text x_quick_Title2=Class: Mammalia~Order: Carnivora~Family: Felidae~(Panthera uncia)
text x_quick=Where In the World~` Snow leopards live in central Asia, in the mountains from Afghanistan to eastern Nepal. ~` The historic range of the snow leopard has not changed in modern times, but the population of this cat has declined dramatically.~` There are probably fewer than a thousand snow leopards in the wild.~ ~Take a Look!~` An adult snow leopard can be over four feet long, plus a fluffy, rounded tail that can be over three feet long.~` Snow leopards are fairly short and stand just about two feet tall at the shoulder.~` They can weigh from 50 to 165 pounds.~` Snow leopards are smaller than regular leopards, but they're much more powerful.~` The soft, thick fur of the snow leopard is perfect for its windy, stormy mountain home.~` Feet are rounded and broad to help the snow leopard walk on the snow.~ ~All in the Family~` Snow leopards are related to the other "great cats," which include leopards, tigers, lions, and jaguars.~ ~Just the Facts~` The snow leopard is notoriously shy - few humans have seen it and scientists find it an extremely hard animal to study. Little is known about the snow leopard - it wasn't even photographed until 1971. ~` Basically solitary, the snow leopard generally hunts and lives alone, although it knows the neighbouring snow leopards and is fairly friendly with them.~` Snow leopards are mighty jumpers - it's reported that they can cover up to 50 feet in one powerful leap.~` Snow leopards can't roar, but they can purr. They share the same noises as any house cat - just on a slightly larger and louder scale!~` Almost any animal in its desolate, rocky home is considered good food by a snow leopard. They hunt wild sheep, musk deer, hare, mice, birds, wild boars, gazelles, and ibex (a gazelle-like animal), as well as anything else they can find. ~` Female snow leopards give birth to between one and six cubs in a litter. She chooses a rocky cave or ledge for her den and lines it with her own warm fur.~` Her cubs are helpless at birth and weigh about a pound. Their eyes open at about ten days and they eat their first solid food at about two months. ~` The cubs follow their mother at about three months. They're soon ready to go out on their own, but probably stay with her for much of their first year.~` It's unclear how long a snow leopard can live in the wild, but one in captivity lived for more than 15 years.
;Habitat
text x_hab= Snow leopards live in some of the most spectacular, beautiful mountain ranges in the world. The three ranges, in central Asia, are the Hindu Kush, the Altai, and the Himalayas, the last including the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. The snow leopards are found from Afghanistan to Lake Baikal and eastern Tibet. ~\
In the summer months, the snow leopard lives up to altitudes of 19,000 feet. (The highest mountain in the United States is Mount McKinley in the Denali National Park of southern Alaska. It is just over 20,000 feet tall - a snow leopard would be comfortable almost all the way to the summit. By contrast, Mount Everest is almost a mile and a half higher at over 28,000 feet. That's too high for a snow leopard. Even humans must wear oxygen masks to climb to the top because there's little air left up that high.) When true winter comes, most of the animals the snow leopard hunts move down the mountain to the gentler climates below, so the snow leopard goes, too. The harshest months of winter are spent in the pine forests that grow no higher than about 6,000 feet up the mountains. ~\
The snow leopard is almost perfectly designed for its habitat, with a cream and grey coat that blends in with its background, remarkable jumping ability for a near-vertical landscape, thick and heavy fur to keep the cat warm in cold weather, broad feet to walk on snow, and a long tail - three quarters again as long as the body - to keep balance on slim rock ledges in high wind.
;Food
text x_eat= The desolate upper mountains don't exactly have abundant wildlife, so the snow leopard learns early to take whatever it can find, large or small. It hunts for gazelles and ibex (a kind of gazelle), musk deer, mountain goats, wild sheep, and wild boars when it can, however if no large prey is available, the snow leopard willingly goes after hares, mice, birds, marmots (cousins to the wood chuck), and pikas (a mountain rabbit with rounded ears). During very hard winters, when prey species are scarce, snow leopards will hunt domestic livestock (sheep and cattle) and dogs. ~\
The snow leopard has two methods of hunting. If space is limited, the cat will hide near a place where a prey animal might wander - on a ledge above a stream or pool of water, for example - and then wait for some dinner to walk by. Then, like an oversized house cat, the snow leopard pounces. If there is more room and some cover - as in the pine forests where the prey animals go in winter - the snow leopard will stalk its victim, creeping up slowly and silently until near enough to pounce.
;Habits and Characteristics
text x_life= The snow leopard lives way up in some of the highest mountains in the world. The ranges where they live are called the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, and the Altai Mountains. (Very exotic names to western ears!) Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, is part of the Himalayas. It's not exactly a friendly part of the world as far as weather goes, with violent storms, powerful winds, and winter-like conditions for most of the year. Visitors to the foothills heard stories of a sleek, well-furred cat that lived high above, but no Westerners saw a snow leopard for a very long time. It was 1971 before a photographer named George Schaller was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. He took the very first known photograph of a snow leopard in the wild just twenty or so years ago.~\
Not only are these mountains too wintry to ever be thought of as a vacation paradise, but the snow leopard is extremely wary around people and will disappear before scientists even enter the area. Even when one of these cats is in sight, its heavy fur coat makes it hard to see. The creamy white fur and grey spots would stand out obviously on a green field, but the snow leopard lives in a world of grey rocks and dazzling snow. Its "exotic" coat turns out to be perfect camouflage. So they're shy - and hard to see - and live in one of the least accessible places in the world. It's no wonder we know so little about this handsome creature!~ The thick, lush fur is easy to understand for a cat that lives in snow. It's the thickest fur on any cat, rivalling and sometimes surpassing the length of the Siberian tiger's coat (at least four inches long on chest and belly). Under the shaggy outer hairs (called guard hairs) is a well-fuzzed undercoat that traps any heat and holds it next to the snow leopard's body. It has wide, rounded paws that help it walk over snow instead of sinking through the crust. (Imagine walking across the beach or a sand box with your toes pointed - you sink in and get tired very quickly. But if you walk with your feet flat, you stay on top of the sand and don't get tired. It's the same principle for the snow leopard. The bigger the foot, the easier it is to walk on snow. That's why people strap on snow shoes for winter hikes.) The pads of the cat's feet are heavily furred to protect against rocks and ice. And if the weather is just too cold, the cat curls up and wraps its long tail over its nose as a muffler. ~\
Snow leopards like to be alone, but they know their snow leopard neighbours and apparently like each other. Females have home territories that occur partially or entirely inside a male's range. During the breeding season, the pair may decide to hunt together, even though they hunt apart for the rest of the year. Snow leopards mate in January, February, or March, and the female is pregnant for a little more than three months. She chooses a safe den to have her litter - a cave or rocky ledge, prote
