| Panthera uncia

Once or Snow leopard

The snow leopard is as difficult to observe as it is to track. It is nicknamed ‘the ghost of the mountains’ or ‘once’ (because you only see it once!).

Characteristics

Status

Vulnerable Size

Discover Gestation

Discover Habitat

Mountain Diet

Carnivore

Once or Snow leopard IUCN Status

EX Globally extinct RE Disappeared at the regional level CR Critically endangered EN Endangered (EN) VU Vulnerable NT Near Threatened LC Least concern

Once or Snow leopard Size

Once or Snow leopard Gestation

Ecozone Into the wild of Russia

Description

An animal that is equally well adapted to cold and warm climates!

This high-altitude feline is closely associated with alpine and subalpine ecological zones, between 2,500 metres and 6,000 metres, particularly steep rocky and snow-covered areas above the tree line and dense forests. However, in Russia and Kazakhstan, it can be found in forests at an altitude of around 500 metres!

While the snow leopard is well known for living in cold temperatures (-20 to -30°C), it is much less well known that it is adapted to the intense summer daytime heat in its range (36°C in the shade recorded in August 2023 in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan). At an altitude of 6,000 metres, the difference between daytime and night-time temperatures is extremely significant. Atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude by 1 hPA for every 10 metres climbed, allowing very intense solar radiation to pass through. The rocks become hot or even scorching, especially as the vegetation is particularly sparse.

Morphological adaptations

- The panther's fur is the densest of all felines, with 62,500 hairs per square centimetre (WWF data). It protects the panther from both summer heat (temperatures around 36°C in the shade) and extreme cold (-30°C).

- The long, thick tail is involved in thermoregulation. In summer, the cat tends to lie on its back at temperatures above 20°C, sheltered from the sun and exposing as much of its body surface as possible to facilitate heat dissipation.

- The paw pads have a layer of hair that protects against the cold and frozen ground in winter. In summer, the layer of hair acts as a protective interface between the paw pad and hot rocks that are highly receptive to solar radiation (albedo close to 0, meaning that the ground absorbs almost all the rays it receives).

- The light-coloured coat provides camouflage and limits UV absorption during the hot summer days.

- The muzzle is short and the nasal cavities are particularly large: some scientists suggest that this is an adaptation that allows the animal to cope with the scarcity of oxygen when living at high altitudes. In periods of high heat, they allow for better ventilation.

Conservation

One of the most endangered felines in the world

Although protected, snow leopards are still hunted for their fur or for various organs used in Chinese medicine. Between 2008 and 2016 alone, an estimated one snow leopard was killed and sold every day, representing 220 to 450 individuals per year. The actual scale of the problem is thought to be even greater.

With the degradation and disappearance of its habitat due to human activity, poaching and increasing conflicts with local communities, the wild population is estimated at only 5,000 individuals!

The Snow Leopard Trust is carrying out conservation projects to prevent the extinction of this species, which is also the subject of an EAZA conservation programme.