From lower pollution levels to clean rivers, the ongoing lockdown is proving to be a boon for the environment. Even stories of rare animals venturing outside, on empty, deserted streets is doing rounds on the internet ever since.
This time, in the latest sightings of rare species, four snow leopards, including a pair was caught on camera in Uttarakhand’s Nanda Devi National Park.
In a rare sight, 4 snow leopards including a pair have been caught on camera in #Uttarakhand’s Nanda Devi National Park. This endangered species is highly elusive but camera traps set up by #forest dept at 10,170ft were able to capture them. @WWFINDIA https://t.co/mEc7Q4HYlR pic.twitter.com/kvxXgNUPAa
— Dhanraj Nathwani (@DhanrajNathwani) April 15, 2020
IFS officer, Parveen Kaswan also posted incredibly rare footage, shared by The White Lion Foundation, of a snow leopards call in the wild on Twitter. Check it out.
Rarest of rare. An incredible footage of a #SnowLeopard’s call in the wild at #Karakoram mountains recently captured & shared courtesy:
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) April 11, 2020
The White Lion Foundation / BWCDO. Via Sher Foundation. pic.twitter.com/E5JL6wa7qs
This footage is from the Karakoram mountain range that borders India, Pakistan and China.
The video is about snow leopard’s call. I don’t know where on Karakoram it was filmed. Karakoram range spans over 500 km in length. From Wakhan corridor (Afghanistan) to Aksai Chin.
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) April 11, 2020
While releasing this extremely rare footage, The White Lion Foundation said, capturing snow leopards on camera, in general, is extremely difficult as they are great with evading researchers and prefer living a solitary life.
According to reports, DK Singh, Director of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve said these sightings were caught on camera between January to March but, they came to light recently when forest officials checked the footage.
In a very rare sighting, snow leopards were spotted in Uttarakhand, as India stays home due to the lockdown.https://t.co/NEW5jtzQrv
— News18.com (@news18dotcom) April 15, 2020
Naturally, even the internet was left in disbelief. Here’s what they had to say about this spectacular footage.
Incredible
— Kanta Kardam (@kanta_kardam) April 11, 2020
Amazing
— Sergeant Bikash (@bikash63) April 11, 2020
Wonderful 👌
— Eternal Traveller 🇮🇳 (@TravelerEternal) April 11, 2020
Great news…
— Rudy Sangma (@RudySangma) April 13, 2020
Incredible find.
— Ehrazgonewild (@TweetEhraz) April 13, 2020
It's great Thanks for sharing👍
— L KURIEN (@l_kurien) April 12, 2020
Currently, India has 516 snow leopards, out of which 86 are in Uttarakhand. The rest are living in regions of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.
These instances clearly show nature is rejuvenating during the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the ongoing pandemic.