Ladakh
47 Results
The Wild Yak: Treasure of the High Plateaus
Wild yaks are hardy creatures that live at high altitudes and are comfortable in freezing weather. They are rarely seen, as less than 15,000 remain in the world
Species
Pallas's Cats: Raising Kittens in Ladakh's Changing Landscape
For years, the high-altitude village of Hanle has been the Pallas's cat's safe abode, but new developments are rapidly altering the habitat. Can these two mother cats keep their kittens safe?
Video
Pallas’s Cat: Silent Predator of the Trans-Himalayas
The cold and windy marshes of Hanle in Ladakh, with an abundance of pika and voles, is an ideal home for the Pallas’s cat. However, increasing construction activity in the area threatens this rich ecosystem
Conservation
Tibetan Sand Fox: High-Altitude Hunter
Only discovered in India in 2005, these small, furry foxes are found in the high Himalayas, where they are well-adapted, live in dens, and mainly hunt pikas
Photo Story
All that Fluff: Elusive Pallas’s Cats and Their Kittens
The Pallas’s cat is a magnificent yet rarely-seen high-altitude feline. To his delight, a wildlife photographer is able to spot this elusive creature near Hanle in Ladakh
Photo Story
Tibetan Wolves: Long-ranging Drifters of the Changthang
Tibetan wolves are one of the top predators of the high Himalayas in Ladakh. Unfortunately, they have long been persecuted and considered a bad omen
Photo Story
Ladakh Pika’s Winter Challenge
Ladakh's winter weakens the strongest, many mammals choose to hibernate or migrate. But not the pikas — these tiny but hardy fur balls stay strong and prepared to face the cold and harsh season
Video
Pallas's Cat: Facts, Habitat, Threats
All you need to know about this elusive and small wildcat
Infographic
An Encounter with the Grey Ghost of Ladakh
What do an eight-year-old and 14-year-old do when a snow leopard takes one of the goats they were herding?
Book
High and Dry: The Gradual Erosion of Ladakh’s ‘Dry Toilet’ Culture
Burgeoning tourism is pressurising locals in Ladakh to construct water-based toilets that are unsuited for its freezing terrain and only add to its water woes
Wild Vault
Horned Lark: The Crazy Bird and its Crazy Nest
The horned lark cares little for privacy. It builds its nests in open grounds, on compound walls, or even next to busy roads, allowing everyone a glimpse of its private life
Species
Crossing Paths with the Pallas’s Cat in the Trans-Himalaya
A dream, a pursuit, and finally, an encounter with the fabulous, fuzzy ribilik on a rocky outcrop near Hanle in Ladakh
Photo Story
How Local Communities Help Conserve the Snow Leopard
Community-led initiatives in Ladakh’s Sham Valley have deterred the ‘revenge killing’ of snow leopards and encouraged locals to participate in their conservation
Wild Vault
Bearded Vulture: Facts, Diet, IUCN Status
Everything you need to know about this bone-swallowing raptor
Infographic
Agile Mountaineer: The Treacherous Summit of the Ibex
Every winter, as heavy snow envelops the Himalayan mountains, the Ibex descends to the lower slopes in search of food. But the journey is long and arduous, and danger lurks at every bend
Video
Himalayan Blue Sheep: Facts, Habitat, Population
An ungulate from the himalayas that is neither blue nor a sheep
Infographic
The Trotter of Ladakh’s Stark Mountains
The rocky Changthang plateau is a study in brown, and galloping along its stark landscape are herds of handsome, graceful and spirited, kiangs
Video
Running Free: Tibetan Wild Ass of the Trans-Himalaya
Grazing and galloping their way through the alpine grasslands and vast plateaus of Ladakh, Tibetan wild asses or kiangs are sturdy, graceful creatures that herd together to defend themselves
Photo Story
The Bear and I: A Quest to Photograph the Himalayan Brown Bear
Patience, perseverance, and expanding knowledge, from 15 years of tracking the Himalayan Brown Bear through the Wilds of Ladakh and Himachal
Photo Story
The Ladakh Urial’s Life at the Edge
The urial has roamed the high mountains of Asia since the Ice Age, but recent climate changes, new developments, competition with livestock, and other shifts are testing its survival skills. Will this monarch of the mountains survive the challenges we throw at it?
Video
Cross Connections: The Story of Humans, Urial, and their Kin
The role of wild sheep in the trajectory of human growth, and other compelling reasons to protect the urial and its habitat
Species
The Fox Trot: The Bushy-tailed Red Fox Goes on a Hunt
Its winter and Ladakh is covered in a blanket of snow, with no signs of life around. But wait, what’s that? Something moves beneath the ground. Will the hungry fox catch its lunch?
