The Endangered snow leopard Panthera uncia is a flagship species of mountainous Asia and a conservation priority. China is the most important country for the species’ conservation because it has the most potential habitat and the largest population of snow leopards. North-west Yunnan province in south-west China is at the edge of the snow leopard's range, and a biodiversity hotspot, where three major Asian rivers, the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween, flow off the Tibetan plateau and cut deep valleys through the Hengduan Mountains. The snow leopard's status in north-west Yunnan is uncertain. We conducted interviews and camera-trapping surveys to assess the species’ status at multiple sites: two east of the Yangtze River and two between the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers. Thirty-eight herders/nature reserve officials interviewed claimed that snow leopards were present, but in 6,300 camera-trap days we did not obtain any photographs of snow leopards, so if the species is present, it is rare. However, we obtained many photographs of potential prey, such as blue sheep Pseudois nayaur, as well as photographs of common leopards Panthera pardus, at high elevations (3,000–4,500 m). More study is necessary in Yunnan and other areas of south-west China to investigate the status and resource overlap of snow leopards and common leopards, especially as climate change is resulting in increases in common leopard habitat and decreases in snow leopard habitat.

Little is known about the status of the snow leopard Panthera uncia in Qomolangma National Nature Reserve, located on the northern aspect of Mount Everest in Tibet. To address this, during May–September 2014 we conducted line transects, camera trapping, household interviews, and socioeconomic statistics analysis. We surveyed 14 transects and located 287 putative snow leopard signs, with a mean density of 1.9 sign sites km–1, 3.8 signs km–1, and 1.4 scrapes km–1. We set 41 camera traps and recorded a minimum of seven individual snow leopards. Our results were comparable to snow leopard abundance estimates for neighbouring protected areas in Nepal. Semi-structured interviews with 46 (59%) households found that local people were generally supportive of snow leopard conservation, for a variety of economic, legislative, and religious reasons. The socio-economic situation in the Reserve underwent dramatic changes between 2000 and 2014. The human population increased by 28.9%, the livestock population decreased by 9.9%, the number of tourists in 2014 was 6.8 times greater than in 2005, and the local gross domestic product underwent an annual increase of 15%. We discuss the current threats to snow leopards, and recommend that more rigorous, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary research be undertaken to provide an evidential basis for the formulation of effective conservation policies and programmes.