The Mysterious ‘Ghosts of the Mountains’ are Rising

The mountain-dwelling snow leopard, as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a global body helping local communities conserve natural species and their habits that they depend upon, highlights, is an elusive big cat. It has evolved to inhabit some of the harshest conditions in the world, and is found in some of Central Asia’s steep, rugged high mountain ranges.

Kazakhstan, the Asian country that was a part of the former USSR, and gained its independence in 1991, is now celebrating the revival of this endangered species within its borders. This follows the success of local conservation efforts, which have boosted dwindling numbers of these magnificent big cats, doubling them in the last three decades, as the human progress-oriented Kazinform Agency reports, to the delight of locals, conservationists and ecotourists.

The ‘ghosts of the mountains’ back from the brink of extinction
As the WWF explains, snow leopards or Panthera uncia have evolved to live in harsh natural habitats. Their thick white-gray coats, dotted with multiple black rosettes act as a natural camouflage in Asia’s steep and rocky high mountain terrain, earning them the moniker of “ghost of the mountains.”

Today, the country of Kazakhstan is celebrating that its threatened snow leopard population, known locally as irbis, as The Times of Central Asia reports, has rebounded to near-historic levels. It is estimated that there are between 152-189 of these big cats in the country. 

Kazakhstan launched a snow leopard conservation project with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2018. As a direct result of this program, the local snow leopard population has swelled by over 26 percent since 2019. 

This is a significant conservation achievement, as the snow leopard is listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List and the national Red Books of all 12 countries within its range.

The Times of Central Asia quotes the executive director of the Snow Leopard Foundation, Alexei Grachev,  who also heads the Snow Leopard Monitoring Center, as noting that the numbers of these species have now stabilized, with protected areas providing a crucial role in their survival, as human activity remains the greatest threat to the survival of this iconic species.

A good example of this threat is provided by the footage of a usually-elusive snow leopard, standing beside and unbothered by a huge truck on a Kazakhstan road, which went viral in 2022, as reported by the Caspian Post. The animal was rescued by Almaty Zoo, but sadly died soon afterwards. An autopsy revealed a plastic bag inside its stomach.

In another recent article, The Times of Central Asia covers how local efforts to boost the numbers of this predator have seen Kazakhstan cooperating with its neighbor Kyrgyzstan and formalized in a memorandum of understanding on snow leopard conservation, signed in October 2024. This commits both countries to experience-sharing in research and protection, the monitoring of the snow leopard, its habitats and food supply, and to the promotion of public awareness and participation through snow leopard conservation programs. 

For environmentalists in both these Central Asian countries, the resilience of their snow leopards, predators that survive at the top of the food chain, as the UNDP details, is seen as an indication of the stability and wellbeing of the mountain ecosystem. 

Crucially, the balance between people and nature is at the core of these efforts. Collaborations like these, says UNDP, are so important, because these countries represent a cross-border region of snow leopard migration. A greater understanding of these mountain ecosystems will benefit local people who depend on them, as well as future conservation efforts.

A national symbol of Kazakhstan
The country of Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world, covering approximately 2.7 million square kilometers (almost 1.5 square miles,) as the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade details. It is bordered by Russia to the north, the Caspian Sea to the south-west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to the south, and China to the east.

The Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) is an alliance of all snow leopard range countries, nonprofits, scientists and local communities with a mission to save the snow leopard and its fragile mountain ecosystems. According to GSLEP, most of the major rivers of Kazakhstan and their numerous tributaries originate from the glaciers in the snow leopard habitat within the country limits or in neighboring countries. It shares that there are six national parks and four reserves in the parts of Kazakhstan which are host to snow leopards. 

This alliance is keenly aware that efforts to preserve the wild, pristine, and biodiversity-rich mountain areas that are the snow leopard’s natural habitat, hold real appeal for ecotourists, mountaineers and scientific explorers from around the world. Ecotourism in particular, can boost the prosperity of Kazakhs living in mountain areas, offering work to locals as guides and other tourism support roles, as well as in the sale of traditional handicrafts and organic food etc.

Today, this treasured big cat is already an official symbol of Kazakhstan, an initiative introduced by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. An official mascot of the Asian Winter Games, “Asiada-2011”, this branding has gone on to become part of that of numerous organizations, sports and tourism clubs, and local products in general.