Unusual throughout

Snow leopard is a big cat living in the snow mountains and having close resemblance to the leopard, though more fluffy and long tailed. Based on a number of biological characteristics the snow leopard might be positioned close to the big cats of Panthera genus, whose representative it was considered until recently (some zoologists still refer it to the Panthera). Even on the back of the ears there are typical "mirrors" - white spots on a black background, just like a tiger or a leopard has.  One of the Mongolian collectible silver coins has an image of the snow leopard named – Panthera uncia. But even though the snow leopard some times growls like leopard, it is unique and is in a class by itself. That is why most of zoologists consider it belongs to the Uncia genus (Uncia uncia (Shreber, 1775) where only one animal belongs – the snow leopard, with no sub-species or color variations. Old Mongolian name Irbis (Irvis) sounds differently in different languages. In Tuva language it sounds Irbish, in Kyrgyz language – Ilbirs and means a snow cat.  Besides in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan the snow leopard is often called Barys – Bars, in Tatarstan – Ak-Bars (white bars). In Chingiz Aitmatov’s last book the snow leopard is named Zhaabars (fast as an arrow). In other countries the snow leopard has variety of names.  The IUCN/Cat Specialist Group web site provides the following information on the names of the snow leopard in different languages: in China - Xue Bao or Ai Ye Bao; in Bhutan – Chen; in Pakistan - Ikar, or in Urdu language - Barfani Chita; in India (in Hindi  - Bharal He,  in Ladakh dialect – Shan); in Nepal - Hiu Chituwa; in French - Lеopard des Neiges, Panthеre des Neiges, Once; in Spanish - Pantera de las Nieves, Leopardo Nival, Leopardo das Neves, Leopardo de las Nieves; in Afghan (in Dari dialect - Palang-I-Barfi (Berfy); in German – Schneeleopard; in English - Snow Leopard or Ounce; and in Latin - Uncia uncia.

The size of this cat is almost similar to the sizes of the common leopard: 100 – 130 cm (31-39 inch) from the tail head to the tip of the nose. But the snow leopard has the longest tail that is of the same size as the body - 90-110 sm., which differs it from any other cat. Long fluffy tail serves for balancing when the snow leopard jumps from rock to rock or on a prey (just like the squirrel uses its tail). During the flying leap the snow leopard flattens in the air like a flying squirrel. The snow leopard is quite squat if compared to other big cats. His height at withers is 60 cm (24 inches). It weights 35 - 55 kg (75 maximum) or 55-165 pounds. Females have the smaller size and weight. The color does not have the sexual dimorphism.

The leaping length of the snow leopard is impressive; it can reach 12-15 meters.  Maksim Zverev told us about the meeting of the snow leopard by the workers who constructed the sports facilities in Zailiski Alatau close to Almaty: - “One of the workers found a snow leopard sleeping on the flat rock and called other workers to look at it.  When a group of people was staring at the snow leopard it woke up, looked around, yawned, stretched as all cats do, and flied up to the next rock right from the spot. Then it slowly walked up the hill, not even looking back. The people were shocked by the distance of his jump and measured it. That was unbelievable – the jump without taking a run was 12 meters! The workers observed that the snow leopard did not show any aggressive sign, it did not even grinned, and was apathetic to people”. This mysterious feature of the snow leopard behavior - no fear of man- became one of the reasons of extermination of this unique cat.

When caught an adult snow leopard often becomes tame, not to mention the cubs. But even if the animal does not look friendly towards the people and grumbles or snorts, it will never act aggressively towards them. This powerful predator in the wild life will never attack the first.  Though it hunts big prey like Maral deer, mountain ox - yak, or even Tian-Shan’s bear. The numerous interviews with the people who met the snow leopard in its habitats (and also the literature evidences) proved that when meeting people the snow leopard always goes away or disappear long before a man can see it.  The only signs of discontent may be grinning, growling and nervous wiggling of the tail tip. But usually the snow leopard sees a man before a man sees the cat and goes away. Young animals can observe a man with a curiosity and the last stays unaware of his being observed.  The snow leopard can also accompany people on their way along the paths for several kilometers hiding behind the rocks, just like domestic cats do when playing. Well known Kazakhstans archaeologist Beken Nurmuhambetov told us a story about his meeting with the snow leopard.  He was walking along a mountain path examining one of the gorges of the eastern part of Zailiisky Alatau, and suddenly he felt someone staring at himself; he looked around and saw curious eyes looking at him from the top of the rocks. “Yes, It is a snow leopard!”, – Beken thought.  But he did not feel any fear. He observed a young curious cat and walked away. So this small snow leopard accompanied him a few kilometers keeping a distance and occasionally peeping out from behind the rocks.

