Snow leopard or Irbis: 35+ photos, where it lives in Russia, content

One of the world’s most fascinating and elusive big cats is the snow leopard, sometimes referred to as the irbis. This magnificent creature, with its striking spotted coat and thick fur, fits in perfectly with the untamed mountains of Central Asia. Less than 7,000 snow leopards are thought to survive in the wild today, despite their stunning appearance.

The irbis inhabits the far-flung and expansive areas of Siberia in Russia. It does well in high-altitude regions where not many other animals can make it. These habitats, which range from the Sayans to the Altai Mountains, offer this rare predator the ideal setting.

This post will examine the life of the snow leopard in Russia in more detail, including its habitat and over 35 stunning images of this stunning animal in its native habitat.

Characteristic	Details
Scientific name	Panthera uncia
Habitat in Russia	Altai, Sayan Mountains, and Eastern Siberia
Conservation status	Vulnerable
Diet	Mountain ungulates (ibex, argali), small mammals
Average lifespan	10-12 years in the wild
Photos available	35+
Unique traits	Long tail, thick fur, adapted to cold climates

History of the discovery of the Irbis species

Old French, the language that was originally used to refer to the European lynx, is the source of both the random English term "Ounce" and the Latinized specific epithet uncia. The name of the species came from a fictitious split from an earlier variant of the lynx, lonce, which was taken to mean l’once, where l’ is a shortened form of the French definite article la, which is equivalent to "the" in English. Similar to the English name "Ounce," this one also eventually became associated with other cats the size of lynxes, as well as the Snow Leopard.

The word "panther" originates from the ancient Greek word πάνθηρ and is derived from the classical Latin panthera. Go through the panther article.

The Snow Leopard’s names through time:

• "Felis uncia" was the scientific name used by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1777 when describing the Snow Leopard, based on an earlier characterization by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, suggesting that the cat originated in Barbary, Persia, East India and China.
• "Ounce" was proposed by John Edward Gray in 1854, who grouped the Asian cats with a long, thick tail into this genus.
• The name "Felis irbis" was introduced by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1830, a scientist described the skin of a female Snow Leopard found in the Altai Mountains in Siberia. He also explained that some leopard skins had previously been misidentified as Irbis skins.
• Felis uncioides was proposed by Thomas Horsfield in 1855 for a Snow Leopard skin donated to the East India Company Museum.
• The name "Uncia uncia" was used by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1930 when he reviewed skins and skulls of panther species from Asia. He also described morphological differences between leopard (P. pardus) and Snow Leopard skins.
• The name "Panthera baikalensis-romanii" was proposed by a Russian scientist in 2000 to describe a dark brown Snow Leopard from the Petrovsko-Zabaikalsky region of southern Transbaikalia.

The genus Panthera superseded the Irbis according to phylogenetic analyses. Named Panthera uncia nowadays.

Three subspecies should be recognized, according to the findings of a phylogeographic study that was published in September 2017: P. u. uncia in the Pamir Mountains, P. u. uncioides in the Himalayas and Qinghai, and P. u. irbis in Mongolia.

Using DNA sequences taken from living cats, phylogenetic analysis places the snow leopard and tiger in a sister group. This group’s estimated genetic divergence time is between 4.62-1.82 million years.

Between 3.7 and 2.7 million years ago, the snow leopard and tiger most likely split apart. Most likely, northern Central Asia is where the panther first appeared. The earliest known species of Panthera is Panthera blytheae, discovered during excavations in western Tibet, Ngarei. Snow leopard-like features can be found in the skull specimens from these excavations.

According to a 2016 study, snow leopard ancestors may have hybridized with lion and leopard genes at some point in their evolutionary history, as evidenced by the greater similarity between the mitochondrial genomes of snow leopards, lions, and leopards than between their nuclear genomes.

Mr. Cat recommends: description, characteristics

The snow leopard has whitish to gray fur with black spots on its head and neck; however, its back, sides, and fluffy tail have larger rosettes. The abdomen is pale.

He has gray or light green eyes. The animal has a convex forehead and a short muzzle. There are big nasal cavities. The hairs range in length from 5 to 12 cm, and the fur is dense.

Compared to other cats in the Panthera genus, irbis have a slightly smaller body and short legs. Cats can grow from 75 to 150 cm in length from the base of their tail to their peak height of 56 cm at the withers. The length of the snow cat’s tail ranges from 80 to 105 cm.

The weight range of an ibis is 22–55 kg; a large male can occasionally weigh up to 75 kg, and a small female weighs less than 25 kg.

The predator’s teeth are longer than those of other panther species, reaching a length of 28.6 mm. The Irbis has large nasal openings in relation to the length of the skull and the width of the palate. This allows for an increase in the volume of air that is inhaled while also warming and humidifying cold, dry air.

The snow leopard exhibits a number of traits that help it survive in the chilly alpine climate. Heat loss is reduced by his tiny, rounded ears. In addition to having fur on the underside of the foot pads to improve traction on steep and unstable surfaces and reduce heat loss, the wide paws of the animal provide good body weight distribution when walking on snow.

The snow cat’s long, flexible tail aids in balance when navigating rocky terrain. Because of the fat buildup and dense fur covering, it is exceptionally thick and serves as a blanket for the irbis to protect its face while it sleeps.

