The Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) is a shy and elusive species of large cat that have adapted to live in the mountain ranges of Central Asia. Their shy and elusive nature has made studying these cats a significant challenge, but thanks to modern technology and dedicated researchers we have learnt much [1,3,4,9].
Snow Leopards occur in 12 countries across Central Asia with the majority of their habitat existing in China [9]. Their total range covers 1.2 to 1.6 million square kilometers of Central Asia and includes the Himalayan mountain range and the Tibetan plateau. They mainly occupy elevations of 3,000 to 6,000m in the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau and in Russia they occupy lower elevations of around 600m [3,4,9]. The climate at these elevations is cold and harsh, such so that only grasses and small shrubs can grow [9]. Their habitat consists of steep, rocky cliffs, outcrops and ravines with little tree cover. They are sometimes sighted around the ecotones between forests and rocky areas, but only rarely, and they have never been sighted further into the forest [3,9]. |
Snow leopards have specially adapted to their environment through a number of physiological adaptations in order to suit the cold and harsh environment:
All of these features help the snow leopards hunt and acquire their main food source, wild and domestic sheep and goats [1,9]. The snow leopard is a unique species however the survival of the species is threatened by numerous factors including a changing habitat. |