From the Mountains: How Atmospheric Extremes Shape Markhor and Snow Leopard Behaviour in the High-Alpine Landscapes of Chitral

Weather, wildlife, and the mountains of Chitral

District Chitral is located in the eastern Hindu Kush, which is highly mountainous. Isolated, has strong climatic gradients, and is highly seasonal. In this case, the weather is not an incidental state of affairs; it is a controlled ecological reality. Unexpected snowfalls, extended winters, unpredictable spring precipitation, and slowly increasing summer temperatures have a direct impact on the life of high-alpine mammals. In the case of the Kashmir markhor (Capra falconeri cashmiriensis), the national animal of Pakistan and its major predator, the snow leopard (Panthera uncia), the only hope to survive is constant behavioural negotiation in a

volatile environment. The recent climatic patterns show an elevation-related warming of the mountainous regions of the planet, and temperature rise is proportionally accelerated at the altitude (Pepin et al., 2015). These changes in Chitral come in the form of a decrease in snow. persistence, a lack of snow during earlier months, and the emergence of more extreme weather events. The way the behaviour of markhor and snow leopard reacts to these atmospheric

Changes are important in developing conservation policies that will even work with rapidly changing, strong heterogeneity, and climate uncertainty.

Weather-Driven Habitat Use of Markhor

Markhors live in steep and rough terrain of cliffs, sparse alpine vegetation with strong heterogeneity of microclimatic conditions. There is a powerful effect of weather variability on their habitat choice. In winter, deep snow and low weather limit movement and concentrate people on south-facing slopes and lower levels, where there is less snow accumulation. The fodder is still available. On the other hand, in warm seasons, markhors climb upwards. This study takes advantage of the temperatures and the newly discovered alpine food (Khan et al., 2025). The analyses of alpine ungulates show that this habitat choice can be described as a common behavioral choice, which allows individuals to reduce thermal stress and energetic expenditures in mountainous landscapes, benefiting from local climate variability (Brivio et al., 2024). Similar processes will probably control the movement of markhors in Chitral, and daily and seasonal choices are probably determined by slope aspect, wind exposure, and depth of snow. These climate-related changes have an impact on group structure, vigilance behavior, and time budgeting. Foraging and locomotion are major aspects of survival in predator-laden environments.

Snow Leopard Response to Extremes in the Atmosphere.

In the case of snow leopards, the weather indirectly affects their behavior through prey distribution. The cost of movement and the efficiency of hunting directly influence this. The depth of the snow influences the traveling activities and hunting success, whereas the temperature and the wind influence the selection of the resting site and time of activity. Less snow coverage can increase the accessibility of higher altitudes to prey species and increase their vulnerability to rivalry or cause them to become more exposed to human habitation. Habitat change as a result of climate change is an explicit threat to snow leopards, the habitat of which is closely associated with cold and high-altitude conditions. Surveys within the range of the species show that increasing temperatures and decreasing snow lines limit the favorable habitat and divide populations (Aryal et al., 2016). The anthropogenic activities that interact with these pressures in Chitral include livestock grazing and human-wildlife conflict, thus increasing conservation pressures (Khan & Khisroon, 2025).

Weather, Predator-Prey Dynamics, and Feedback of Behaviour

Markhor and snow leopards are by nature weather-dependent species. Markhor are seasonal; concentration in severe winters may lead to higher predation and dispersal in warmer seasons. may lead to lower rates of encounter. The balance can be interfered with by altered regimes of

Snow alters the timing and location of prey vulnerability. The effects of weather, implying changes in the timing of activity, group size, and overlap of space, are additional behavioral feedback loops that may cascade throughout the ecosystem. Indicatively, prior spring warming can generate earlier markhor altitudinal movement, increasing overlap with areas where snow leopards feed during nutritional periods of shortage. This kind of dynamic highlights the significance of considering predator-prey systems as climate-dependent instead of climate-independent.

Impact of Climatic Variability on Population

Prolonged observations of mountain ungulates can reveal that weather variability is a major factor in their survival and recruitment. The summer season influences forage productivity. Temperature and risk of mortality and energetic stress in the winter are caused by the severity of winter (Zemanova et al., 2018). In the case of Chitral markhors, their behavior is often unpredictable. Winters with the periodic occurrence of freeze-and-thaw periods accompanied by heavy snowfalls can introduce new demographic burdens. These population-scale impacts at the landscape scale interact with an upward zone of motion-adapted compression in the habitat. As treelines grow and alpine regions shrink, these species are increasing competition and exposure to stochastic weather events, along with shrinking climatic niches. Markhor and snow leopards both have limited climatic niches.

Conservation Implication in Chitral

1. Towards Static Protection and Weather-Informed Management

Conservation in Chitral has relied on passive methods, such as establishing protected areas and anti-poaching efforts. Although necessary, the approaches become inadequate when there is rapid climatic change. Weather dynamics and behavioral plasticity need to be put in the context of conservation. Weather-informed conservation may involve the following:

• Characterization and defense of microclimatic refugia utilized under stressful situations.

• The creation of corridors of movement that are in line with the predicted changes in the altitudes.

• Seasonal weather forecasts are incorporated into patrol planning to mitigate conflicts.

These kinds of adaptive strategies realise that conservation success is not only based on space, but also time and atmospheric context.

Conclusion

In high alpine environments of Chitral, the behavior is influenced by weather; survival affects conservation outcomes. District Chitral is located in the eastern Hindu Kush, which is highly mountainous. In both In the case of markhor and snow leopard, the extremes of weather are not occasional disruptions of

the atmosphere but rather long-term ecological agents. With the increasing levels of climate variability, conservation should outgrow fixed assumptions and adopt dynamic weather. responsive models that are based on behavioral ecology. Such an approach is the only hope of maintaining these iconic species in one of the most climate-sensitive areas of the world.