Mongolia approves vast reserve for snow leopards
Mongolia approves vast reserve for snow leopards.
Mongolia approves vast reserve for snow leopards. Mongolian parliament recently voted to create a nature reserve in the Tost Mountains of South Gobi province, along the country’s southeastern border, which will conserve an intact habitat for the snow leopards. The Nature Reserve will be a bridge between two existing protected areas. The resulting landscape will be one of the world’s largest continuous protected snow leopard habitats. Scientists have been studying snow leopards in the Tost Mountains since 2008, tracking the cats using GPS collars and camera traps. There are two active mines and 12 mines planned for the 3,150-square-mile area under consideration for the park. Once the park’s final boundaries are set, a process that should be completed by mid-June, the government is supposed to revoke mining licenses for any lands that fall inside the park. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the snow leopard as endangered because of climate change, poaching, and conflicts with humans. Mongolia is thought to contain around 1,000 of the world’s remaining 3,000 to 7,500 snow leopards—the second-largest population among the 12 Central Asian nations in the snow leopard’s range.
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