Snow Leopard and Black-necked Crane

Why in news?

• Ladakh adopted two endangered species, snow leopard and black-necked crane, as State animal and State bird.

About Snow Leopard:

• It acts as an indicator of the health of the mountain ecosystem in which they live.
• Habitat:
  • Higher Himalayan and trans-Himalayan landscape in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Hemis, Ladakh is known as the Snow Leopard’s capital of the world.
• Threats:
  • Reduction in prey populations, illegal poaching and increased human population infiltration into the species habitat and illegal trade of wildlife parts and products
• Conservation Efforts by India:
  • Himal Sanrakshak: It is a community volunteer programme, to protect snow leopards, launched on 23rd October 2020
  • In 2019, First National Protocol was also launched on Snow Leopard Population Assessment
  • SECURE Himalaya: Global Environment Facility (GEF)-UNDP funded project on conservation of high altitude biodiversity
  • Project Snow Leopard  launched in 2009
  • Snow Leopard is in the list of 21 critically endangered species for the recovery programme of the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change.
• Snow leopards have been categorized as “vulnerable” in the IUCN Red List.
• It is also listed in:
  • Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES)
  • Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.
  • Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)

Black-necked Crane

• The black-necked crane is found in eastern Ladakh’s high-altitude wetlands and marshes.
• The bird is revered by the community of Monpas (major Buddhist ethnic group of Arunachal Pradesh) as an embodiment of the sixth Dalai Lama (Tsangyang Gyatso).
• Habitat and Breeding Grounds :
  • The high altitude wetlands of the Tibetan plateau , Sichuan (China), and eastern Ladakh (India) 
  • In Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, it only comes during the winters.
• Threats:
  • Damage to the eggs and chicks; loss of habitat due to development projects; increased grazing pressure on the limited pastures near the wetlands.
• Steps for their Conservation:
  • World Wide Fund for Nature-India in collaboration with the Department of Wildlife Protection, Jammu & Kashmir, has been working towards conservation of high altitude wetlands, with black-necked cranes as a priority species in Ladakh region. 
• Protection Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Near Threatened
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I

PRELIMS QUESTION

Consider the following pairs:

State Animal/Bird       Associated State

1. Black-necked crane     : Ladakh

2. Great hornbill              : Kerala

3. Blackbuck                     : Punjab

4. Elephant                       : Karnataka

Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 1 and 4 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1,2,3 and 4

Answer