Well, the snow leopard is a known beauty; enigmatic with haunting, hooded, green eyes fixed on a distant sighting of a blue sheep among the dark, sharp rocks and snow of its hostile yet majestic habitat. This is my favourite cat. So independent and hardy and yet almost friendly towards humans which makes it easy for farmers to kill it if and when they hunt livestock. There is an ‘insurance programme’ in operation to pay out to farmers when a snow leopard kills livestock in order to conserve this endangered wild cat species.
Here is an infographic on the salient points of its physical features adapted as they are to high mountain and plain living. It is a tough life but they are protected by their remoteness. It is hard to see them, and they occupy huge home ranges of up to 1000 square kilometres. Yes, that is one male snow leopard calling 1000 square kilometres his home 😃. A reminder that it is surely agony for zoo-kept snow leopards.
Perhaps the most important physical feature of this cat is their tail. My god they need it to be very long and heavy because their hunting of blue sheep – their primary prey – can sometimes be very dangerous for them. I have a page on 2 snow leopards falling vast distances down rocks and onto rocks and yet apparently surviving. Were they injured? Could they continue hunting? Did they starve to death? I feel for these cats and at the same time I am in awe of them for their courage and stoicism.
The information for the infographic comes from the Snow Leopard Trust and Wild Cats of the World (the best book on the wild cat species).
Below are some more pages on this snow leopard.
