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Snow LeopardThe snow leopard (Uncia uncia) is one of my favorite exotic big cats. This endangered specie has captured my heart completely. The live in the mountains of Central Asia where there is lots of snow. This leopard has many physical characteristics that make living in this remote, harsh mountain habitat possible. To learn what we ca each do to help save the snow leopards from extinction we must first learn about and understand this big cat an its habitat needs. We gather information about snow leopards from several places however, most of our information comes from the Snow Leopard Trust's website. More snow leopard stuff: Photos For Sale - Screensaver - Online puzzles - Specie Info
NOTE: Beginning 1-24-2007 Part of the proceeds from Snow Leopard Website Adoptions after costs will be sent to the Snow Leopard Trust. SOOO, you can adopt our Snow Leopard Website and get: A) a cool packet of stuff B) educate a whole classroom of children about the Snow Leopard C) the kids get a photo D) still part of your donation will go on to the Snow Leopard Trust. That's like four birds with one stone. Adopt A Snow Leopard Website now Long fur that is very thick and wooly helps hold in their body heat to keep them warm. The fur on their bellies can be up to five inches ling. Snow Leopards have really big furry paws. These huge paws help this exotic cat specie get around quickly and quietly in the snow. Sort of like you wearing snow shoes. That high up in the mountains the air is very thin so you must take in more air to get enough oxygen. The snow leopard has a large chest and strong lungs for that purpose. Their adaptation for their cold mountain habitat goes even father. They have extra large nasal cavities. This helps to warm the frigidly cold air before it gets to their lungs. They have the longest tail of all exotic cats. When they sleep they curl their tail up around them like a furry blanket. They often even wrap it around their face. I guess their noses get cold too... Mostly though they use this extremely long tale to help them with balance. It is kind of like a tight rope walker in the circus uses a log pole to help them balance. Their fur is creamy, yellowish and grayish with spots. This gives them great camouflage in their environment. This important coloring helps them hide and sneak up on their prey. Since the snow leopard lives in the mountains it is often climbing up or down steep inclines. They have shorter front legs and longer back legs. This helps them be very balanced and coordinated in their mountain habitat. The snow leopard can leap thirty feet. Some even say they can leap thirty-five feet. That is farther than any other cat can leap. Their strong back legs help them do this. To success hunt mountain goats who can run and jump like the wind on the sides of the mountains snow leopards use the strong chest muscles and strong back legs for long leaps and their super long tails for balancing as they race and leap around this hilly terrain chasing their food. Snow leopards weigh between 65 and 130 pounds and are between 20 to 26 inches tall and between 5 to 7.5 feet long. Snow leopards cannot roar! Snow Leopards NEVER make good pets!! Snow leopards live very high up in the mountains in Central Asia. The terrain way up there is very rough. These mountains can be found in 12 Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, mostly in parts of China, India, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. This make an area in total size about the same size as Texas. (Thank you to the Snow Leopard Trust website for listing these countries) As it is stated on the Snow Leopard Trust's website this big cat has already vanished from many places it used to live in such as parts of Mongolia. Unless we take aggressive proactive action NOW it will soon disappear entirely. Remember extinction is forever. Snow Leopards NEVER make good pets!! It is difficult to STUDY snow leopards for several reasons: They live 3200 to 5500 feet above sea level which means the air is dry and thin. The mountainous terrain is very rough and cold. Because their habitat overlaps so many little countries who are having disputes over borders getting in to study them is not always easy. The steep, rocky, hilly habitat terrain and the coloring of the snow leopard's coat camouflage it so well the cats are really hard to spot. This big cat is pretty secretive and hides very well making it hard to find them to study them. Even for people who know the mountains well it is not easy to find this great cat. Snow Leopards NEVER make good pets!! Snow leopards each have their own territories. The territory of snow leopards can overlap with each other. Other wild cats defend their territories with great ferocity. That isn't so with snow leopards they don't as aggressively defend their territories as other cats do. The territory of snow leopards can vary greatly in size. The size f a territory greatly depends on the availably or lack thereof of an abundant prey base. Snow leopards are solitary animals, meaning they live and hunt alone. There are only two exceptions to this: 1) during mating times a male and female may "hang out" together 2) a mother and her current litter of cubs, until they are old enough to live and hunt on their own. Snow leopards do most of their hunting around dusk or around dawn. This pattern changes some depending on the populations of humans near by. In areas where there are more people the snow leopards hunt more at night. In areas with less human populous they have been noted to be more active during the day light hours. I was pleasantly surprised when I read this tidbit on info on the Snow Leopard trust's website: There has never been a documented snow leopard attack on a human. (You really must visit the Snow Leopard Trust's website from our LINKS page or from our Save Habitats page) Snow Leopards NEVER make good pets!! Snow leopards mark their territories by one or more of the following ways: 1) scraping the ground with their back legs and paws 2) feces 3) urine sprays Snow Leopards NEVER make good pets!! It is all up to the mothers. The fathers are not around for the rearing of snow leopard cubs. Mating typically occurs during January February and early March. Gestation is between 90 to 110 days. After which 2 or 3 cubs are born usually in June or