As a large cat, it makes sense for it to meow!

On October 23, 2013, at the first Global Snow Leopard Conservation Forum held in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, twelve Asian countries signed the Bishkek Declaration and unanimously agreed to designate October 23 of each year as "International Snow Leopard Day" to protect the rare and endangered snow leopards and their habitats.

It is no exaggeration to say that snow leopards are animals that only exist in "heaven" and are rarely seen in the world.

Image source: WWF

First, snow leopards mostly live in areas with high altitudes of 3,000 to 6,000 meters and rugged terrain, where humans rarely set foot. Second, snow leopards are rare in number and are good at hiding, so they are difficult to be discovered.

The global activity area of ​​snow leopards is about 1.2 million km2 to 2.4 million km2, and China has 60% of the snow leopard habitat, mainly concentrated in the western regions of China such as Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Yunnan, and Sichuan. Before the development of the Internet and photography technology, snow leopards were almost invisible. It was not until people used cameras to freeze snow leopards in photos that these ghostly figures that merged with the snow-capped mountains were "separated" and presented to the world.

Image source: wikimedia commons

The strongest "King of the Snow Mountain" after evolution

The snow leopard is a member of the genus Panthera, subfamily Panthera, order Carnivora, and is one of the five "big cats" of the genus Panthera, the other four being the tiger, lion, leopard, and jaguar.

Although leopards, snow leopards and jaguars are all called "leopards" and their body size and appearance patterns have many similarities, in fact, snow leopards and the other two guys with the word "leopard" belong to independent species. From the perspective of molecular biology, tigers and snow leopards are the closest relatives.

Tiger and snow leopard, their faces look quite similar. See watermark for the source of the picture

In 2010, an incomplete leopard skull fossil was discovered in the Zanda Basin in Tibet. Molecular genetics and morphological identification showed that this should be the snow leopard's closest relative, the famous "Panthera pardus", thus establishing the fact that the snow leopard originated in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau .

In order to adapt to the unique environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, snow leopards have evolved some ways of survival.

The first thing to overcome is of course the cold weather on the plateau. We all know that most cats have hair, which not only feels soft to the touch, but also plays a certain role in keeping warm in winter.

But compared with the snow leopard, this little bit of hair is like a cotton jacket full of holes. In order to survive in such high-altitude areas, the snow leopard has thick and long hair all over its body, with an astonishing 4,000 hairs per square centimeter of skin. In comparison, humans only have about 200 hairs. Such thick hair forms an airtight wall to resist the invasion of wind and cold.

Snow leopard calm in the snowstorm. Source: andbeyond

At the same time, the snow leopard's small head and small round ears also help reduce heat loss. They have huge pads under their wide paws, which can distribute the body weight well for walking in the snow. In addition, the pads on the soles of the snow leopards are also covered with thick hair, which not only helps them enhance their grip on steep ground, but also keeps their limbs warm to the maximum extent.

Snow leopards' paws are natural "snow boots" Photo credit: Alexander Oehrle

In addition, running on the plateau will make the already scarce oxygen resources even more scarce. The snow leopard has a well-developed chest cavity and strong chest muscles, which enable it to breathe deeply, helping it to breathe more oxygen in the thin air zone of the mountains.

Image source: rainforesttrust.org

These adaptive characteristics allow the snow leopard to gradually adapt to the alpine snow environment and become its top predator.

Can meow and woof, but not roar

Snow leopards can live in steep terrain thanks to their superb "jumping" and "climbing" skills. They can easily jump from a high altitude, crawl, or turn around, and all these movements require superb balance ability.

Image credit: Ron Conigilaro

The snow leopard's balance comes from its long and flexible tail. How long is it? The length of its tail is almost the same as its body length, a perfect "50-50" figure. When exercising or hunting, the snow leopard's tail can maintain its balance and move quickly and flexibly in various terrains.

Running snow leopard source see watermark

But the snow leopard's tail has more functions than that. Since the tail also stores fat and is also covered with a thick layer of hair, it looks like a thick scarf. This allows the snow leopard to roll its tail around its face to cover its mouth and nose to keep warm when resting. It can even serve as a toy when the animal is bored.

Even a snow leopard cannot resist the temptation of a tail. Image source: imgur

Therefore, when distinguishing various "leopards", if you see a thick and long tail, it is most likely a snow leopard.

In addition, the snow leopard is different from the other four big cats in one aspect: its voice. The middle part of the hyoid bones of Panthera species is mostly ligamentous cartilage, while the hyoid bones of snow leopards are basically hardened, so they cannot "roar" like other big cats. The sounds they make are usually "meow meow meow" or "woooo woooo". In this way, the ferocious snow leopard is just an enlarged version of a cat.

Living next door to giant pandas

Snow leopards are classified as "vulnerable" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and are also a first-class protected animal in my country. Despite its halo, the snow leopard's survival is still facing many threats.

Image source: snowleopard.org

For example, climate change. Rising global temperatures will seriously affect the productivity of alpine habitats, making the mountain environment, which is already rich in resource capital, even more scarce. The snow leopard's natural prey species will also decrease, which leads to the second reason why the snow leopard is threatened: retaliatory killing caused by conflicts between humans and wild animals.

Image source: bulletin

Due to the reduction in available prey in nature, snow leopards sometimes prey on goats, horses and yaks in local herders' homes, which in turn triggers retaliatory killings by herders. Some poisoning or traps targeting other species (such as wolves, Himalayan musk deer, etc.) may also accidentally kill snow leopards.

In addition, poaching and habitat loss are also the main reasons why large cats such as snow leopards are threatened.

To this end, my country began to protect rare wild animals in the 1980s, and carried out publicity among the public to reduce conflicts between humans and animals. At the same time, a number of protected areas were established to increase protection efforts. Among them, Sanjiangyuan National Park, Qilian Mountains National Park, Mount Everest National Nature Reserve, Tomur Peak National Nature Reserve and other places are all shelters for snow leopards.

Image source: Second Qinghai-Tibet Expedition Team

It is worth mentioning that snow leopards have also been spotted in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan, which is known to be the "territory" of giant pandas. However, the two do not interfere with each other. They live on the same mountain but in different environments. Compared with giant pandas, the snow leopard's habitat is at a higher altitude, and the relationship between them is more like "a brother sleeping on the upper bunk".

Image source: References in this article [3] Screenshot of the paper

With the gradual establishment of nature reserves, I believe that such joint protection work will become more and more mature, and snow leopards will tell the miracle of life together with all living things.

References:

【1】Liu Yanjiang, Li Xueyang, Liang Xuchang, Liu Yanlin, Cheng Chen, Li Juan, Tang Piaopiao, Qi Huiyuan, Bian Xiaoxing, He Bing, Xing Rui, Li Sheng, Shi Xiaogang, Yang Chuangming, Xue Yadong, Lian Xinming, Awang Jiumei, Xie Rannima, Song Dazhao, Xiao Lingyun, Lü Zhi (2019) “Where” and “How many”? Snow leopard surveys and gaps in China. Biodiversity Science, 27, 919-931. DOI: 10.17520/biods.2019027.

【2】Li Jun, Ma Yuewei, Jiang Nan, et al. Research progress in snow leopard conservation biology[J]. Journal of Wildlife Science, 2020, 41(3):10.

【3】Tang Zhuo, Yang Jian, Liu Xuehua, et al. Study on snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan Province based on infrared camera technology[J]. Biodiversity Science, 2017, 25(001):62-70.DOI:10.17520/biods.2016313.

【4】Snow_leopard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_leopard

Author: Fish

Winner of the Silver Award for Outstanding Science Popularization Works of China Science Writers Association

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