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Snow leopards are at a high risk of extinction in the wild. Poaching and habitat destruction threaten the felines, which are native to the mountain ranges of Central and Asia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But a new study, published<\/a> in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that their genetic makeup could also be influencing their decline.\u00a0<\/p>\n Snow leopards theatened by climate change<\/p>\n Snow leopards<\/a> are a majestic species. One of the largest cats, these felines are found in the mountainous regions of 12 Asian countries, including Russia, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Tibet.\u00a0<\/p>\n These felines are well adapted to these extreme cold and mountainous environments. They are also important keystone species:<\/a> preying on animals such as the blue sheep of Tibet, the Siberian ibex, and the pika.<\/p>\n But there aren\u2019t many snow leopards left: population estimates range from 4,500 to 7,500. And because of this small population size, they are classified as \u201cvulnerable\u201d on the IUCN Red List<\/a>.<\/p>\n They are also incredibly susceptible to habitat changes caused by climate change.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause their habitat is so inhospitable, human population growth didn\u2019t really affect snow leopards very much, but climate change will,\u201d says Dmitri Petrov, a biologist at Stanford and one of the study\u2019s authors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHumans don\u2019t need to show up in their mountains to build or start agriculture. The climate changes, and it affects everyone and everything, even in such remote areas.\u201d<\/p>\n Low genetic density is a problem for snow leopards<\/p>\n For this study, researchers generated whole-genome sequencing data for 37 snow leopards. Prior to this, scientists had only sequenced four genomes of the species.<\/p>\n This new study found that many of these leopards share the same DNA. This makes sense, as these cats have had a small, stable population over a long period of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, low genetic diversity<\/a> can pose a problem for their survival. Individuals that are similar to each other are more susceptible to environmental changes, disease, and predators.<\/a> According to the study, it increases their risk of extinction<\/a> overall in a changing environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Is there hope for snow leopards?<\/p>\n The study also revealed that snow leopards<\/a> have a significantly lower \u201chomozygous load.\u201d There were fewer instances of the cats<\/a> inheriting potentially harmful mutations. Over time, snow leopards were able to \u201cpurge\u201d bad mutations, allowing the population to remain relatively healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n