And here is a recent story. An amazing meeting with the snow leopard happened in Dzhungarsky Alatau in Korinski canyon located about 30 kilometers away from Tekeli town. On the 11^th of January (Nature Reserve Day) Renat Minibayev who live in Tekeli went to his friend beekeeper A.G. Chuprynov living in the mountains to celebrate his birthday. Renat is a good skier and waked 25 km per day! Next day he decided to take a ski walk to the canyon together with his dog Druzhok. On his way back after a long walk when passing the iced river he suddenly noticed a motion at his side.  Someone grey outrun him.  He stopped and could not believe his own eyes – this was a snow leopard.  The dog began barking at a wild animal. The snow leopard was standing under the spruce, grinning and growling at the dog, but did not try to attack it. Renat was scared and threw the firecrackers left in his pocket after the New Year celebration.  The snow leopard did not show any reaction. It looked huge, especially compared to a dog, but it looked harmless. When the snow leopard calmed down and lay on the snow, squinting in the sun as a domestic cat, Renat remembered that he had his son’s portable camera. He hurried to take pictures of the animal one after another.  Renat said that he even fell in love with this mighty and beautiful wild cat during this amazing photo-session. Ha took over 30 pictures of the snow leopard, some of which were taken at a meter and a half distance! This was unbelievable!

The snow leopard that usually lives in high mountains was seen by a man in the spruce forest. This can happen only in winter when it comes down to the forest where it is easier to hunt and vary the diet with the forest animals (for example, roe deer). The most unusual about this meeting was that the snow leopard did not hide or go away from the man and the dog, but conversely, looked playful and sociable, which is obviously seen on the pictures. Even after the man and the dog walked away along the path the magnificent cat stayed by the river and looked at them as if saying good bye. Such an incautious behavior of the snow leopard might be partially explained by the breeding season that has just started.   The breeding season starts in January and lasts until beginning of March. During this period all cats become incautious, playful, and gentle.

This story one more time proves the fact that the snow leopard never attacks people and is not dangerous. Aggressiveness of this animal was only observed when its life was threatened by the poachers and when it has to protect itself from the cruel behavior of the human being, for example, when trapped it can be very dangerous and can injure the aggressor. Unfortunately, almost 50 percent of cases of meeting with a human being outside the protected areas are fatal for the snow leopard.  Dzhungarsky Alatau has a unique mountain biodiversity that is not currently protected, which should be addressed through establishment of the Nature Reserve as soon as possible. The snow leopard that came out to a man with no fear was confident that this is a good man who loves the nature, which proves the need for setting up a Reserve to protect it. Over the last decades there were no registered cases of meeting the snow leopard in this area, neighboring the East Kazakhstan and China.  

A week later after the described event Renat sent the pictures to “Caravan” newspaper and described the meeting with the snow leopard. The journalists contacted the Director of the “Snow Leopard Fund” Oleg Loginov for comments on this case and gave Renat’s contacts.  Oleg called him and listened to his story in details. Renat often meets different animals in the mountains, but this was the first meeting with the snow leopard and he could see him so closely.

As we mentioned above, unlike the snow leopard, other big cats, including tiger, leopard, and even lynx can be dangerous.  This is the main secret of this animal. Being aware of this feature, the experienced hunter and herders do not consider this trophy as a big luck.   Though people thought of the snow leopard hunters as brave and valiant people and looked at the snow leopard skins on the wall with admiration.  In 30- 40^th years the writer Georgi Tushkan had a snow leopard skin on the wall of his office that he brought from Pamir, where the author of the well known novel “Dzhura” killed the animal. Georgi Tushkan worked in the research expedition in Kyrgyzstan – Tajikistan borderline area. He enjoined hunting and later wrote a thrilling novel. He might be a brave and accurate shooter. At that time the snow leopards were considered harmful and dangerous predator. But the truth was that they usually died from the blow on the head while being trapped and not from the bullet. This can hardly be called an act of bravery; it more looks like meanness. Thus, the stories about the “forced” killing of the snow leopard to protect the life are nothing more than justification of one’s cowardice and cruelty.

