What is in news : Ladakh  adopted two endangered species, snow leopard and black-necked crane, as the State animal and the State bird

About Snow leopard

• Range: Mountains of Central Asia.
• Habitat: Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
• IUCN status: ‘endangered’ to ‘vulnerable’.
• Threats
  • Poaching: They have long been killed for their beautiful fur, but their bones and other body parts are also used in Traditional Asian Medicine.
  • Conflict with communities: Herders sometimes kill snow leopards in retaliation for attacking their livestock.
  • The decline in the leopard’s natural prey: Due to hunting, competition from increasing livestock herds, and habitat loss – is forcing them to rely more on livestock for food and increasing the risk of retaliatory killings.
  • Shrinking habitat: They need vast areas to thrive, but expanding human and livestock populations are rapidly encroaching on their habitat. New roads and mines are also fragmenting their remaining range.
  • Changing climate: All these threats will be exacerbated by the impact of climate change on the fragile mountain environment – putting the future of snow leopards at even greater risk. It will also endanger the livelihoods of local communities and the tens of millions of people living downstream of these major watersheds.

About Black necked crane

• Vulnerable — IUCN Red List
• State bird of Jammu and Kashmir
• It is revered in Buddhist traditions and culturally protected across much of its range
• Range: Tibetan Plateau and remote parts of India and Bhutan
• Habitat: Breeds in alpine bog meadows and riverine marshes, favouring lacustrine marshes from 2,600-4,900 m. It prefers to nest at large water bodies
• Threats
  • damage to the eggs and chicks, caused by feral dogs
  • loss of habitat due to human pressure on the wetlands
  • increased grazing pressure on the limited pastures near the wetlands is leading to the degradation of the wetland habitat.
• Conservation
  • Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972
  • Appendix I of CITES