Ecology
Snow Leopard
Snow Leopards are wild cats that are found in the mountains of central Asia, Afghanistan to Kazakhstan, Russia, North of India, and east of China. They have disappeared in certain parts of Mongolia. Snow Leopards are under threat from illegal poaching and are hunted for their beautiful fur for the fur trade and their bones and other body parts are highly sought after for traditional Asian medicine. There is also human conflict as humans expand their farmlands into Snow Leopard territory livestock will be attacked as a food source. They were placed on the endangered species list in 1972, and have an estimated population of 3500 to 7000 (difficult to estimate as they are shy animals).Their diet usually consists of wild sheep and goats, rodents, hares and gamebirds. The Snow Leopards thick coat is white yellowish or soft grey with black or brown spots perfect for camouflage. They prefer to inhabit steep cliff areas, rocky outcrops and ravines which are ideal for providing camouflage and hiding spots for safety, stalking and hunting. Snow Leopard Trust (
Adaptations
Adaptations are changes that the animal go through to cope with the environment that they live. These adaptations or changes are classed as physical which include anatomical or physiological changes or are behavioural. changes. Figure 1 outlines snow leopard adaptations. Adaptations such as camouflage are an example of how animals have changed over time predators such as the Snow leopard use camouflage to blend in or hide whilst hunting for food and the prey such as the Blue sheep use camouflage to hide and avoid being hunted.
Physiological adaptations are changes that involve the inside chemistry of an animal and anatomical adaptations are changes in the body.
Examples of these adaptations that the snow leopard have include the sounds they make. Due to the physiology of their throat snow leopards are unable to roar, but instead make a sound known as a “chuff”. They are able to mew, hiss and purr.
Nose is adaptaed to heat air before reaching lungs, see figure 1.
Powerful lungs have the capacity for coping with low oxygen areas within mountains.
Snow leopards have spotted white, yellow or grey spotted fur that blends into the background and acts as a camouflage. Their dense, thick fur has adapted to keep the animal warm in harsh conditions.
Large, fur covered paws that act like snow shoes in the snow, and for balancing in mountainous regions.
Long, furry tail used for balance and warmth.
Bone structure has adapted to create an ideal physique for catching prey with powerful legs for leaping large distances, adapted for hunting and managing rocky terrain.
Their eyes have adapted to allow hunting in darkness through size and low-light vision, with forward facing eyes to focus on hunting for their prey.
Physiological and Anatomical Adaptations
Figure 1,
Snow leopards are solitary animals however when the mother has young they will be seen with their cubs or during mating season a male and female may be seen together.
Snow leopards can cover hundreds of square kilometres, leaving their markings on their territory (urine scenting, scratch markings and faeces). They are crepuscular animals, (Guidrey, 2002). as they are most active at dawn. Crepuscular refer to dawn or dusk hours However, this behaviour may be altered by the amount of presence by humans. If no humans are present Snow leopards may become active during the day. Snow leopards are not usually aggressive animals however will defend their young when required.