<h1 class="ql-align-center">Snow Leopard</h1> <h2>Context:</h2> <ul><li>Recently, Ladakh has declared snow leopard as state animal and black-necked crane as state bird for the Union Territory</li></ul> <h2>Snow Leopard:</h2> <h3>Description:</h3> <ul><li>Scientific name: Panthera uncia</li></ul> <ul><li>The Snow Leopard (also known as&nbsp;Ghost of the mountains) acts as an indicator of the health of the mountain ecosystem&nbsp;in which they live, due to their position as the&nbsp;top predator&nbsp;in the food web.</li></ul> <h3>Status:</h3> <ul><li>The species is considered Vulnerable by the International Union for conservation of nature (IUCN).</li></ul> <ul><li>Protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, India.</li></ul> <ul><li>Included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).</li></ul> <h3>Habitat:</h3> <ul><li>The Snow Leopard lives at high altitudes in the steep mountains of&nbsp;Central and Southern Asia,&nbsp;and in an extremely cold climate.</li></ul> <ul><li>They inhabit the&nbsp;higher Himalayan and trans-Himalayan landscape&nbsp;in the states/union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.</li></ul> <h3>Threats:</h3> <ul><li>Reduction in prey populations</li></ul> <ul><li>Increased human population infiltration into the species habitat&nbsp;</li></ul> <ul><li>Illegal poaching&nbsp;and trade of wildlife parts and products&nbsp;among others</li></ul>