SNOW LEOPARD

Uncia (or Panthera) uncia

Physical Description

The Snow Leopard, or Ounce, may be distinguished from ordinary leopards by the colour of its fur and its wide, long tail. The Leopard’s long fur is light grey, tinged with yellow, and it is marked with dark grey spots and rossettes. This mottled colouring provides camouflage for the Snow Leopard in its snowy, rocky natural habitat. The fur on the Leopard’s chest is solid, unspotted white.

The Snow Leopard has a dense, woolly underfur, growing to as long as 12 centimetres, that shields the cat from the cold. The Snow Leopard may also wrap its long tail, which measures up to one meter in length, or 75 to 95% of the Leopard’s body length, around itself for warmth. However, the Snow Leopard’s tail is primarily used for balance.

The Snow Leopard’s broad paws, which are cushioned with hair, protect the Leopard’s footpads and prevent the cat from sinking into snow.

The Snow Leopard’s enlarged nasal cavity, short forelimbs, long hind limbs, and well-developed chest muscles help the Leopard to breathe in thin air and to move adeptly across the rocky ridges of the high mountains. The Snow Leopard can jump across a distance of ten metres (33 feet) and over obstacles that are four metres (13 feet) high.

The Snow Leopard has a small, round head, with small ears. The Leopard cannot roar as deeply or as loudly as the other big cats (genus Panthera). The Snow Leopard’s body size is similar to that of the ordinary leopard. The Snow Leopard has a body length of 100 to 130 centimetres (3.3 to 4.3 feet) and stands about 60 centimetres (2 feet) tall at the shoulder. Males weigh from 54 to 55 kilograms (119 to 121 pounds), while females weigh from 35 to 40 kilograms (77 to 88 pounds).

 

Habitat

The Snow Leopard is predominately associated with arid and semi-arid shrubland, grassland, steppe, and open coniferous forest, at elevations between 3,000 and 4,500 metres (9,800 to 14,800 feet). In the Himalayas, though, the Leopard may be found above 5,500 metres (18,000 feet), and in the northern areas of its range, the Snow Leopard may be found between 600 and 1,500 metres (2,000 to 4,900 feet). The Leopard spends most of its time in rocky terrain, but may travel several kilometres a day through valleys. The Snow Leopard is widely dispersed throughout the mountain ranges on and around the Tibetan Plateau, as well as on the Tian Shan Altar, Kunlun, and other mountains of Xinjiang.

 

Eating Habits

The Snow Leopard is an opportunistic predator, capable of killing prey up to three times its own weight. The Ibex and the Bharal are the Leopard’s primary prey. However, the Snow Leopard also hunts antelope, deer, wolves, and smaller prey, including marmots, pika, hares, other small rodents, and birds. When the Leopard’s typical prey are scarce, the Leopard may attack domestic livestock.

 

Behaviour and Reproduction

The Snow Leopard generally follows the same route each time it occasionally descends from the mountains into the grasslands and forests, where it rests. The Snow Leopard is most active at dawn and dusk. Female and male leopards live independently, and both hunt. The Snow Leopard reaches sexual maturity at two to three years of age.

The Leopards mate between January and March. During the gestation period, which lasts 90 to 103 days, expecting leopard mothers build well-hidden, fur-lined dens in which to give birth, beneath rocks or in rocky crevices. Most births occur in May and June. Each female leopard gives birth to as many as five, but most often to two or three cubs. Cubs weigh approximately 320 to 708 grams (11 to 25 ounces) at birth. Like newborn kittens, the cubs open their eyes only after a week or more, but by the time they are two months old, they are very active. Young leopards leave their mothers after their first winter and begin to hunt on their own.

The Snow Leopard’s life span, in the wild, is 10 to 12 years. Leopards in captivity may live for as long as 21 years.

 

Present Status

The Snow Leopard is categorized as Endangered in the 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and is listed under Appendix I of CITES. The Snow Leopard is legally protected across most of its range. The Snow Leopard is under first class protection in China and is included in Schedule I, Part I of the Indian Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972. The total Snow Leopard population size was in 1996 estimated to be between 3,500 and 7,000. Most of the remaining Snow leopards, or as many as 2,000 to 2,500, are found in Tibet. The Snow Leopard population is declining and the Leopard’s habitat range is shrinking.

 

Threats to Survival

The main threat to the Snow Leopard’s survival is poaching. The Leopard is shot and trapped to obtain its decorative pelt, bones, and body parts. The Snow Leopard’s bones are used for medicinal purposes, sometimes substituting for tiger bones. The Leopard’s pelt is in high demand on the black market, selling for three to four times as much as the pelt of an ordinary leopard.

Many of the prey species upon which the Snow Leopard depends have been depleted as a result of their being hunted for game by humans and their competing with livestock for resources. Leopards that cannot feed upon their usual prey may attack livestock. Herders often retaliate by trapping, poisoning, or shooting the leopard intruders.

Another threat to the Snow Leopard is the loss and degradation of its habitat. The Leopard’s natural habitat has been lost and degraded as a result of the encroachment of increasingly large human and domestic livestock populations.

 

References

BBC, Science & Nature – Wildfacts – Snow leopard, http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/15.shtml, Aug 2004.

Cat Specialist Group, 2001: Uncia uncia. In: IUCN, 2003: 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, http://www.redlist.org. See also:

http://lynx.uio.no/catfolk/sp-accts.htm, Aug 2004.

International Snow Leopard Trust, Cat Facts, http://www.snowleopard.org/islt/facts/facts.html, Aug 2004.

By: Environment and Development Desk, DIIR, CTA.