The snow leopard has long, thick smoky gray fur with dark rosettes and spots, and a very long thick tail. Weighing up to 75 kg (165 lb), it has large, well-cushioned paws, a strong chest, and short forelimbs that enable it to scale outcroppings high on cliffs. Further adaptations for high-altitude life include long hair with dense, woolly underfur and an enlarged nasal cavity. It has been reported to leap as far as 15 m (about 50'). Throughout its range, the snow leopard is mostly associated with steep, dry, rocky terrain with shrub or grassland vegetation. It is generally found at elevations between 3000 - 4500 m (9800 - 14,800'). The snow leopard is an opportunistic predator. Its most common prey includes wild sheep and goats, but it also eats marmots, pikas, hares and game birds (chukor partridge and snowcocks), as well as domestic sheep and goats.
The snow leopard can be crepuscular or nocturnal, apparently depending on the degree of persecution by humans. It is an excellent rock climber and prefers traveling along linear features such as major ridgelines, gullies, and the base or crest of broken cliffs.
A female snow leopard usually has 2 - 3 cubs. The cubs eat their first solid food when they are about 2 months old, and a month later begin to follow their mother when she goes hunting. They hunt with the mother at least through their first winter. Adult snow leopards are generally solitary. Males and females apparently have overlapping ranges. An average density of about 1 snow leopard/100 sq km (about 3/100 sq mi) over large tracts of habitat appears to be typical.
By 1970 the snow leopard had already become rare due to hunting for fur and as a trophy, persecution as a livestock predator, and loss of prey. Currently, it has a fragmented distribution, consisting of a mix of long narrow mountain systems and islands of montane habitat scattered throughout a vast region surrounding the Central Asian deserts and plateaus.
The snow leopard can be crepuscular or nocturnal, apparently depending on the degree of persecution by humans. It is an excellent rock climber and prefers traveling along linear features such as major ridgelines, gullies, and the base or crest of broken cliffs.
A female snow leopard usually has 2 - 3 cubs. The cubs eat their first solid food when they are about 2 months old, and a month later begin to follow their mother when she goes hunting. They hunt with the mother at least through their first winter. Adult snow leopards are generally solitary. Males and females apparently have overlapping ranges. An average density of about 1 snow leopard/100 sq km (about 3/100 sq mi) over large tracts of habitat appears to be typical.
By 1970 the snow leopard had already become rare due to hunting for fur and as a trophy, persecution as a livestock predator, and loss of prey. Currently, it has a fragmented distribution, consisting of a mix of long narrow mountain systems and islands of montane habitat scattered throughout a vast region surrounding the Central Asian deserts and plateaus.
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