Snow leopard hunting.
The snow leopard, or Irbis, also called the snow panther, is a large predatory mammal from the cat family that lives in the mountain ranges of Central Asia.
This is a beautiful mysterious cat that can purr but cannot growl. Outwardly, it resembles a leopard, but it is slightly smaller and stockier, it is distinguished by long hair with a pattern in the form of dark large spots and a long tail. This is a relatively large predator.
The length of its body is 2.00 – 2.30 m, of which 0.90 – 1.05 m falls on the tail, the height at the shoulders is about 0.60 m, and the weight of the animal is from 25 to 55 kg, and males are always larger than females.
The head of these cats is small, the eyes are yellowish-green in color with a round pupil, in the mouth there are 30 sharp and strong teeth. Vibrissae are black and white, not more than 10.5 cm long. The ears are short, wide, slightly rounded, without tassels at the tips, in winter they are almost invisible in long fur.
The body is flexible on low legs; the feet are wide with retractable claws. The tail is very fluffy and long, and acts as a balance when jumping. Vision, smell and hearing are well developed.
Snow leopards live in high and hard-to-reach mountains in the territory from central Russia, Mongolia, western China and Tibet, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan to the Himalayan parts of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Their territory can stretch for several hundred kilometers of mountain forests up to 5500 meters above sea level. In summer, following the main prey, predators rise to the alpine and subalpine zones, and in winter they descend from the highlands to the middle belt of mountains – often in the area of coniferous forests.
Snow leopards feed mainly on ungulates: argali, roe deer, deer, wild boars and mountain goats, and they can easily cope with animals three times their own weight. At the beginning of summer, they mainly hunt females and young animals.
They also catch rodents, hares and birds. The latter are mainly watched for during the night. In famine years, they are sometimes found near settlements and attack domestic animals. In their range, snow panthers experience little competition from other predators.
