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Snow leopards hunt long distances and often follow a certain route around an area. It takes many days to return the same way, and they generally prefer to walk at night and rarely come out during the day, or lie on the bare rocks in the mountains to bask in the sun.

It is most active at dusk or dawn, and there are certain routes up and down the mountain, mostly through ridges and valleys. He does not like to walk in shrubs and forests, nor does he like to walk on open slopes and soft snow, and often walks along the trails that have been stepped out.

It was not uncommon for me and the old ghost to encounter this snow leopard, and we didn't know if it came back from foraging, or if it went out to forage and we bumped into it.

If it's foraging for food, that's fine. But if we're hungry at the moment, we're in danger. When this animal is hungry, it becomes extremely ferocious.

However, looking at its current situation, it does not look like a state of hunger. If we were hungry, we would have pounced on us by now.

Snow leopards are generally nocturnal, with early morning and dusk as the peak of predation and activity. Solitary, nocturnal, active in the morning and dusk.

They have keen senses, are alert, agile, and are good at climbing and jumping.

Because its thick tail acts as a "rudder" to grasp the direction, it can turn in the air when jumping, so it has a strong ability to hunt. Fierce and abnormal, but generally does not actively attack people in the wild.

Snow leopards are very resistant to cold because they are covered with thick fluff all over their bodies, and they can move in the wild even when the temperature is in the mid-20s. The cry is similar to a howl, not like a lion or a tiger.

The snow leopard's relatively long, thick tail becomes a distinctive feature that distinguishes it from other similar species. This long tail is covered with dense fluffy hairs with markings. The tip of the tail can be wound into a circular knot, and when it is hard, it is like a steel whip.

Some individuals have a habit of coiling their tails because their tails are too thick, forming a curly circle.

In addition to helping the snow leopard maintain balance when climbing slopes and running fast in mountain environments, the tail can also cover his mouth and nose to keep warm while he sleeps in cold environments.

Meantime. The snow leopard has a larger nasal cavity to warm the cold air it inhales. They have many biological traits that grow in cold mountainous areas, they have a thick body, thick hair, and small ears, all of which help to reduce body heat dissipation.

The snow leopard's iris is yellowish-green and shrinks into a round shape when exposed to strong light. The snow leopard also has large, fury feet with wider forefeet than hind feet.

The snow leopard's big feet act like snow boots, distributing the pressure of body weight on the snow and not sinking too deep on the soft snow, which is helpful for walking in the snow.

The hairs on the soles of the feet, in addition to increasing friction on steep or unstable snow surfaces. It also reduces body heat lost from the soles of the feet. In general, the toes have sharp, keratinized claws.

Snow leopards usually live solitary and only live in pairs around the time of estrus. There are generally fixed nests, located in rock caves, rock recesses, stone crevices or bushes under rocks, mostly on sunny slopes, and often do not leave a nest for several years.

There is often a lot of body hair shed by snow leopards in the nest. When patrolling, it is also used as a temporary resting place on the bushes or rocks. Because the coat color and pattern are particularly harmonious with the surrounding environment, it forms a good hidden color, which is difficult to find.

I remember. I've read about the habits of leopards in Animal World, I guess. They share common habits with snow leopards:

It is mainly ambush-style hunting unique to felines, supplemented by short-distance rapid pursuit. Hunts goats, rock goats, impalas, deer, and also eats small animals such as squirrels and hares, or marmots to satisfy hunger.

Sometimes they also attack yak herds and bite down stragglers. There is a relatively fixed place of residence, and natural caves are mostly used during the nursery period.

At dusk, the rock sheep begin to leave the rocks to forage in the meadows, while the snow leopards follow the herd. They often prey on rock sheep by surprise attacks, biting their throats and killing them.

The snow leopard is extremely brave and good at jumping on mountain rocks. They curl up and hide between rocks, and when their prey passes by, they suddenly jump up and attack.

When you can't find food in winter. They go to the low mountains to steal human livestock and poultry. The snow leopard is fierce and alert, with a keen sense of smell and hearing.

Slow and dexterous movements, good at jumping; A ditch about five meters wide jumped over. From the ground, you can leap up to two or three meters high rocks.

When hunting, they often adopt ambush or sneak attack methods, and often hide near areas or paths where wild sheep live, because the pattern and color on its body are similar to those of bare rock patches, wild sheep are difficult to identify.

When the sheep approached, it suddenly jumped up and pounced on its prey with a few jumps in succession with its agile and agile body. Generally, the abdomen and internal organs are eaten first, then the muscles, and finally the head. When eating, it squats like a kitten and grabs the meat with its front paws, tearing and biting with its molars.

In the cold and barren mountainous areas, the snow leopard mainly feeds on highland animals such as ibex, rock goat, argali, etc., and it also hunts some small species such as rabbits, marmots or rats, and also likes to eat birds such as snowcocks, horse pheasants and red pheasants in the mountains. When food is scarce, sneak into villages or pastures to steal livestock and poultry.

On June 22, 1960, in the Wula Mountains of Inner Mongolia, a snow leopard scurried into the herd of sheep that was grazing, dragged a sheep away, and then trampled on it to capture it.

