Snow leopard
Panthera uncia
— Where the name comes from
Uncia comes, once again, from the Latin lynx by way of the Spanish onza and the French once — the same word that gave onza as an old name for the jaguar. The common name simply records where it lives: among the snows of Central Asia. In Tibetan it is shan, in Mongolian irbis.
— Facts
- Group
- Mammals · Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivores
- Habitat
- High mountains, alpine grassland and rock faces between 3,000 and 5,500 m
- Range
- The mountain ranges of Central Asia: Himalaya, Altai, Tian Shan
- Size
- 75–150 cm of body, 22–55 kg, plus a tail almost as long as the body
- Diet
- Carnivore — ibex, blue sheep, marmots
- Lifespan
- 10–12 years
— Characteristics
- 01
The very thick tail serves as a balance on slopes and as a scarf: it wraps it over its face to sleep.
- 02
The broad paws act as snowshoes; fur grows even under the pads.
- 03
It is the only big cat that does not roar: the hyoid bone is ossified differently.
— What sets it apart
It is called “the ghost of the mountains” for a literal reason: camouflage, solitude and forbidding altitudes make it all but invisible. Whole studies rest on camera traps and tracks in the snow alone. A researcher can spend a career among its territories without ever seeing one with their own eyes.