Video
Thriving in Thin Air: Pikas of the Himalayan Talus
Tiny, cute, and highly adaptable, the pika survives freezing temperatures and a host of predators
Species
Hop, Skip, Run: The Hardy Pikas of Ladakh
Various species of pikas occupy the meadows and rock-strewn slopes of Ladakh, and they all stockpile enough food to last them through the bitter winter
Species
Burrow Down, Sleep Tight: The Fascinating Life of the Himalayan Marmot
Himalayan marmots hibernate for six to eight months a year, but what do they do when they’re awake?
Photo Story
All is Not Well with the Himalayan Marmot
These furry creatures are high-altitude champions and can survive through Ladakh's cold, harsh winters, on little food or oxygen. But a new trickier challenge has come their way — the insensitive tourist
Video
Tso Kar: A White Lake that Welcomes Birds
Tso Kar is not picture-perfect blue. It is a saline lake with brackish waters. The lake welcomes birds that migrate long distances, in difficult climates, to feed, spend winters and raise their young ones, including the black-necked crane
Video
The Himalayan Brown Bear’s Life in Snow
It has been a cold and harsh winter in the snow-clad mountains. As the snow melts, a very rare animal wakes up from its long slumber. Meet, one of the most elusive animals of the snow mountains — the Himalayan brown bear
Video
Snow Leopard: The Ghost of the Brown Mountains
In the summers, the bare, endless mountains of Ladakh stretch as far as the eye can see. But hiding in plain sight, along its rugged, rocky edges, is a feline mountain ghost
Video
Getting Into a Huddle: The Himalayan Marmot Family
These cute, furry rodents of Ladakh are inadvertent ecosystem engineers
Species
The Big Melt: Snow Leopards and Climate Change
What will our rapidly warming world mean for the elusive Panthera uncia?
Photo Story
Dance of the Black-necked Cranes in Ladakh
Every year, flocks of black-necked cranes descend upon the Changthang Plateau to breed, nest, and look after their young
Photo Story
Can the Quick Red Fox Jump Over the Ladakhi Dog?
In the Changthang Plateau of Ladakh, conflict between red foxes and packs of free-ranging dogs intensifies
Conservation
Challenge and Change in the Changthang
In this remote, high-altitude plateau of Ladakh, inhabited by Changpa nomads, a worrying transformation of habitat, climate, and lifestyle is under way
Conservation
At a Canter: The Kiang of the Changthang
Droves of Tibetan wild ass or kiang are a common sight in the rolling open grasslands and marshy wetlands of Ladakh’s Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary
Species
The Guide: Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary
Whether in the grasslands, wetlands, or on steep snowy Himalayan cliffs, this high-altitude cold desert has a variety of animals and birds well adapted to sub-zero temperatures
Travel
Deserts Decoded
Everything you need to know about these arid landscapes
Explainer
Amazing Grace: The Dancing Black-necked Cranes of Ladakh
Tall and stately, black-necked cranes are short-term migrants in Ladakh, yet their elegance has inspired myths, folk dances, art, research and wildlife expeditions
Species
Brooding over the Black-Necked Crane
Encounters and observations of the splendid black-necked cranes at high altitude wetlands
Conservation
Dogs on the Rooftop: Faithful Friends or Fierce Predators?
A dramatic increase in the number of livestock and wildlife being attacked by free-ranging dogs is having an adverse effect on the fragile landscape of the cold desert of Spiti
Conservation
Himalayan Wolf: The Howler of Hanle
Searching for the elusive Tibetan wolf, in the Changthang Plateau of Ladakh
Species
Shadow in the Sand: Encountering the Toad-headed Agama in Ladakh
Once listed as common, the toad-headed agama is now a rare creature in its native habitat of Ladakh
Species
In Fine Feather: Spotting Birds in Ladakh
Over 3OO species of resident and migratory birds can be found in the seemingly inhospitable high-altitude desert of Ladakh
Habitat
In the Pink: Health and Herding in the Himalayas
Fostering human-wildlife coexistence in the high mountains. Can disease-free pastoral herds translate to healthy wildlife populations?
Conservation
Snow Leopard: The Ghost Cat and the Art of Waiting
A distant longing to see the snow leopard brings to light an epiphany: Everything is connected — man, animal, and ecology
Species
Protecting the Snow Leopards of Asia’s Mountains
As their habitat is encroached upon, snow leopards face severe threats, but we can ensure that these splendid creatures, and the mountain people they live near, thrive and prosper
Species
Himalayan Marmots: Sharp Sentinels of Ladakh
Burrowing deep and wrestling their way to survival, these giant ground squirrels live in the high-altitude cold desert of Changthang, Ladakh
Species