For example, snow leopards have long hair with a dense, woolly under-fur and small, round ears. In order to survive in their cold alpine habitat, snow leopards have evolved a number of adaptations, which they share with other animals that live in cold environments around the world. Given that tigers share the ability to roar with the remaining members of the Panthera genus but snow leopards do not, perhaps this was a feature of the Panthera common ancestor that has since been lost in snow leopards following their divergence from tigers. It is likely that these two groups diverged from the rest of Panthera between 4.62 and 1.82 million years ago, before diverging from each other between 3.7 and 2.7 million years ago. Instead of roaring, snow leopards communicate using sounds similar to those of other large cats, such as purrs, hisses and growls.Īlthough it was originally thought that snow leopards where the first species to diverge within the genus Panthera, it has recently been shown that they actually form a sister clade with tigers. However, snow leopards also share this feature, thus is it now thought that roaring results from a specific morphology of the vocal folds in the larynx, which snow leopards lack. But unlike these other four big cats, snow leopards are unable to roar. It was previously thought that the unique ability of these other animals to roar resulted from incomplete ossification of the hyoid bone in the neck. The snow leopard shares the genus Panthera with four other members lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars. Snow leopards are unique amongst the big cats for a number of reasons and as a result demonstrate several interesting biological concepts. A snow leopard cub Fun Facts about Snow Leopards Once snow leopards leave their mothers, they disperse over very large distances to find new hunting grounds. Cubs typically leave the den when they are 2 – 4 months old, however they remain with their mother until they are 18 – 22 months old. Snow leopard cubs are initially blind, but open their eyes at around 7 days old and are fully weaned by 10 weeks old. Females give birth to 2 – 3 cubs inside a rocky den lined with fur shed from their undersides. Snow leopards tend to mate towards the end of winter, meaning cubs are born between April and June. Although the territories of males don’t often overlap with each other, they do overlap with those of females. It is thought that home range size is related to food availability, with snow leopards in areas of abundant prey using smaller home ranges. Individuals occupy huge home ranges up to several hundred square kilometers and patrol these regularly, marking their territories using urine scent marks. Snow leopards are solitary animals, although males and females are seen together during the mating season, as are mothers and their young cubs. Given the large size of the snow leopard’s preferred prey, they are able to survive on a single animal for two weeks, so only hunt such large animals every 8 – 10 days on average. Snow leopards are opportunistic hunters, and as a result will also eat carrion and sometimes hunt livestock. Snow leopards mainly hunt wild sheep and goats such as the blue sheep, argali sheep and ibex, although they will also prey on smaller mammals such as marmots, voles and hares. These carnivorous predators actively hunt their prey by ambushing them from above and pursuing them down steep mountainsides for up to 300 meters. Snow leopards are crepuscular animals, which means that they are most active at dawn and dusk. In fact, these animals can travel easily in snow up to 33 inches (85 cm) deep thanks to their large paws, which act as snow shoes and prevent them from sinking into the snow. In the alpine and sub-alpine zones that these big cats inhabit, the ground is often covered with a thick layer of snow, however this poses no problem for snow leopards. Snow leopards prefer the rugged terrain of rocky outcrops, cliffs and ravines above the tree line, as this habitat provides clear views of prey and good cover whilst hunting. However, in lower latitude countries such as China and India, these cats are found at much higher altitudes of between 3,000 and 5,400 meters above sea level. In high latitude countries such as Mongolia and Russia, snow leopards are found at altitudes of around 1,000 meters above sea level. Their habitat range covers 2 million km 2 and extends into 12 countries. The snow leopard is a species of big cat native to the mountains of central Asia.
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