A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Facts about Snow Leopards

Snow leopards are one of the top predators in the high mountain food web of Central Asia. The snow leopard is an opportunistic predator capable of killing prey three times its weight. Snow leopards in the Himalaya and Tibet eat blue sheep (bharal).

Snow leopards are found at altitudes between 9,800 and 17,000 feet in the high, rugged mountains of Central Asia. Their range spans from Afghanistan to Kazakstan and Russia in the north to India and China in the east. China contains about 60% of snow leopard habitat.

A group of tigers is known as an ambush, a group of regular leopards is called a leap. Lions form prides.Apr 3, 2013

Snow leopards eat almost anything they can catch, often hunting animals three times their size. Their main sources of food include wild sheep and goats, pikas, hares, and game birds. In the summer, they eat mostly smaller prey, such as marmots.

Snow leopards are often killed by local farmers because they prey on livestock such as sheep, goats, horses, and yak calves. The animals which snow leopards would typically hunt—such as the Argali sheep—are also hunted by local communities.

The snow leopard has not been reported to attack humans, and appears to be the least aggressive to humans of all big cats. As a result, they are easily driven away from livestock; they readily abandon their kills when threatened, and may not even defend themselves when attacked.

It is estimated that there are 4,500 to 7,500 snow leopards living in the mountains of central Asia. It is believed that 60% of the entire population of snow leopards live in China. The rough estimates shown here have been based on limited surveys that were done several decades ago.

Related Types