Ladakh declares state animal and birds

• The newly formed Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh has declared the black-necked crane and snow leopard as their state bird and animal.
• The declaration made by the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory comes almost 2 years after Parliament passed legislation bifurcating the state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) into two UT – Ladakh and J&K.
• The black-necked crane was previously the state bird of the former state of J&K, along with Hangul as the state animal.

Black-necked crane

• The black-necked stork was earlier also the state bird of Jammu and Kashmir.
• It is Found only in Ladakh in India and is a tall bird reaching a height of about 1.35 meters.
• It has a wingspan of about 2–2.5 m and a weight of about 6–8 kg, with a bright red crown on its head.
• Usually seen in the outskirts of Jammu, their courtship dance has inspired the charts of one of the famous folk dances of Ladakh.

Snow Leopards

• These spotted leopards live in the mountains across a vast range of Asia.
• The mountainous region of the western and eastern Himalayas is the habitat of snow leopards in India.
• They are mainly found in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Experts put the population of snow leopards to be between 200-300 individuals in Ladakh alone and speak about the fragile relation of their healthy population to overall natural health of the mountains.