Snow Leopard
A bit about them:
Stealthy and shy, the Snow Leopard is reclusive.
Only the luckiest get to gaze upon their majesty.
Common Name:
Snow Leopard, Ounce
Scientific name:
Panthera Uncia
Closely related to/Family tree:
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Carnivora
Family:
Felidae
Genus:
Panthera
Species:
Uncia
The closest living big cat to the Snow Leopard is the Tiger!
Although the Clouded Leopard inhabits much oft he same range and looks much similar.
Appearance:
While Snow leopards are the shortest (In height and length) members of the Panthera Genus, they have the longest tail of any cat.
They have light
grey/white fur mottled with grey/black spots called Rosettes.
The pattern of an
individual's Rosettes are entirely unique! (Just like human fingerprints)
Their
fur is super dense to protect them from the harsh cold of their alpine homes. The
density of their fur adds a couple Kilos to their overall weight which is on
average 45-55Kg.
A group is called:
Nothing.
This is because they are extremely solitary animals.
Send me what you think we should call a group of Snow Leopards and by the next month's article, I'll present everyone's suggestions to this spot!
Status:
History:
Moscow Zoo was the first zoo to hold and display a Snow Leopard, all the way back in 1872. From then on, Zoos around the world wanted to display this illusive animal too.
This led to the capturing and trading of several hundred Snow Leopards over a 50 year period. By 1986, the USA had more than half of the worlds captive Snow Leopard population but it wasn't until 1990 that Beijing Zoo was the first Zoo to captively breed Snow Leopard cubs.
All this live trading lowered the population of wild Snow Leopards, as you could imagine, but the numbers were shadowed by the amount of Snow Leopards that were being hunted, poached or harvested for illegal trades of their pelts, body parts or as pets.
Since Snow Leopards
have been placed into Zoos, they have also been more openly available to trade.
Throughout Central Asia and the Snow Leopards range, pelts, cubs and body parts are traded across all countries.
Pelts have even been confiscated as far out as Russia.
The Billion dollar
industry of Snow Leopard pelt trade isn't purely monetarily, at least it hasn't
always been.
The bones and flesh of Snow Leopards have long been used in
Traditional Chinese and Mongolian medicine, with the bones being used to treat
painful bone and tendon conditions (such as arthritis) and the flesh is used to
treat kidney conditions.
The pelts are mostly used by Tibetan and Mongolian traditional dresses.
The national animal
of Pakistan, the Snow Leopard is a common symbol of power throughout Central
Asia.
Across many forms of symbolism, the Snow leopard remains a prominent
feature including; Coat of Arms, bank notes, girl scout badges and city
symbols.
Range:
Found throughout
central Asia, a single Snow Leopard male has his own territorial range which
can stretch 100's of square kilometres. The male's home ranges will overlap
with several females ranges.
Habitat:
Snow Leopards inhabit the highest altitude of any cat. With freezing temperatures and lower oxygen, the heights that this cat lives at is not an ideal environment.
They persist however, by having a larger chest cavity and wider nasal passages than other cats, allowing them to draw in a deeper breath and gain sufficient oxygen from a comparatively low oxygen environment.
They can also withstand temperatures as low as 40 degrees Celsius! Aided by their extra dense fur and long blanket like tail, the coolest of nights doesn't deter these felines.
They
tend to stick to the tree line of alpine environments, moving lower in altitude
as winters effects increase.
They blend seamlessly into their environment of rocky outcrops and snowy mountainsides with their patchy patterning, allowing them to maximise their hunting potential.
The uncertainty of the terrain perfectly complements the uncertainty of their coat.
See if you can find the Snow Leopard in this picture
(She's not even trying to hide)
Feeding style:
Snow Leopards are typical feline hunters, stalking their prey slowly and carefully, getting as close as they can before being detected.
Then suddenly it's all about speed and agility as a death chase begins. Across the slippery and treacherous cliffs of their mountainous environment, hunter and prey dash. Both want to be the fastest (for obvious reasons), but the structure of their race course is such that they must keep a strict balance between speed and agility.
The stochastic ups and downs
of mountainside results in a lot of daring jumps to lower levels and incredible
leaps and climbs to higher platforms. Reminiscent of Parkour runners.
Not opposed to a vegetarian option, Snow Leopards will eat quite a lot of grasses and twigs.
Predators:
Like all members of the Panthera genus, Snow Leopards are at the top of their food chain. An apex predator.
Nesting/sleeping:
Mating occurs across
the Central Asian winter of January-March. While these guys spend their lives
alone, this brief period of romance calls for a bit of company. Literally.
