Melting ice in a warming world threatens to further shrink the habitat of the snow leopard, adding to illegal hunting woes that are pushing the iconic big cat to extinction, said a study released Friday.
As few as 4,000 of the mysterious animals could be left in their sole habitat in the high mountains of central Asia, the Swiss-based World Wildlife Fund said in its report.
Unless climate change is checked, more than a third of the habitat could vanish, with warmer temperatures pushing the tree line higher and farmers moving further up the mountains to plant crops and graze livestock, it added.
"Urgent action is needed to curb climate change and prevent further degradation of snow leopard habitat, otherwise the 'ghost of the mountains' could vanish," said Rishi Kumar Sharma, head of the fund's global snow leopard conservation initiative.
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