The Ladakh Union Territory administration announced snow leopard as its state animal and black-necked crane as its state bird.
This big update comes after the Union Territory parted ways from the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state in 2019. Earlier, the black-necked crane was the state bird of J&K that existed until 5 August, 2019.
According to reports, the black-necked crane is found in eastern Ladakh's high-altitude wetlands. It is mostly listed as Near Threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list. These birds arrive in Ladakh in March for breeding and migrate by October end or early November.
In total, there are about 7,500 snow leopards left in the world, out of which 500 are in India. However, experts state that Ladakh alone is the abode of the population of snow leopards ranging from 200 to 300.
Among the many places and forests, the high-altitude cold desert of Ladakh is the home to about half of them. In the Ladakh region, snow leopards prey on marmots, bharal (blue sheep), and ibex. Furthermore, it is very rare to sight them.