Snow
Leopards call to one another during their mating season in the hopes that someone
likes how they sound. Within their home ranges, they will also leave scent
markings on trees and rocks to advertise their particular
vitality.
Once a mate is found, they will spend a couple of days on a honeymoon,
travelling around together and trying to make a baby every other hour. Then
both Snow Leopards have had enough and go their separate ways.
The cubs are already born with a healthy covering of fur which is just about
the only survival mechanism they have.
Completely helpless at birth, their eyes
won't even open until after a week.
Born into a bed of their mum's own belly fur, usually in some kind of shallow
cave, the cubs will feed off mum's fatty and nourishing milk for up to 10
weeks. Being able to walk at 5 weeks, their mum begins weening them as soon as
possible, but it won't be another month or two until the cubs leave the den.
It
will be a further 20 odd months (Around 2 years in total) before the cubs set
out on their own to establish their own territory.
Usually the cub will travel
quite some distance from the mother's home range, this is thought to be an
evolutionary adaptation to prevent inbreeding.
From here, the cubs
become sexually mature at 2-3 years old with males being on the later end.
With
a captive life expectancy of 25 years and an in the wild expectancy of 15-18
years, there is plenty of time to make several generations of offspring.
Habits/behaviours:
With front legs
shorter than their hind legs, Snow Leopards can get a quick start and reach a
fast speed of almost 90Kmh!
While they can't maintain this speed for very long,
the general slope of their body means their chest muscles are very strong,
absorbing substantial shock when jumping down from vertical drops.
The Snow Leopard's
tail is the longest and thickest cats tail, helping in several ways.
The sheer
weight of the tail acts as a counter balance, tilting and curling in ways which
allow the Snow Leopard to move swift and agile across narrow cliff sides. The
length also assists in steering, as it acts like a rudder for increased
agility.
Their speed and agility combined allow for high speed chases along narrow and slippery mountainsides to take place as the Snow Leopard chases its prey.
During the cold blizzardy nights, the Snow Leopard can also snuggle up into its fluffy tail to shield its face from the icy wind.
Cool tricks:
The Snow Leopards tail is not only the longest cat tail, but it can be up to 90% as long as the rest of the cats body!
Snow Leopards can jump wider than a house! (Which isn't very hard, because houses can't jump). Being able to jump a distance of 15m across! While the Flea is gifted with the greatest jump for its body size, the Snow Leopard holds the record for the greatest jump full stop.
Snow Leopards cans move through snow that is 85cm deep!
Snow Leopard fur is very thick! A single hair can be 12cm long!
A Snow Leopards fur, while usually greyish can also be a creamy yellow.
A Snow Leopard cannot roar! Their throat and voice box is too small, but they can chuff like a Tiger and growl pretty menacingly.
Conservation:
The Snow Leopard's
major driver for population decline is, of course, humans.
Snow Leopards and
humans have had a long history of not getting along, with rural towns often
losing livestock to a big cat.
As the human population has increased, so too
has the need for more space to grow crops and livestock. This not only directly
decreases the safe Snow Leopard range, but also decreases the space available
for Snow Leopard prey.
As the Snow Leopards are pushed further and further up
the mountainside, the prospects for prey diminishes and they are increasingly
reliant on the livestock below for food. But as history has revealed, farmers
don't like when a big cat takes their animals, so they will either kill
pre-emptively or as a retaliation.
Luckily Snow Leopards are skittish at best
and when confronted are much more likely to run and hide than to retaliate
themselves. This trait is to thank for there being no verified attacks on
humans.
Climate change is
also shrinking the Snow Leopards viable habitat. Increased temperatures are
slowly reducing the alpine environment and thusly the Snow Leopard's
environment.
As the tree line advances up the mountain, so too do humans.
It's
a slow motion cornering and killing of any remaining Snow Leopards, the tip of
the mountain, their final stand.
But let's look on
the bright side; officially, it isn't legal to hunt or trade in Snow Leopard
(Except for the purpose of science) in most countries of Central Asia and if
caught doing so, the average reprimand is a fine, confiscation of items and
varying amount of years in prison.
In 2013, all countries within the Snow Leopards range convened to sign the
Global Snow Leopard Forum which in a few less words, basically means that they
acknowledge the cultural and environmental importance of this species.
This
since led to safe corridors between countries and protected areas being
established, where there are severe consequences for anyone found meddling with
Snow leopards within.
Conservation organisations are also increasingly working with alpine boarder
communities to Snow Leopard proof their livestock pens and reduce conflict
between species.
Some of these organisations are listed below with links to donating or adopting a Snow Leopard!