The issue of the snow leopard attacking the cattle is more complicated.  The snow leopard is a strong animal, it is panther’s close relative.  For example, the snow leopard has eaten the goat of a beekeeper A.G. Chuprynov, who lived in Korinski canyon of Dzhungarsky Alatau. This happened 15 years ago in the full view of a man. Fortunately enough, this man was not a hunter or a herder, who usually have the gun. In such situations they often simply kill the animal. The snow leopard usually attacks the cattle in the places where the hunters deprive the snow leopard of its natural fodder through decreased populations of its main prey, thus, provoking the attacks on domestic animals. The cattle are not the main food of the snow leopard. The natural prey of the snow leopard are wild mountain goats, and sheep of different species, rarely marmots and other rodents, very seldom roe deer, musk deer and even yaks.  People intruded into the natural food chain of the snow leopard and became a food competitor together with their herds, dogs, guns, and vehicles.   And finally from the competitor a human being turns into a worst enemy, deciding the fate of the snow leopard without “consulting” the IUCN, CITES, and local environmental agencies.  And sometimes the herders simply stole the sheep and blamed the snow leopard or the wolves on it, because in those remote locations no one can check or prove the reverse.

The inspector of the Almaty Reserve Altynbek Janyspayev told us about the case of snow leopard attacking the yak. – This happened not far from the reserve on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. During the helicopter flight around the territory to estimate the ungulates populations, the Reserve staff decided to land near herders’ stand on alpine meadow to ask questions about their meetings with the wild animals. Altynbek was told about this incident by the yak herders, but they did not mention that they killed the snow leopard. But he guessed that after finding the scull in the bushes. The Kyrgyz herders killed the snow leopard and ate the yak.  

The snow leopard has a beautiful sick fur of a silver color with the scattered black spots of irregular form resembling the smoke rings.  Living in the midst of eternal snows where the temperatures are low throughout the year, the snow leopard has as thick fur as the polar bear. The snow leopard is never cold in the arctic climate of high mountains, and it can sleep for a day and night lying on the ice or permafrost rocks. 

This cat is called a snow leopard in English language literature, because it resembles the leopard by appearance. In the old pre-revolutionary times in Russia both of them were called leopards (bars). One of them was a snow leopard and lived far away in inaccessible mountains (Tyan-Shan) and was poorly studied, and the other was an ordinary leopard and was met in Caucasus and in Persia. Remember “Mtsyri” by Lermontov: - “As a desert leopard wild and dangerous …”. This is true; the “desert leopard” or the West Asian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana) is really “dangerous and wild”. This leopard [bars] can be very aggressive and dangerous for people. A photographer from Almaty Oleg Belyalov has experienced such behavior by being attacked by the leopard in Turkmenia.   The “desert leopard” is still can be met there but very rarely. The scars always remind him on this meeting and the only thing that helped him out safe and alive was that he did not fall on the ground and leaned back on the prickly branches of the pistachios bush and used his camera as a weapon.  Besides, after his companion V. Morozov approached the scene the leopard moved back and disappeared.  This happened close to the place where BBC was shooting the episodes for the David Attenborough film about the nature of the Central Asia. The film makers were impressed that Belyalov managed to see this rare animal so close; they could not even find the traces of leopard. But Oleg was disappointed because he could not make any pictures. 

Another leopard, the one living in the forest that is also very rare and is met in Primorski Krai of Russia – Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis).  Unlike the snow leopard these leopards do not climb high up in the mountains; they prefer forested foothills and river valleys. These leopards are good tree climbers and sometimes they hide their prey high up on the trees so that jackals and wolves could not get it.  The snow leopard never do so, it sometimes climb up the fallen or bending big trees and never hide its prey on it.

Mainly, the snow leopard is a loner hunter, but sometimes the couple can move around together especially during the mating period, which lasts from mid January until the beginning of March.  During this period one can hear the night “serenades” in their habitats, just like domestic cats, but in more bass tones.  Here is a description of the mating games of the snow leopard in Sayano-Shushinski Reserve by zoologist B.P. Zavatski, - “During the mating dance the couple goes down on the flat ice of the floodplain or river and stays there for a long time. On this flat ground they are playing, sliding, running, and catching each other. We called these places mating grounds. There are four such grounds in the Reserve. The size of the mating ground is about 10m x 15 m. We studied all traces of the snow leopard at different paces around the grounds. We found the traces at a slow pace, at a trot, and a lot of traces at a gallop. The width of a slow step is about 15-20 cm.  In general the width of a step of the snow leopard varies from 40-50 cm to 60-90 cm depending on the speed.  When the snow leopard runs at a trot the footprints are almost straight, resembling those of the fox.  In three locations they found the scat of the snow leopard, consisting of twigs with buds and leaves of  Rhododendron daurica. We think that the males eat this plant to stimulate the sexual activity, just like bear males during the mating period eat only the flowers of Oxytropis sp. and Hedisarum sp.”.

