Description
Snow leopards are smaller than the other big cats but like them, exhibit a range of sizes. Snow leopards have long thick fur, the base colour of which varies from smoky grey to yellowish tan, with whitish underparts. They have dark grey to black open rosettes on their body with small spots of the same color on their heads and larger spots on their legs and tail.
Snow leopards show several adaptations for living in a cold mountainou s environment. Their bodies are stocky, their fur is thick, and their ears are small and rounded, all of which help to minimize heat loss. Their feet are wide, which distributes their weight better for walking on snow, and they have fur on their undersides to increase their traction on steep and unstable surfaces, as well as to assist with minimizing heat loss. Snow leopards’ tails are long and flexible, helping them to maintain their balance. The tails are also very thickly covered with fur which, apart from minimizing heat loss, allows them to be used like a blanket to protect their faces when asleep.
Snow leopards cannot roar, despite possessing some ossification of the hyoid bone. The presence of this ossification was previously thought to be essential for allowing the big cats to roar, but new studies show that the ability to roar is due to other morphological features, especially of the larynx, which are absent in the snow leopard. Snow leopard vocalizations include hisses, chuffing, mews, growls, and wailing.
The diet of the snow leopard varies across its range and with the time of year, and is dependent on prey availability. Its most common prey includes wild sheep and goats, but it also eats marmots, pikas, hares and game birds. It is not averse to taking domestic livestock, which brings it into direct conflict with humans. Snow leopards prefer to ambush prey from above and can leap as far as 14 meters.
Population size & trend
| Estimated population size: | Estimated population size: 4,080 — 6,590 (roughly, and most estimates of the different countries are outdated); as the snow leopard is hardly ever seen, and for good reasons is called the ghost of the mountain, this number should be regarded as a very rough extrapolation with high uncertainty.In addition, there are between 600 and 700 snow leopards in zoos around the world. |
| Trend: | decreasing |
Geographical range & habitat
Currently, it has a fragmented distribution, consisting of a mix of long narrow mountain systems and islands of montane habitat scattered throughout a large region surrounding the Central Asian deserts and plateaus. Core areas of snow leopard habitat are present around the periphery of the Tibetan plateau and Taklamakan desert in the Himalaya, Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Pamir, Kun Lun, Tian Shan, and Altai mountain ranges. About one third of the world’s snow leopard population may live in Mongolia. Countries: Afghanistan; Bhutan; China (Gansu, Nei Mongol — Presence Uncertain, Qinghai, Sichuan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunnan — Regionally Extinct); India (Himachal Pradesh, Jammu-Kashmir, Sikkim, Uttaranchal); Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Mongolia; Nepal; Pakistan; Russian Federation; Tajikistan; Uzbekistan The snow leopard is mostly associated with steep, dry, rocky terrain with shrub or grassland vegetation. In summer, the snow leopard usually live above the tree line on mountainous meadows and in rocky regions at an altitude from 2,700 to 6,000 m. In winter, it comes down into the forests to an altitude of around 2,000 m. Males and females apparently have overlapping ranges. An average density of about 1 snow leopard/100 sq km (about 3⁄100 sq mi) over large tracts of habitat appears to be typical |
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Biology
| Head-body length: | 90 — 130 cm |
| Adult shoulder height: | about 60 cm |
| Tail length: | 80 — 100 cm |
| Female weight: | 35 — 40 kg |
| Male weight: | 45 — 55 kg |
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| Age to maturity: | females reach sexual maturity after 2 — 3 years |
| Gestation period: | 93 — 110 days; mating season runs from early January until mid-March |
| Birth rate | litter size is 1 — 5; usually 2 — 3 |
| Life span: | up to 21 years (in captivity) |
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| The snow leopard leads a largely solitary life, although mothers may rear cubs for extended periods of time in dens in the mountains. |
Video
This exciting video was taken in August 2010 at the Tost Mountain study area in South Gobi, Mongolia where Panthera and the Snow Leopard Trust are collaborating on the first ever long-term study of snow leopards. We believe these three snow leopards may be siblings that are approximately two years old, and have recently left their mother but are still traveling together. This film clip is actually 61 images taken about a half second apart by one of our remote automated cameras (Source: panthera.org)
