Note: I originally, in haste, mislabelled the cat a jaguar. I now see that I was wrong and I thank Irish for correcting me. I had thought the cat was a dilute coated jaguar. You can get some odd, hybrid type large cats in zoos but this was not one of them.
This little video will make you chuckle. He’s overweight and he looks like a diluted jaguar – but no, the cat is a snow leopard. Snow leopards are know to be friendly and can be domesticated. He’s captive and by the look of his behaviour he is tame because he becomes a slightly silly but loving domestic cat who wants to play when he spots the person filming him. He is obviously dead pleased to the see the person. They must be close and I expect they play together.
“Snow leopards are known to become exceptionally tame and gentle in captivity, and they often form close bonds with their caretakers. Helen Freeman of the International Snow Leopard Trust quotes an anonymous writer as saying, ‘In captivity, it is far the tamest and gentlest of the large carnivora, not excepting the puma. Unlike the latter it is a sleep, quiet animal, like a domestic cat'””. – Mel and Fiona Sunquist Wild Cats Of The World
As the caption says: Big cat are still cats. The behavior is exactly the same as a domestic kitten inviting another cat to jump on him and play. It is an invitation to have some fun.
Hi Michael,that is a Snow Leopard,not a Jaguar,just wanted ye to know.
Thanks for that. I slipped up. Yes, I see it now. I’ll amend it.
I have amended it. In haste I thought it was a dilute coated jaguar because we do see these hybrid wild cats or captively bred large wild cats with unusual coats.
https://pictures-of-cats.org/captive-jaguar-instantly-becomes-a-playful-domestic-cat.html
Snow leopards are relatively friendly wild cat species and so it is no surprise this cat is playful.
Sadly though where they inhabit the mountains of central Asia and the Indian subcontinent they are becoming more scarce due to poaching for their pelts.