The snow leopard, also known as the ounce (Panthera uncia), is a felid native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It inhabits alpine and subalpine zones at elevations of 3,000–4,500 m (9,800–14,800 ft), ranging from eastern Afghanistan, the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to southern Siberia, Mongolia and western China. In the northern part of its range, it also lives at lower elevations. Despite its widespread range, the snow leopard is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List due to the estimated global population of fewer than 10,000 mature individuals, which is expected to decline by about 10% by 2040. This species is threatened by poaching and habitat destruction following infrastructural developments.
Previously, the snow leopard was classified in the monotypic genus Uncia. However, recent phylogenetic studies have revealed the relationships among Panthera species, resulting in the snow leopard being considered a member of that genus. Although two subspecies were described based on morphological differences, genetic differences between the two have not been confirmed, and therefore, the snow leopard is regarded as a monotypic species.
Naming and etymology
The Latin name uncia and the English word ounce, both of which refer to the snow leopard, are derived from the Old French once. Interestingly, this term was also used for the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). The word once is believed to have evolved from an earlier variant of lynx by false splitting; the original term was lonce, which was interpreted as l’once. In this case, l’ is the elided form of the French definite article la (‘the’), leaving once to be perceived as the animal’s name. The word panther, on the other hand, is derived from the classical Latin panthēra, which comes from the ancient Greek word πάνθηρ pánthēr. This term was used for spotted cats, including the snow leopard.
Taxonomy and evolution
Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber used the scientific name Felis uncia in 1777 to describe the snow leopard, based on an earlier description by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. Schreber assumed that the cat occurred along the Barbary Coast, in Persia, East India, and China. In 1854, John Edward Gray proposed the genus name Uncia for Asian cats with a long and thick tail. However, Felis irbis was proposed by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1830 for a female snow leopard skin collected in the Altai Mountains. He also noted that several leopard (P. pardus) skins had been previously misidentified as snow leopard skins. Another proposed name, Felis uncioides, was based on a snow leopard skin from Nepal in the collection of the Museum of the East India Company, as described by Thomas Horsfield in 1855.
Reginald Innes Pocock used the name Uncia uncia in 1930 when he reviewed skins and skulls of Panthera species from Asia. He also described morphological differences between snow leopard and leopard skins. In 2000, a Russian scientist proposed the name Panthera baikalensis-romanii for a dark brown snow leopard skin from the Petrovsk-Zabaykalsky District in southern Transbaikal.
The snow leopard was initially classified in the monotypic genus Uncia but was later reclassified under the genus Panthera based on the results of phylogenetic studies. Until spring 2017, there was no evidence available for the recognition of subspecies. However, a phylogeographic analysis conducted at that time suggested that three subspecies should be recognized: P. u. uncia in the range countries of the Pamir Mountains, P. u. irbis in Mongolia, and P. u. uncioides in the Himalayas and Qinghai. This view has been both contested and supported by different researchers. Additionally, an extinct subspecies, Panthera uncia pyrenaica, was described in 2022 based on material found in France.
Evolution
Based on a DNA sequence analysis of living Felidae, the snow leopard is found to be closely related to the tiger (P. tigris), forming a sister group. It is estimated that this group diverged between 4.62 to 1.82 million years ago, with the snow leopard and the tiger diverging between 3.7 to 2.7 million years ago. The genus Panthera is believed to have originated in northern Central Asia, with Panthera blytheae, excavated in western Tibet’s Ngari Prefecture, being the oldest known Panthera species with skull characteristics similar to the snow leopard. While the mitochondrial genomes of the snow leopard, leopard and lion (P. leo) are more similar to each other than their nuclear genomes, suggesting that their ancestors interbred at some point during their evolution.
Characteristics
The snow leopard has whitish to grey fur with black spots on its head and neck, and larger rosettes on its back, flanks, and bushy tail. Its belly is whitish and its eyes are pale green or grey. The muzzle is short and the forehead is domed, with large nasal cavities. The fur is thick, with hairs ranging from 5 to 12 cm (2.0 to 4.7 in) in length. The snow leopard has a stocky, short-legged body and is slightly smaller than other cats of the Panthera genus, with a shoulder height of 56 cm (22 in) and head-to-body size ranging from 75 to 150 cm (30 to 59 in). Its tail is 80 to 105 cm (31 to 41 in) long. It weighs between 22 and 55 kg (49 and 121 lb), with occasional large males reaching 75 kg (165 lb) and small females weighing under 25 kg (55 lb). Its canine teeth are 28.6 mm (1.13 in) long and more slender than those of other Panthera species. It has large nasal openings relative to the length of its skull and width of its palate, which allows for increasing the volume of air inhaled with each breath, as well as warming and humidifying cold dry air. However, it is not particularly adapted to high-altitude hypoxia.
