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Animal Fact File: Snow Leopards

Nicole Anson
Aug 18, 2016
2 min read

Today's blog is going to be a fact file on my favourite endangered animal of all time... The Snow Leopard! Snow Leopards have been my favourite endangered animal since I was 10 years old because I studied Endangered Animals for my "Year 5 Exhibition" in school. So, here is a fact file on them!

Characteristics

Snow Leopards scientific name is Panthera uncia and there are approximately 4,080-6,590 of them left in the world. You may think "Thats a lot! How are they endangered?" but when you compare them to another animal, like for example the seagull, there are more than 1.8 million! The average Snow Leopard is 1.1 metres in length and weigh 32 kilograms. Also, Snow Leopards can jump up to 6 times their body length!

Habitat

Snow Leopards can be found in 12 different countries which are Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. They live in snowy mountains, mostly in the Himalayas Mountain Range.

Reproduction

Snow Leopards usually mate in Winter and the gestation period varies from 93-110 days. When Snow Leopards are born, they have a full fur coat and are blind for about a week. They're helpless for six weeks, so they just sleep and drink milk in that time. Snow Leopards live 8-10 years in the wild and to 18 years in captivity.

Diet

Snow Leopards are carnivores, which mean they only eat meat. Blue sheep and Argali Wild Sheep are their favourite prey, but they like Ibex, Marmots, Pikas and Hares as well.

Why they are Endangered

Snow Leopards are endangered because farmers kill them, as they eat their livestock like sheep and goats. Argali Sheep live in communities and as prey gets harder to find, they need to kill the stock to live.

How we can help

We can help Snow Leopards by donating money to organisations like WWF who help keep Snow Leopards alive. You can also adopt your own Snow Leopard! No, it doesn't mean you get to keep it as a pet in your house, it means that someone looks after the Leopard for you and the money you pay to adopt it is used to help it live. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER, all animals can die from litter, even Snow Leopards so DON'T LITTER ANYWHERE!