked with the cat, read our guide to Hemis National Park and its snow leopards. Our Leh guide covers the monasteries of the Indus valley, among them Hemis. Or browse every destination.
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Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary and Zero Point — oak forest and the snow range above Almora
Billing paragliding site, Bir
Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh
Basheshar Mahadev Temple, Bajaura
Sanga Choeling Monastery, Pelling — a ridge-top gompa of 1697
Tangyud Monastery
Buddha Park of Ravangla — the 130-foot Buddha above South Sikkim
Tehri Dam — India's tallest dam, the lake behind it and the town beneath
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Questions people ask
How many snow leopards are there in India?
An estimated 718. That is the result of India's first snow leopard population assessment, carried out from 2019 to 2023 with the Wildlife Institute of India as national coordinator and released in January 2024. It is an estimate from surveys and camera traps, not a head count of every animal.
Which state has the most snow leopards?
Ladakh, by far. The survey estimated 477 snow leopards there, about two of every three in India. Next come Uttarakhand with an estimated 124, Himachal Pradesh with 51, Arunachal Pradesh with 36, Sikkim with 21, and Jammu and Kashmir with 9.
How was the snow leopard count done?
Teams covered about 120,000 km² of the cat's high, cold range in India, more than seventy percent of it, with surveys for signs and with camera traps. Cameras photographed 241 different individual snow leopards. The number for each state is estimated from that work, so treat every figure as an estimate.
Can I see a snow leopard in Ladakh?
This page makes no promise. Snow leopards are rare, shy and the colour of the rocks they rest on, as the picture above shows. Anyone who goes looking should go with local guides and follow the rules of the protected area they are in, and keep well away from the animal.