Able
to leap 50 feet horizontally! Able to jump 20 feet vertically! It's a bird!
It's a plane! No, it's a snow leopard! This species, like the clouded
leopard, is one of those that is somewhere between the small cats and the
great cats in that it can't purr like the small cats and it can't roar like
the true great cats. It makes a happy sound similar to the tiger's chuffing.
Its greatest threats are the hunting of its main prey species in the
mountains, and the poisoning of other of its prey species, leaving the snow
leopard with out a means of sustaining itself. There is also a demand now
for snow leopard bones in traditional Chinese medicine as a substitute for
tiger bones. Unfortunately, there is still a demand for fur coats from snow
leopard skins in some countries, but luckily that has greatly diminished. At
one time here in the US, a coat from a snow leopard sold for up to
$50,000.00.
Zoological name: Panthera uncia
Species: The Snow Leopard are a single species - There have been
some attempt to recognize different sub-species of snow leopard. No
subspecies of snow leopard are recognised, insufficient information exists
to determine significant differences between wild populations.
Presence on the planet: Snow leopards live in the mountain regions
of central Asia. Their habitat consists of alpine meadows and rocky areas
from the Hindu Kush, the Karakorum, southwest Ladakh, and Kashmir up onto
the Tibetan plateau and north to the Pamirs, Tien Shan, the Altai and Sayan
mountains and the Russo-Mongolian border; and east to Nepal, Bhutan and the
Gansu, Quinghai and Sichuan provinces of China. They are found as far east
as western Baikal in Siberia.
Habitat: The snow leopard ranges includes alpine meadows, treeless
rocky mountains and rhododendron forests. Most of their range occurs in
Tibet and other parts of China associated with steep rocky slopes, with arid
shrub land, grassland or steppe vegetation. Occasionally, in parts of their
habitats they visit open coniferous forests, but generally avoid dense
forests. They are found at high elevations of 3000-4500 meters (9800 ft ?
14800 ft.), and even higher in the Himalayas.
Physical appearance: Snow leopards are generally smaller than true
leopards, and their tails are characteristically much longer. Their heads
are notably more rounded than those of common leopards. Females are smaller
than males.
Physically, snow leopards are completely adapted to moving in a montane
environment. Their feet act like large snowshoes and their legs are designed
for jumping. The hind legs are longer than the fore legs. Snow leopards have
very large nasal cavities to enable them to efficiently utilise the oxygen
in the thin, cold and dry air of high altitudes.
Snow leopards' eyes have round pupils unlike domestic and the other small
cats. Anterior upper premolars are present. Panthera cats have cartilaginous
portions in their hyoid apparatus, a series of skeletal elements which
support the base of the tongue. In the smaller cats, the hyoid is completely
ossified or bony.
Diet: The snow leopard eats wild sheep, wild boars, gazelles, hares,
markhor, bobak, tahr, marmots, mice and deer. The snow leopard is a
carnivore, which means that it eats meat. The snow leopard can eat an animal
three times the size of itself. The male eats the prey it kills; if he sees
his family, he will back off and leave as they eat. The snow leopard will
drag the carcass of a large animal to its marked territory and eat it over
several days.
Conservation status: Snow leopard fur is extremely beautiful, as a
consequence, it is very much in demand. Persecution in conjunction with low
population densities, habitat destruction and local animosity, is taking
them near to extinction.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources (IUCN) regard them as Endangered and the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have listed them on
Appendix I, prohibiting all international commerce.
Life span: 21 years
Conservation Measures: Included on CITES Appendix I. U. uncia is also
protected by national legislation across most of its range (Nowell and
Jackson 1996), with hunting bans in place in Bhutan (only in protected
areas, which cover most of snow leopard range in this country), China,
India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and
Uzbekistan.
Fun Facts
Unlike other large cats, snow leopards can't roar. Their vocal tract lacks
the thick pad of elastic tissue that enables other cats to roar.
A snow leopard's eye color -- pale green or gray -- is very unusual for
cats.
