My Home Page
The Website I Got Information From
Gives you information and organizations that help save the snow leopards by the International Snow Leopards Trust
The Snow Leopard
Ellery
What does it look like?
- It has dark gray to black rosettes and spots on white to smoky gray with yellow fur.
- It is a medium to large cat.
- The snow leopard weighs from 35-55 kilos (77-121 lbs).
- It is about 60 cm high at the shoulder.
- The snow leopard is about 1.8-2.3 meters long.
- Using its short fore limbs and long hind limbs, it can leap about 30 feet.
- The snow leopards’ large paws help it walk on the snow.
- It has a large chest and enlarged nasals for the cold, thin air in its high altitude habitat.
What is its habitat like?
- They are found in Central Asia.
- Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are all the homes of snow leopards.
- They live at the elevation of 3000-5400 meters in the Himalayan Mountain range and at 900-3000 meters in Mongolia and Russia.
- Snow leopards live in a cliffy, moderate to very broken territory, rocky outcrops and ravines where there is meager vegetation.
How do they act?
- Snow leopards are most active at sunrise and sunset.
- Their mating occurs between January and mid-March.
- The estrus or the period of time that snow leopards are in heat last between 2 and 12 days.
- Snow leopards are pregnant with their cubs between 90 and 103 days.
- Litters are born in the late spring and early summer.
- The litter size is 2-3 cubs. They are rarely up to 7.
- The cubs’ first days of their lives are spent in restricted and hidden densites.
- Snow leopards become independent at 18-22 months.
What do they eat?
- Snow leopards can kill prey 3 times its weight.
- The 2 most common large prey are blue sheep (bharal) and the Asiatic ibex.
- They kill large prey about twice a month.
- The small prey they kill are marmots, pika, hares, Tibetan Showcock and chukor partridge.
- When their usual prey is not available, they will take livestock.
- Snow leopards eat slowly and protect it from scavengers.
- Mainly during mating season, snow leopards eat plants.
What is the population?
