In the stark, wind-scoured expanse of Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh, survival has always depended on adaptation. At elevations ranging from 3,600 to over 6,700 metres, winters plunge to minus 40 degrees Celsius, prey is scarce, and oxygen levels are thin. Yet even in one of the harshest environments on Earth, change is accelerating not from climate alone, but from growing human presence.
A new study in Spiti’s Trans-Himalayan ecosystem reveals how snow leopards, Himalayan wolves, red foxes, and free-ranging dogs are adjusting their behaviour to share space. Rather than dividing territory neatly, these carnivores are constantly shifting where and when they move, hunt, and rest to avoid confrontation. But scientists warn this delicate balance may not hold if human pressures continue to grow.
Behavioural Shifts Replace Territorial Boundaries
The research, led by scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India, examined five sites across Spiti Valley, including Chandratal, Kibber, Pin Valley, Mane, and Gue. These locations vary in tourism activity, livestock presence, settlement density, and dog populations, offering a gradient of human disturbance.
Over two field seasons between August 2021 and August 2022, researchers deployed 205 motion-sensitive camera traps, accumulating more than 8,000 trap-days of data. Instead of estimating population numbers, the team focused on how often species used certain areas and how their behaviour shifted in response to others.
The findings reveal a complex web of coexistence.
Red foxes emerged as the most flexible species. They frequently overlapped with larger predators such as the snow leopard and the Himalayan wolf, likely capitalising on scavenging opportunities. Their adaptability allows them to persist even in areas where competition is intense.
Free-ranging dogs, however, have become a powerful new influence. Supported by food waste from settlements and tourism, dogs cluster around roads, villages, and garbage sites. Their numbers are reshaping how native carnivores use the landscape. While dogs showed overlap with wolves often using similar open terrain and roads they rarely shared space directly with snow leopards.
When spatial avoidance was not possible, carnivores shifted their activity patterns. Foxes became more nocturnal in areas with high dog presence. Snow leopards reduced early-morning activity where dogs were common. Wolves, in contrast, avoided settlements more strongly and preferred less disturbed zones.
The study suggests that coexistence in Spiti is less about territorial separation and more about constant behavioural compromise.
Scientists caution that this adaptive dance has limits. Increasing tourism, expanding settlements, declining forest cover in parts of the broader Himalayan landscape, and especially the growth of free-ranging dog populations are intensifying competition.
Dogs, heavily subsidised by human activity, are effectively becoming dominant around settlements. Native predators are being pushed into making risky trade-offs altering hunting times, venturing into marginal habitats, or tolerating proximity to humans.
Such adjustments come at a cost. Behavioural flexibility can help species survive short-term pressures, but it may reduce hunting efficiency, increase energy expenditure, or heighten conflict risk over time.
Researchers emphasise that managing free-ranging dog populations through sterilisation, vaccination, and improved waste management is among the most immediate interventions available. Protecting quieter core habitats where native carnivores can function with minimal disturbance is equally critical.
Spiti Valley has long been viewed as a natural laboratory for studying high-altitude ecology. Now, it also stands as a warning. Even apex predators like the snow leopard are not immune to subtle shifts driven by human expansion.
In the cold desert of the Himalayas, coexistence is not static. It is negotiated daily and its future depends as much on human decisions as on the instincts of the predators themselves.