ISLAMABAD: An emaciated wolf rested its head on a block of ice, seeking relief from stifling heat in a zoo in Pakistan’s capital, while another gazed at a family enjoying an afternoon picnic as an elephant swayed its head nearby. The elephant, named Kavaan, generated international headlines for the zoo in 2016, when pop star Cher sent representatives to check …
The recent opening up of trophy hunting, at very high prices for very few permits, of the markhor mountain goat has led to advantages for the villagers, and better protection for the animal, in Gilgit-Baltistan By Zofeen T. Ebrahim The good news is that the trophy hunting programme for markhor, the wild goat that is Pakistan’s national animal, has led to an …
GILGIT: Thousands of Buddhists from Japan, South Korea and other parts of the world visiting Gilgit city every year crave to see the 7th-century Kargah Buddha figure carved into solid rock at a high altitude, but face difficulties due to the dilapidated condition of the road leading to the site. Kargah Buddha, Yashani in the local language, is a unique …
In a remote valley of Chitral, the conservation programme turns local women into artisans, helping them generate extra income. Shameem Ara, a housewife in remote Chitral valley, spends most of her leisure time drawing colourful decorative thread work on locally prepared handwoven Chitrali wool through embroidery. This helps her generate additional income to get her two children educated. Due to …
A study on the little-known high-altitude bird in the pheasant family, the Tibetan Snowcock. The study uses reports on images from camera traps to describe its behavior. It also describes the bird’s preference for higher elevation, living close to glaciers and the snow line. “Global climate change has had significant effects on animal distribution and population dynamics in mid-latitude alpine areas, but …
Existing snow leopard population assessment studies tend to be conducted in the best habitats and cover areas that are too small to be representative of larger landscapes. This leads to inflated population estimates. BY MATT FIECHTER It’s become something of a truism in snow leopard research: we don’t have much of an idea about how many of these cats there are. …
