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15 Fun Facts About Snow Leopards

Snow leopards simply put, are one of the most beautiful animals ever. They are big furry animals that live in the cold mountains of central and East Asia and typically speaking, they like spending so much time all by themselves. They are not that big (only at five feet) but still strong and deadly if provoked. So what are some of the fun facts we all need to know about snow leopards? Here are a few of them.

1. They’re always prepared for the cold

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You can tell from the name that these beautiful animals are used to the cold. They are typically found in Central and East Asia and these places can be very, very cold. That kind of climate is of course not very favourable to human beings but very ideal to snow leopards. This is possible because very fluffy furs that keep them warm in such conditions. Their large paws act as snowshoes, helping them to distribute their weight over a wide surface area. Moreover, their short ears help to keep their heads warm since the bigger the ears, the more heat loss. So essentially, their build helps them to perfectly adapt to cold weather.

2. Snow Leopards can’t really make a mighty roar

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Unlike lions, snow leopards cannot really make a strong and mighty roaring sound. I think that is what makes them so adorable regardless of them being deadly sometimes. Naturally, they cannot be able to make a mighty roaring sound and this is all because their throats are wired differently. Instead, they can make squeaking sounds and sometimes yowling and puffing sounds. The problem with this is that you can never hear them coming based on their roaring ability.

3. Snow leopards have a habit of putting their tails in their mouths

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Snow leopards have been created with very long tails. In fact, the longest of all cats because of how their tails can be the same length as their entire bodies. This feature is however very useful to them. The tail carries extra fat that becomes very useful during cool winters. They like to play around and put the tail in their mouth although it hasn’t been agreed upon exactly why they do this. However, the most common argument has always been that it helps to keep their face warm,  relieve some of their stress, or even keep the weight of the tail off them as it can be heavy for them sometimes. Better yet, it has also been suggested they just do it for fun.

4. They are perfect in disguises.

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The thing with snow leopards is that they can be perfect for camouflaging and blending. As much as you can easily spot them in the middle of a street, they also blend into their mountain environments perfectly. Their stone-coloured fur looks exactly like rocks in the snow and because their markings appear to shift every time they move, it makes it harder for them to be identified at a distance. Meaning, they are great at hiding from potential threats and prey.

5. Snow leopards are often referred to as ghosts

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Due to the fact that snow leopards do not come into contact with human beings often, they have come to earn the nickname, ‘ghost of the mountain.’ They typically aren’t seen just walking around casually because they do like to stay away from any kind of danger and they also live in very high mountains where humans don’t of course live permanently. Actually, Snow Leopard Trust reported that there has never been a verified attack of Snow leopards on human beings. That they in fact prefer to run away and stay away from trouble rather than get into any form of a fight.

6. They’re very solitary also

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It’s very unlike a feline animal to keep to themselves. Typically, they move in groups e.g cheetahs, and lions among others. Snow leopards, however, prefer solitude. Mother snow leopard will raise their cubs for roughly eighteen months all by themselves and adult snow leopards always just come together when it is the mating season. They always mark their territories so that every one of them can just live their own solitary life without much interaction and they’re also nomadic. This means they keep changing their home areas every now and then.

7. They’re very active at dawn and dusk

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In other words, snow leopards are crepuscular which is a term to refer to animals that are highly active at dawn and dusk when the light is typically low. During this time, the low light makes it way easier for them to blend into the environment as they move around. Prey can’t see the coming and they can also see danger coming hence be safe.

8. Snow leopards love walking so much

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When hunting, snow leopards prefer to just roam and walk around. In fact, the longest recorded distance to ever have been covered by a snow leopard in a single night was 27 miles. That is roughly 43 kilometres and that is equivalent to doing a marathon every night. Pretty impressive, right?

9. They also love to savour their food very much

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What snow leopards end up eating, is very dependent on their location. Many of them love to snack on wild sheep and goats but also enjoy domestic animals like horses and livestock if they can get to them. Every 8-10 days, a snow leopard will hunt a particularly large animal and it will take them 3 to 4 days to eat that animal. Talk about taking your time with food. They will hand around the food the whole time in order to protect their well-savored food from ravens and vultures.

10. They’re excellent jumpers

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Snow leopards are very good jumpers that if it were possible, would definitely qualify for the Olympics. This is made possible by their really strong legs and ability to leap up to 50 feet. Vertically, they can be about 6 metres. This means if you were to come across a snow leopard and decide to run away from it and climb a tree, that would be pointless. It would definitely get to you very easily.

11. They make lovely nurseries for their cubs

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Even if snow leopards are typically solitary and like to keep to themselves, mother leopards always make an effort to keep their babies warm and cosy in the snow. They are very maternal actually. They make dens that are hidden in caves and line them up with their own fur so as to keep the place warm and comfortable for the cubs. Very thoughtful of them.

12. Snow leopards have very special lungs

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In addition to all the cool things we have seen about snow leopards, they also have very special lungs. This is necessary because of their environment. The hight on the mountain you go, the less oxygen there is and yet that is where their habitation typically is. For them to breathe comfortably and not collapse, they have very large chest cavities and powerful lungs. This enables them to breathe in a lot of air and thus get as much oxygen as possible in each breath they take. Their wide noses help them to warm the air as they breathe it in and thus stopping them from getting cold due to the inhalation of cold air in their lungs.

13. They’re actually not that close to leopards

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I know the name sound similar and one can easily think they have a lot in common. However, they are not that closely related to leopards despite the spots that may look similar. However, they are more closely related to tigers and not leopards.

14. There was once a fake snow leopard in London in 1823!

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Snow leopards were first identified by scientists in 1775 and since then, people have always been curious about them. Thus in 1823,  a snow leopard was said to have been kept in the Tower of London. Naturally, people wanted to catch a glimpse of it. Scientists however argued it was just a normal leopard and thus deduced that that could have been a fake showcasing altogether. In 1851 however, the first real exhibition of a snow leopard was done in Belgium.

15. Snow leopards are quite endangered

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Unfortunately, snow leopards are endangered while in the wild. This is partly because of the climate change that’s causing their cold habitats to get warmer. They don’t do so well in warm climates. Furthermore, human beings are also a threat to them because they keep killing them for attacking their livestock and are also hunted down by poachers for their body parts which play a role in traditional medicine and also their beautiful and soft fur.

Snow leopards remain to be fascinating and interesting because of how comfortable they are in such cold places. These fun facts shed more light to what kind of animals they really are.