Animal order Carnivora. Fun facts Fluffy paws Snow leopards have extra large paws that act like snowshoes to keep them from sinking in the snow.
The long jump Snow leopards can jump as far as 15m and can jump 6m vertically. Can you hear me? Family Life. Adult male name Male. Adult female name Female. Size male adult kg with the average being kg. Size female adult kg with the average being kg.
The IUCN estimates between 2,, individuals. Why are snow leopards endangered? The IUCN estimates between individuals. Snow leopards are between 75cm to cm from head to base of tail, tail is 80cmcm.
Snow leopards can live up to years in the wild, up to 20 in zoos. Snow leopards can run at top speeds of up to 65km per hour. Snow leopards live high up in the mountains of Central Asia. Snow leopards can jump as far as 15m and can jump 6m vertically. Snow leopards will live anywhere within their habitat, which would include caves.
Snow leopards hunt their prey, usually from above, and then pounce on it. Snow leopards have between cubs with 2 being the average. When we saw Thinley, his eyes were wide with excitement: The old male had tried to take down the biggest ibex in the area, but during the chase the cat and its prey went over a cliff and hurtled several hundred feet into the Spiti River.
The next morning we found a crowd of tourists arrayed along the snow-draped edge of one of the deepest parts of the gorge. Namgyal handed me a pair of binoculars, and there, some thousand feet below, lying in the icy Spiti River, was the carcass of a large male ibex. The current splashed around its body and massive horns.
A guide who saw the kill described how the snow leopard had chased the ibex down the cliff, leaping back and forth between ledges. Both animals survived the fall, and the ibex had thrashed in the icy water and nearly escaped. The carcass was too heavy to pull out of the river, so the snow leopard, trying to stay dry, crouched on top of it and began stripping meat off the rib cage as the sun fell behind the mountains.
The guides knew the cat would feed on the kill for days, so they roused their clients early to claim the best vantage spots from which to take photos. Several set up camping chairs on packed snow perilously close to the edge. The cat had returned to the ibex briefly at first light but suddenly retreated into the rocks out of sight. Some of the guides said he seemed to be limping. Hours passed as we waited for his return. Tourists mingled, guides brought food from the village, thermoses of chai were shared.
A bearded vulture floated overhead. Namgyal pointed out a fox scurrying among the rocks. With the sun about to set, most of the tourists returned to the village. Prasenjeet, Namgyal, and I were about to pack up when a guide pointed to the carcass excitedly: The cat was back on the kill. For a few minutes, just before shadows enveloped the gorge, I watched through binoculars as the old male stood on the dead ibex.
He tore at it hungrily. At one point he looked up, as though he sensed he was being watched. I just took down the biggest ibex in the valley. A week after I left India, Prasenjeet called me. A guide had seen him chase another ibex and then disappear off a cliff. Namgyal helped the forestry department recover the body. People from the village came to see the snow leopard cremated.
A storm had swept through the valley, dumping heavy snow and signaling spring was still weeks away. They warmed their hands over the pyre. This year every tourist who came to Kibber saw a snow leopard. But in the days after the old male died, no one saw one. Still, the female and her cubs were somewhere, and Prasenjeet planned to find them. All rights reserved. The cats spray urine, leave scratch marks, and rub facial glands on rocks to signal their presence.
Instead, they puff, meow, growl, and hiss. This story appears in the July issue of National Geographic magazine. Peter Gwin is a National Geographic editor and hosts the podcast Overheard. Based in Bangalore, India, Prasenjeet Yadav photographed bridges made of tree roots in the December issue.
Share Tweet Email. More from the magazine Our team climbed Everest to try to solve its greatest mystery. Snow leopards mate in late winter, between January and mid-March. Males and females stay together for a short period and males do not participate in rearing the cubs. The gestation period is 98 - days and the litter size can be between 1 - 5 cubs, though 2 - 3 is more usual. Download wallpaper PC iPhone. Population status Estimated population of the snow leopard is bewteen 3,, Our work is only possible with your support.
Donate now. Archive Content Please note: This page has been archived and its content may no longer be up-to-date. Toggle navigation. Language English. Snow leopard. An expert at navigating Central Asia's high mountains, the iconic snow leopard is recognizable by its long tail and almost-white coat, spotted with large black rosettes. There are as few as snow leopards in the wild, and their numbers are declining due to habitat loss, poaching and the impact of climate change.
Physical description. Snow leopards are highly adapted to their home in the cold high mountains. Their thick fur patterned with dark rosettes and spots a pattern that is unique to each individual snow leopard is the perfect camouflage for their rocky habitat, allowing them to stalk their prey.
Warming climates also are altering snow leopard habitat. When there are fewer food options — such as the blue sheep these cats prefer — leopards often come into conflict with humans. In much of Asia, livestock accounts for as much as two-thirds of leopard diets. When leopards kill livestock, locals often kill leopards. The cycle is expected to worsen: Loss of alpine grasslands and an advancing tree line could cut leopard habitat by 30 percent, meaning more potential for intra-species conflict.
In recognition of this, Panthera, which has deployed more than camera traps across seven nations for previous research projects, has helped protect leopards as it counts them. To reduce attacks on local livestock and get buy-in for the snow leopard project from local farmers, the group has installed netted pens in India and Tajikistan to keep out the cats and has vaccinated domestic animals in Pakistan in exchange for getting farmers not to kill snow leopards.
And when attacks on livestock happen, people may not think about helping a vulnerable species as much as about retribution: In a town near the Indian city of Srinagar, villagers recently stoned a leopard to death after it was found by herders in a pen surrounded by dead goats. Yet some have found opportunity in living near snow leopards.
As pens have reduced leopard predation by as much as 95 percent in some areas, says Namgail, a space has opened for snow leopard ecotourism. For instance, in Ladakh — in the northern Indian border state that abuts China and Pakistan — snow leopards exist at a density of about four to six per square kilometers vs.
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