July. According to the information on the Snow Leopard Trust's website in captivity snow leopard mothers line their dens with their fur to keep their cubs warm. It is belived that this occurs in the wild too. Due to the secretiveness of this wild cat that hasn't been documented too often by humans. Snow leopard babies are called cubs and are born helpless with their eyes closed. Their eyes begin opening at about a week old. Again according to the information on the Snow Leopard Trust's website baby sow leopards begin eating solid food at about two months of age. When the baby snow leopards (cubs) are about three months of age they begin following their mothers so they can learn to hunt and live as wild snow leopards do. Cubs stay with their mothers for 18-22 months, during which time they learn hunting and survival skills. Female snow leopards can begin having cubs between two years of age and three years of age. Males aren't usually fathering cubs before four years of age. A female will usually only have cubs every couple of years. Snow Leopards NEVER make good pets!! Exact numbers are difficult to get because of the border disputes ad rugged terrain of their habitats. There are only 3,000 to 6,500 snow leopards left in the wild in all twelve countries combined. There are approximately 500 to 650 in captivity. In 1972 the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) listed the Snow Leopard on its Red List as endangered. The Snow Lepard Trust's website made an interesting comparison. That is the same classification that has been given to the Giant Panda and the Tiger. (THAT IS SCARY!!) The following paragraphs are copied directly from the Snow Leopard Trust's website because they are so very important: (please visit their website before you are finished) BEGIN DIRECT QUOTE: The snow leopard is protected by various international and national treaties and laws, which reflect a hope shared by the peoples and nations of the world that this magnificent cat will continue to exist. Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which took effect in 1975, trafficking in live snow leopards or their fur or body parts is illegal in signatory countries. Today, all snow leopard range states except the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan are parties to this treaty. However, some range states, such as Bhutan, have joined only recently, and enforcement of its provisions is spotty in many countries. In addition, all 12 snow leopard range countries have laws
protecting the cat. Some of the countries have had these laws since the 1970s.
However, these laws vary in effectiveness and enforcement. END DIRECT QUOTE: Snow Leopards NEVER make good pets!! Threats: POACHING!! Illegal hunting and killing of this beautiful leopard for selling its pelt and body parts on the black market!! There is a black market for the pelts of snow leopards because they are so very beautiful. Besides for their pelts, these big cats are poached because their bones are body parts are often used in traditional Asian medicine. Personally, people wearing coats and other garment made from cat pelts completely disgust me. They obviously don't know the truth behind that fur or else they are cold hearted and don't care, either way they disgust me. The Snow Leopard Trust is working hard and creatively to change these things. Exotic Pet Trade also illegally removes these leopards from the wild habitat. The exotic pet trade creates many horrors in and of itself. Check out the exotic pet trade section. Big Cat Rescue is working hard and creatively to change these things. Retaliation killings from residents: The families who live around the snow leopards face very difficult economic obstacles. The depend almost completely on their small livestock herds, mostly sheep and goats. Due to the close proximity of these herds to the snow leopards occasionally a snow leopard captures and eats an animals from someone's herd. In retaliation herders will often trap, hunt or poison sow leopards. Loss of Prey base and habitat space: As humans have the need to move farther up the mountains into the snow leopards territory it makes less space for snow leopards to live and hunt. This also means less vegetation for the natural prey of the snow leopards which are wild goats and sheep. This means less space and now less natural prey available for the snow leopard, thus making the domestic herds look like good prey to the snow leopard. The snow leopard's natural prey base is further diminished due to humans hunting that prey for food and trophy. Again making less prey available for the snow leopards to hunt and survive on. So less natural prey availability and people along with their domestic herds moving deeper into the snow leopard's habitat further escalates the problems between herders and sow leopards. (The next three paragraphs were directly copied from the Snow Leopard Trust's website.) BEGIN DIRECT QUOTE: Effective conservation programs depend on the support of local
people in snow leopard areas, but many herders are struggling to provide for
their families and have little extra time and energy to devote to protecting
other species. END DIRECT QUOTE: The Snow Leopard Trust is working hard and creatively to change these things. The things they are doing really impresses me. Please visit their website and see what they are doing in Community Based Conservation Programs. See the link on our Links Page and on our Save Habitats Page. MY FAVORITE SNOW LEOPARD: My favorite snow leopard is named Hercules. He lives at an Educational Sanctuary in Tampa, Florida named Big Cat Rescue. NOTE: Beginning 1-24-2007 Part of the proceeds from Snow Leopard Website Adoptions after costs will be sent to the Snow Leopard Trust. SOOO, you can adopt our Snow Leopard Website and get: A) a cool packet of stuff B) educate a whole classroom of children about the Snow Leopard C) the kids get a photo D) still part of your donation will go on to the Snow Leopard Trust. That's like four birds with one stone. Adopt A Snow Leopard Website now
Interactive Snow Leopard CD-ROM coming very soon....
Back To TopMore snow leopard stuff: Photos For Sale - Screensaver - Online puzzles - Specie Info
Other Outside Snow Leopard Websites:The Snow Leopard Trust
Red List of Threatened Species Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
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