The snow leopard has several adaptations for living in a cold, mountainous environment. Its small rounded ears help to minimize heat loss, while its broad paws distribute its body weight for walking on snow and have fur on their undersides to increase grip on steep and unstable surfaces, as well as minimize heat loss. Its long, flexible tail helps maintain balance in rocky terrain and is covered in a thick layer of fur that allows the cat to use it as a blanket to protect its face while sleeping. The snow leopard differs from other Panthera species in having a shorter muzzle, elevated forehead, vertical chin, and less developed posterior process of the lower jaw. Despite its partly ossified hyoid bone, the snow leopard cannot roar due to its 9 mm (0.35 in) short vocal folds, which provide little resistance to airflow.
Distribution and habitat
The snow leopard’s fur is whitish to grey with black spots on the head and neck, featuring larger rosettes on the back, flanks, and bushy tail. The belly is whitish, while its eyes are pale green or grey. It has a short muzzle and a domed forehead, with large nasal cavities. Its body is stocky and short-legged, slightly smaller than other Panthera cats. It reaches a shoulder height of 56 cm (22 in) and ranges in head-to-body size from 75 to 150 cm (30 to 59 in), with a tail length of 80 to 105 cm (31 to 41 in). The fur is thick, with hairs between 5 and 12 cm (2.0 and 4.7 in) long. Snow leopards weigh between 22 and 55 kg (49 and 121 lb), with occasional large males reaching 75 kg (165 lb) and small females weighing less than 25 kg (55 lb). Its canine teeth are 28.6 mm (1.13 in) long and more slender than those of other Panthera species. It has large nasal openings in relation to the length of its skull and width of its palate, allowing for increased air volume with each breath and warming and humidifying cold dry air. It is not particularly adapted to high-altitude hypoxia.
Living in a cold, mountainous environment, the snow leopard shows several adaptations. Its small, rounded ears minimize heat loss, while its broad paws distribute the body weight for walking on snow. The paws have fur on their undersides to increase grip on steep and unstable surfaces, and to minimize heat loss. Its long and flexible tail helps maintain balance in rocky terrain. Due to fat storage, the tail is very thick and covered in a thick layer of fur, allowing the cat to use it as a blanket to protect its face when asleep. Snow leopards differ from other Panthera species in having a shorter muzzle, an elevated forehead, a vertical chin, and a less developed posterior process of the lower jaw. Despite its partly ossified hyoid bone, snow leopards cannot roar, as their 9 mm (0.35 in) short vocal folds provide little resistance to airflow.
The snow leopard’s distribution ranges from the west of Lake Baikal through southern Siberia, in the Kunlun Mountains, Altai Mountains, Sayan and Tannu-Ola Mountains, in the Tian Shan, through Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan to the Hindu Kush in eastern Afghanistan, Karakoram in northern Pakistan, in the Pamir Mountains, the Tibetan Plateau, and in the high elevations of the Himalayas in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. In Mongolia, it inhabits the Mongolian and Gobi Altai Mountains and the Khangai Mountains, occurring up to the Altyn-Tagh in the north. It lives in alpine and subalpine zones at elevations from 3,000 to 4,500 m (9,800 to 14,800 ft), but also at lower elevations in the northern part of its range. The potential snow leopard habitat in the Indian Himalayas is estimated at less than 90,000 km2 (35,000 sq mi) in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, of which about 34,000 km2 (13,000 sq mi) is considered good habitat, and 14.4% is protected. In the beginning of the 1990s, the Indian snow leopard population was estimated at 200–600 individuals living across about 25
Behavior and ecology
The snow leopard emits different vocalizations such as meowing, grunting, prusten, and moaning. It can also purr when exhaling. The snow leopard is primarily solitary and active at dawn and early morning, as well as in the afternoons and early evenings. It usually rests near cliffs and ridges that offer shade and vantage points. In Nepal’s Shey Phoksundo National Park, five adult radio-collared snow leopards had overlapping home ranges, although they seldom interacted. Their individual home ranges ranged from 12 to 39 km2 (4.6 to 15.1 sq mi) in size. Males move up to 5.45 km (3.39 mi) per day, and females up to 2.25 km (1.40 mi), measured in straight lines between survey points. Since they often zigzagged in the precipitous terrain, they could move up to 7 km (4.3 mi) in a single night. In areas of 100 km2 (40 sq mi), up to 10 individuals can inhabit. In areas with sparse prey, only five individuals can survive in 1,000 km2 (400 sq mi) of habitat.
