Leopard, Snow
The snow leopard or ounce inhabits the harsh, high mountain environments of Central Asia from Russia and Mongolia south to China, Tibet, and the Indian subcontinent. This includes part or all of the upper reaches of the Himalaya, Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Pamirs, Kunlun Shan, Tian Shan, Altay Shan, and Sayan Mountains. Experts place the snow leopard in the genus Panthera or, citing its unique skull and vocal apparatus, classify it as the lone member of the genus Uncia (Uncia uncia).
A mature snow leopard is 2.1 meters (7 feet) long, including its 0.9-meter (3-foot) tail, which is used for balance on rocky and snowy terrains. The leopard attains a 0.6-meter (2-foot) shoulder height, weighs 20 to 40 kilograms (40 to 90 pounds), and lives for 15 to 18 years. The cubs are born two to three to a litter in early spring following an average gestation of ninetythree days, and they remain with their mothers for eighteen months. The animal's small head has tiny ears and a heavy brow. Large paws support powerful limbs that are short in relation to the body size. The rosettes and spot markings common to all leopards are more muted on the snow leopard, and its soft, wooly textured fur is 5 centimeters (2 inches) on the top and sides and up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) on the underparts of the animal. Weakly developed fibroelastic tissue in the throat prevents this cat from emitting a load roar.
Snow leopards hunt argali, bharal, markhor, and ibex in rock outcrops, canyons, plateaus, and mountain ridge tops at heights of between 2,000 and 5,500 meters (6,500 and 18,000 feet). They also pursue numerous birds and hare along with marmots, yak, musk deer, and domestic stock. During winter they descend, with their prey, into the more protected upper margins of lowland forests.
By most estimates only five thousand snow leopards remain, although inaccessible terrain and this mammal's highly furtive character make it difficult to take an accurate census. Despite legal protection in 90 percent of its range, it remains an endangered species on The 2000 World Conservation Union Red List of Threatened Animals. Unless poaching for its fur and for its bones, purported to have healing powers, is halted, the snow leopard may become extinct in the wild.
Further Reading
Jackson, Ronald, and Ashiq Ahmad, eds. Proceedings of the Eighth International Snow Leopard Symposium. Seattle, WA: International Snow Leopard Trust and World Wide Fund for Nature–Pakistan.
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