Srinagar, Aug. 19 -- Researchers have confirmed the year-round presence of at least a dozen adult snow leopards in parts of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, suggesting the region supports a stable and breeding population of the elusive big cat. Using over 3,000 camera trap nights between 2022 and 2025, at least 12 adult snow leopards-with estimates suggesting up to 20 individuals-have been identified across the Kishtwar High Altitude National Park (KHANP), Paddar and the Zojila region of Ladakh, said Shahid Hameed, project coordinator at the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), which led the three-year survey in collaboration with the Wildlife Protection Department of Jammu & Kashmir. "This is a significant milestone. The presence of a mother and cubs in Kishtwar confirms that this is not just a transient population, but a breeding one," he said. Preferring solitary and icy mountains, the cat is rarely spotted and hardly photographed. Hence, not much is known about it. Weighing up to 75 kg, the snow leopard has a thick, soft grey coat with ringed black spots to help it camouflage itself among rocks. The three-year camera trapping project is a joint effort of the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) with the support of the wildlife protection department of J&K. "We have now confirmed year-round presence and breeding activity of snow leopards in the Union Territory - marking a significant breakthrough for high-altitude biodiversity conservation in India," he said adding that this survey was supported by Royal Enfield Social Mission as part of its ongoing commitment to the conservation of keystone species and critical landscapes in the Himalayan ecosystems. The survey was part of the Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) protocol, under the directive of the ministry of environment, forest & climate change (MoEF&CC). Earlier years confirmed the presence of snow leopards in the UT for the first time, the 2024-25 phase brought new insights, recording snow leopards during winter months in both Paddar (Jammu division) and Zojila (Kashmir division). In 2022, a snow leopard was sighted on camera in J&K almost a year after the J&K government started a census of the threatened species found in the snowy high mountains of the Himalayas. "First, we were not sure about the presence of cats round the year in J&K. Now, after these camera trappings we have solid evidence these are not migratory but they are there in the jurisdiction." Shahid said they had installed camera traps in December and lifted them in May. "The analysis indicated encouraging results. At both places, cats are different despite the roaming area for snow leopard is around 200 km. We are now planning to install radio collars on some cats but it needs a lot of resources, funding and government approval," he said. In early October of 2022, an adult leopard - Panthera Uncia - was identified from pictures captured using infrared camera traps in the upper Baltal-Zojila axis at a height of 3,500-3,800 metres above sea level which was the first evidence of snow leopard in Kashmir. In 2012, two adult snow leopards were also caught on infrared cameras in Kargil district, then part of J&K. The surveys were done across the 12,000 km potential area of snow leopard of J&K from Gurez, Thajwas, Baltal-Zojila, Warwan and Kishtwar forests and landscape which is also interconnected and has good prey for snow leopards. India had launched Project Snow Leopard in 2009 to save the elusive and vulnerable species. Shahid Hameed said that the camera trapping exercise also revealed other important and rare species such as Asiatic ibex, Brown Bear and Kashmir Musk Deer which are prey of the snow leopard....