The pregnancy period of the snow leopard lasts 90 - 105 days, and they usually deliver from one to 5 cubs. But most often the snow leopard delivers 2 cubs that are usually born from the third decade of April until the beginning of June.  So all snow leopard are Taurus by the sign of the Zodiac. The cubs are born blind and only on the ninth day they open the eyes.  When they grow up, they can accompany their mother during the hunting.   Mother teaches the young snow leopards all the tricks of substantive life in the severe wilderness of high mountains, hunting skills in the rocks and ice. Snow leopards reach sexual maturity at two years, but still looked after by their mother until the age of 2 years and 8 months, when the next "wedding season" comes.  After that age the young snow leopards gradually become independent. Sometimes young animals can hunt in a group of 3-5 individuals (Schaller, 1998). But this is not a typical group like a pack of wolves or a pride of lions; the snow leopard is an individual animal.

The snow leopard hunts quite a variety of prey; it includes not only the mountain goats Ibex (Сapra sibirica). The name of the “goats’ herder” used for the snow leopard is not really true. The snow leopard hunts several species of the mountain sheep (argali, аrkhar (Marco Polo sheep), blue sheep - bharal, urial) and other ungulates: goral, takin, thar and serou. Depending on the habitat and the availability of the prey, the menu of the snow leopard may include some other species of the ungulates: screw-horned goat - markhor, maral, roe deer, musk deer. And the smaller prey: woodchucks, gophers, hares, pikas and even birds such as kekliks and ulars. The snow leopard also attacks the domestic animals, not only sheep and goats, but also yaks, cows, and horses. But usually this happens in the habitats where the populations of the natural prey of the snow leopard have dropped significantly due to extensive hunting and also due to overgrazing at the mountain pastures.

Within its habitat in the high mountains the snow leopard does not have the food competitors. Large predators in the tropics and subtropics, such as tigers, leopards, ordinary and smoky, and wolves (red wolves) in the southern part of the habitat live and hunt in the lower forest habitats of the plains and foothills. Only in Sayans and Mongolia, where the snow leopard can live at a medium altitude, wolves and lynx might be its competitor. But the cases of direct confrontation are not known.  In Tien-Shan Mountains there was a case when the snow leopard went down to the cordon in the forest. This story we heard  from Maksim Zverev who learnt it from the inspector of the Almaty Reserve Petrenko: - “A very old snow leopard climbed on the roof of the barn at the cordon. The inspector was out in the forest. His wife heard the noise went out of the barn and saw the snow leopard. The animal was old, weak, with a shabby skin. The snow leopard was not aggressive and she kicked it out. But the animal did not go far. It lay under the tree and slept.  When the inspector came back home in the evening he slaughtered the chicken and gave to the snow leopard.   In the morning the snow leopard was gone and the chicken was not there. The snow leopard never showed up again. And some time later the inspector decided to track its way and went up the mountains following its traces. Soon he found the remains of the snow leopard that was torn by wolves. But this was surprising that the old animal managed to kill several wolves before it dies, their bodies were there.  Therefore, wolves never attack an adult and strong individual, even when it descends to the lower lands. It is a strong animal able to confront anyone in the mountains, with the only exception - armed human being.

Despite the vast habitat of the snow leopard with the area over two million square kilometers, it does not have subspecies. The specimens from the southern and northern parts of the area are the same.  It should be mentioned that the geographical variability of this species and its genetics are not sufficiently studied.  But the only thing has no doubt – all habitats of the snow leopard have the same severe climate conditions typical for the high altitudes; all habitats have the same food opportunities and other similar factors that impact the variability of a species.  For example, leopard has even larger and scattered habitats.  This cat has several subspecies with the noticeable differences in features; they live in the different climate zones - from the severe Russian Far East to the warm areas in South Africa and Asia, including the hot equatorial zone. The fur of the Far East leopard is more fluffy and less vivid in color than that of the African leopard, and it has more resemblance to the snow leopard. The snow leopard inhabits only the areas of the so called climate snow line that in Nepal and India locates on much higher altitudes than in Sayans and Altai. But the climate and ecological conditions of the snow line areas are similar no matter the mountain system and altitude.   Therefore, the snow leopard is unique in its kind, as zoologists say: it refers to the monotypic genus which has no subspecies and color variations like melanotic forms of leopard - a black panther or albino leopard (tiger, lion).