Key Physical Features

Snow leopards are built to be muscular, with long, furry tails that can be used like a scarf to keep warm while sleeping, short front legs, and long back limbs that help them leap up to 30 feet across jagged mountain cliffs. Their coat is soft but thick, spotted and gray for optimal camouflage, and their paws act as snowshoes, keeping them from sinking into the frosty ground. The shape of a snow leopard’s face is built around the nose; the nasal cavity made wide and short to warm the air that snow leopards breathe before it reaches their delicate lungs. Their ear shape reduces loss of heat from their body, and their eyes have a third lid to keep out snow and maximize visibility. The average snow leopard height is 22-26 inches, length is 36-44 in. Males tend to be about 30% larger than females, but otherwise look pretty identical to their counterparts. A defining factor in why these felines are so well suited for their territory is that their chest is huge, and has the capacity to get enough oxygen from the thin mountain air for their day to day.

Behavior

Snow leopards are shy, solitary creatures. They are most active at dawn and dusk, when it’s easier for them to see their prey but harder for the prey to spot them, and often go on regular patrols of their home ranges/territories. A mother and father leopard might briefly be seen together, especially when their cubs are young, despite these creatures being mostly independent. Likewise, young snow leopards will leave their mother at just two years, and will travel as far as possible, often embarking on long journeys. Scientists suspect this is to avoid accidental inbreeding in the future. Snow leopards are surprisingly one of the only big cat species that is NOT aggressive towards people, making them an easy target for poaching, and thus endangered. They can purr, mew, and make a puffing sound called a chuff, but these felines cannot roar.

Habitat and Prey

Snow leopards roam a vast area of Northern and Central Asia. They prefer high mountain ranges, centered in the Himalayas. These cats reside mostly above the treeline, preying on blue sheep (their favorite) whenever possible. Snow leopards will also hunt mountain ibex, hares, and game birds without hesitation, though.