Snow Leopards
The Arctic Snowy White Turtles
Food chain and Habitat
- Find food in the mountains and near herders.
- Predators, but also eat some plant life, more than most of their relatives.
- Hunt wild sheep, wild goats, smaller animals like hares, small rodents, and marmots, and game birds and livestock, creating problems in the relationships between herders and snow leopards.
- Snow leopards are known to be able to kill prey three times the size of the cat's weight.
- Snow leopards live in the rugged and high mountains of central Asia, including the Himalayas, the Altai, and the Hindu Kush. The climate is usually cold and dry. (wiki, SLT, Kewa, GM)
Description
- Snow leopards have dense fur that is either smoky gray or light tan. They have black rings with darker fur in the center.
- Snow leopards are usually 70 to 120 pounds and measure 155 to 230 centimeters from head to tail.
- They generally live alone and communicate from a distance. Interestingly, Snow Leopards can't roar(SLT, wik).
Adaptations and Behavior
- Snow leopards have camouflage as well as dense fur to handle the harsh climate.
- Their tail can warm the animal and help balance it on the rugged slopes.
- To get food, they use their powerful hind legs to pounce from above their prey
- They will mark their territory to keep other snow leopards out of it as well.
- They communicate from a distance by doing things like scraping the ground (wik) or urinating on overhanging rocks at a Snow Leopard's nose level(SLT).
- They may use vocal messages in breeding season.(agar, wiki, SLT)
Why Snow Leopards are Endangered
- Snow leopards are hunted for their pelts.
- Herders may kill snow leopards if one of their herd is killed, or to protect their herd.
- Habitat loss and prey loss because of less land for the Snow Leopard's prey to feed due to larger herds which require more grazing land.
- Poaching for use in Chinese medicine. (Kewa, SLT, wiki, agar)
Critical Information
What is being done to help: Snow Leopard Trust
- Women are being given tools to produce wool products so they no longer have to poach snow leopards.
- There are protected areas in eleven of the twelve states.
- Damage done to livestock by snow leopards are repaid so there is no more need for the poaching. (CBC)
Support snow leopards:
- It helps the community and snow leopard, benefiting both groups.
- The mysterious snow leopards will be saved.
Works Cited (Hanging indentation impossible on Smore)
"Cat Facts." Cat Facts. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://www.snowleopard.org/learn/cat-facts>.
"Facts about the Snow Leopard." Facts about the Snow Leopard. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://www.kewa.org/leo.html>.
"Community-based Conservation." Community-based Conservation. Web. 25 May 2012. <http://www.snowleopard.org/learn/community-based-conservation>.
Garman, Andrew. "Snow Leopard." Snow Leopard. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://www.agarman.dial.pipex.com/snowlep.htm>.
Montgomery, Sy, and Nic Bishop. Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia. Web. 30 May 2012.
"Snow Leopard." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 May 2012. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Leopard>.