Another snow leopard caught near Pole Rick in the Tarim Basin subway in Xinjiang was also caught because it injured several domestic sheep.

Snow leopards can also attack large livestock when they are very hungry, and a snow leopard once attacked a herd of cattle in Gansu. In winter, due to the lack of food, they move to the lower mountains, and the field of activity is quite large.

The snow leopard is a rock-dwelling animal in the highlands. It often inhabits the mountains at an altitude of 2500~5000 meters. In summer, it can be seen on the high mountains of 3000~6000 meters, and in winter, it mostly drops to 2000~3500 meters with the migration of food.

In other words, where we are now, at least above 2,500 meters above sea level. However, some snow leopards still live in the mountains at an altitude of 5,000 meters in winter, and a snow leopard was seen near the 5,300-meter alpine camp during an expedition on the north face of Mount Everest.

Snow leopards generally inhabit open, rocky areas. Snow leopards have been seen on the summit ridge of the Qilian Mountains from 4,500 meters below to 4,100 meters above, on the 5,400-meter-high snow on the north slope of Mount Everest. Because it often interacts with the snow near the snow line, it is called the "snow leopard".

It has a dense underfleece underneath its long hair. Able to withstand severe wind chills. The bushes between the foot pads and the pads can be anti-slip and frost-resistant on the ice and snow, and can insulate the heat and prevent the burning when the mountains are hot and the sun radiates on the rocks in summer.

It rarely goes into the woods or shrubs, and although a snow leopard has been caught in the reeds, this is a rare phenomenon.

Not all snow leopards live at high altitudes or in the mountains, and the snow leopards in the Wula Mountains (up to 2,185 meters), about 10 kilometers west of Baotou in Inner Mongolia, live at about 1,000 meters all year round. There are also grassland areas that live at an altitude of 600~1500 meters.

According to expeditions in the 1990s, many small groups of snow leopards were found in Siberia, Mongolia, northern China and northeastern Kazakhstan. Distributed as islands, they are isolated by hundreds of kilometers of taiga, thick winter snow and deserts.

The area of the death zone here is significantly larger than that of the life zone, and the survival of these populations as a whole depends on the protection of the individual separated "cores" and the possibility of spatial contact between them.

Even under the most extreme conditions, snow leopards are still found not only in the areas where records were recorded 100~200 years ago, but also in areas that were not known before.

The Tibetan Plateau and the Pamir Plateau in China are the main distribution areas of the snow leopard. In Qinghai, the total number of snow leopards is about 650, and with the Kunlun Mountains and Hoh Xil in northwest Qinghai, it is estimated that there will be no fewer than 1,000 snow leopards in Qinghai.

Snow leopards have a high economic value. So it has always been the object of hunting and killing. In particular, because it has a fixed route, poachers can catch it by burying iron traps in the path they must pass, leading to the endangerment of its population.

At the same time, the decline in the number of rock sheep has also caused disaster for the snow leopard, a population that survives by preying on rock sheep.

China has caught it near the Andil poplar forest in the hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang and in the reeds in Yuli County.

The most recent recorded capture was in December 2007 when villagers in Qijia Village, Qiji Township, Gonghe County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, captured an adult female snow leopard, aged between 5 and 6 years.

The snow leopard is still found in at least some isolated mountain ranges in China's Yinshan and Taikang Mountains and in a range of areas in southern Siberia. The Yinshan and Taikang Mountains are located in the south or southeast of the Gobi and are separated from the main distribution area of the snow leopard. So far, no one has been able to explain why snow leopards live in these areas.

In recent years, China has established a number of nature reserves in areas where snow leopards are distributed, such as the Dongdashan Nature Reserve in Gansu Province and the Tashkurgan Nature Reserve in Xinjiang. In 1992, China hosted the 7th International Symposium on Snow Leopards, which played a role in promoting the conservation and scientific study of snow leopards.

The snow leopard is the most representative species in the Alpine Highlands of Asia, and an international action plan is being implemented to protect the snow leopard so that it can be well protected and thus able to protect the fauna and ecosystems of the entire alpine region.

The Convention on Endangered Species of Wild Animals (CITES) lists the snow leopard as an Appendix I species, prohibiting it from international trade.

1980 year. The Chinese government's draft Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection and Administration of Wild Fauna and Flora listed the snow leopard as a Class II protected animal, and in 1988, the List of Wild Animals under National Key Protection was officially promulgated as a Class I protected object.

In recent years, a number of nature reserves have been established or prepared in areas where snow leopards are distributed, such as Dongdashan Nature Reserve (Gansu) and Tashkurgan Nature Reserve (Xinjiang).

In 1992, China hosted the 7th International Symposium on Snow Leopards to protect and scientifically study snow leopards in China. It has played a positive role in promoting.

In Tibet, the snow leopard range is at least twice that of Qinghai, and with Gansu, Xinjiang and northwestern Sichuan, it is estimated that the total number of snow leopards in the country is around 2,000~3,000. (A good event for pie in the sky, cool mobile phones are waiting for you!) Follow from ~ point / official account (WeChat add friends - add official account - enter dd), participate now! Everyone has a prize, now pay attention to the dd WeChat public account! (To be continued......)