A study in the Gobi Desert from 2008 to 2014 showed that adult male snow leopards used a mean home range of 144–270 km2 (56–104 sq mi), while adult females ranged in areas of 83–165 km2 (32–64 sq mi). Their home ranges overlapped less than 20%. These results indicate that about 40% of the 170 protected areas in snow leopard range countries are smaller than the home range of a single male snow leopard.
To indicate their territories and common travel routes, snow leopards leave scent marks. They scrape the ground with their hind feet before depositing urine or feces, but they also spray urine onto rocks. Their urine contains many characteristic low molecular weight compounds with diverse functional groups including pentanol, hexanol, heptanol, 3-octanone, nonanal, and indole, which possibly play a role in chemical communication.
Hunting and Diet
A snow leopard was observed in Hemis National Park approaching prey from above, using rocky cliffs for cover. At a distance of about 40 m (130 ft) from the prey, it walked rapidly for about 15 m (49 ft), ran the last 25 m (82 ft), and killed the prey with a neck bite. While squatting on its haunches, it ripped out clumps of hair from the abdomen and then opened it to first feed on the viscera. The snow leopard is a carnivore and actively hunts its prey. Its preferred prey species are Himalayan blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus), argali (Ovis ammon), markhor (Capra falconeri), and wild goat (C. aegagrus). It also preys on domestic livestock. It prefers prey ranging in weight from 36 to 76 kg (79 to 168 lb), but also hunts smaller mammals such as Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana), pika, and vole species. Its diet depends on prey availability and varies across its range and season. In the Himalayas, it preys mostly on Himalayan blue sheep, Siberian ibex (C. sibirica), white-bellied musk deer (Moschus leucogaster), and wild boar (Sus scrofa). In the Karakoram, Tian Shan, Altai, and Mongolia’s Tost Mountains, its main prey consists ly absent from areas with high human density and agriculture.[48] Despite this, conflicts with humans occur, especially when snow leopards prey on livestock. Retaliatory killing is one of the major threats to the species, and in some areas it may be the most significant. Habitat destruction and fragmentation, poaching, and climate change also threaten the snow leopard’s survival. Conservation efforts, including habitat protection and anti-poaching programs, have been implemented to help preserve the species. The snow leopard is protected in several range countries, and hunting it is illegal in all but four of them. The snow leopard has become the “flagship species” for conserving high altitude ecosystems in Asia.
Threats
The poaching and illegal trade of snow leopard skins and body parts pose a major threat to their populations. In Kyrgyzstan, between 1999 and 2002, 16 skins and three live cubs were confiscated, 110 poachers were arrested, and 330 traps were destroyed in efforts to combat the illegal trade. Undercover operations exposed a network linking the illegal trade to Russia and China via Kazakhstan. The primary center of the skin trade in the region is Kashgar in Xinjiang. In Tibet and Mongolia, skins are used for traditional clothing, and meat and bones are used in traditional medicine. Between 1996 and 2002, 37 skins were found in wildlife markets and tourist shops in Mongolia. From 2003 to 2016, 710 skins were traded, of which 288 were confiscated. Poaching numbers range from 20 to 236 animals per year in Tajikistan, China, Mongolia, Pakistan, and India. Chinese websites were found to have 15 advertisements for 44 snow leopard products in 2016, including skins, canine teeth, claws, and tongues. In Afghanistan, nine snow leopard skins were found during a market survey in September 2014.
Greenhouse gas emissions are expected to shift the treeline in the Himalayas and reduce the alpine zone, potentially decreasing snow leopard habitat by 30%.
Snow leopards are often in conflict with humans in areas where they prey on domestic livestock. The loss of natural prey due to overgrazing, poaching, and livestock defense are the primary reasons for the decreasing population of snow leopards. Livestock also cause habitat degradation, which, combined with the increased use of forests for fuel, reduces snow leopard habitat.
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