Where the Snow Leopard lives in Russia and other places

The number of snow leopards living in the wild before 2003 ranged from 4,080 to 6,500. The population of the cat was estimated to be between 4,678 and 8,745 in 2016, suggesting that there were more snow leopards overall than previously believed.

Country	Habitat area, km 2	Estimated population populations
Afghanistan	50,000	50-200
Bhutan	15,000	100-200
China	1,100,000	4,500
India	75000	516-524
Kazakhstan	50,000	100-120
Kyrgyzstan	105,000	300-400
Mongolia	101,000	1000
Nepal	30,000	300-400
Pakistan	80,000	250
Altai-Sayan region, Russia	20,000	70-90
Tajikistan	100,000	250-280
Uzbekistan	10,000	30-120

The snow leopard ranges in elevation from 3,000 to 4,500 meters in the alpine and subalpine zones, from eastern Afghanistan to Mongolia and western China. The animal also inhabits lower altitudes in the northern countries that make up its range.

West of Lake Baikal, through southern Siberia, the Kunlun, Altai, Sayan, and Tanna-Ole mountains, the Tien Shan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, to the Hindu Kush in eastern Afghanistan, the Karakoram in northern Pakistan, the Pamir Mountains, and at high altitudes of the Himalayas in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Tibetan Plateau, is where the Russian population of Irbis is dispersed.

It is found in Mongolia in the Khangai, Gobi, and Mongolian Altai mountains. It is found all the way up to Altyn-Tagh in Tibet.

Less than 90,000 square kilometers are thought to be the snow leopard’s potential habitat in the Indian Himalaya, which includes the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. Of that area, 34,000 square kilometers are thought to be good habitat, and 14.4% is protected. About 200–600 snow leopards were thought to be living in 25 protected areas in India at the beginning of the 1990s.

During the summer, snow leopards typically inhabit rocky and mountain grasslands at elevations of 2,700 to 6,000 meters, above the tree line. They descend into forests in the winter, at an elevation of roughly 1,200–2,000 meters.

Although they prefer to follow other animals’ trails, snow leopards can adapt easily to rocky, rough terrain and can navigate through snow up to 85 cm deep.

Utilizing camera traps, snow leopards have been observed in 16 different locations within the remote Wakhan Corridor located in northeastern Afghanistan.

Today, the following protected areas are home to snow leopards:

• Pakistan – national parks: Chitral Gol in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Karakoram and Khanjerab in Gilgit-Baltistan, Deosai, as well as Naltar Wildlife Sanctuary and several other protected areas, the area of ​​which is less than 300 km².
• India – national parks: Hemis, Kishtwar, Dachigam, Pin Valley, Greater Himalayas, Nanda Devi, Gangotri, Valley of Flowers; Nature Reserves: Gulmarg, Khirpora, Overa-Aru, Kibber, and some others.
• Nepal – Apite Nampu Nature Reserve, Dhorpatan Game Reserve, Shey Phoksundo, Annapurna, and other national parks.
• Bhutan – Jigme Dorji National Park, Wangchuk Centennial National Park, Bumdeling Nature Reserve.
• China – Qomolangma and Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserves on the Tibetan Plateau and Qilianshan in the Qilian Mountains, Tomur National Nature Reserve in the western Tian Shan Mountains.
• Uzbekistan – Chatkal State Nature Reserve, Zaamin and Ugam-Chatkal National Parks, Gissar National Reserve.
• Kazakhstan – Aksu-Zhabagly Nature Reserve.
• Kyrgyzstan – Sarychat-Ertash State Nature Reserve, Sary-Chelek State Biosphere Reserve, Besh-Tash National Nature Park, Kyrgyz-Ata and Karakol National Parks, Chychkan State Sanctuary.
• Tajikistan – Tajik National Park.
• Russia – Katunsky Nature Reserve, Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve.
• Mongolia – Altai-Tavan-Bogd, Tsambagarav-Uul, Khara-Us-Nur and Gobi-Gurvan-Saikhan National Parks.

Features of Irbis Behavior

The vocalizations of a snow leopard include moaning, growling, grunting, and meowing. Although the animal’s hyoid bone is partially fossilized, it can purr when it exhales but cannot roar.

Researchers once thought that panther cats couldn’t roar because of their incomplete ossification, but more recent studies have shown that roaring is dependent on other laryngeal morphological traits that aren’t present in snow leopards.

Snow leopards are solitary creatures that hang out in the same spot as their family members. Predator activity peaks in the late afternoon and early evening, then again in the dawn to early morning.

The predators find cover and observation points from the rocks and ridges where they rest. Five adult snow leopards were radio-located in Nepal’s Shey Phoksundo National Park, despite their infrequent encounters. The areas of their homes varied from 12 to 39 km².

Measured in straight lines between survey points, males traveled between 0.5 and 5.45 km per day, and females between 0.2 and 2.25 km; however, in steep terrain, they frequently zigzag. They can, nevertheless, travel up to 7 km in a single night.

Snow leopards mark their territories and general travel routes with scent, just like other wild cats do. They mark most frequently by using their hind legs to scrape the ground before urinating, but they can also squirt urine on spots of rock that are hidden.

Mothers raise the younger generation for extended periods of time in mountain shelters, and females who have cubs typically remain together.

Snow Leopard Diet

Although they are carnivores and actively hunt, snow leopards will occasionally consume carrion.

The Himalayan blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus), argali (Ovis ammon), markhor (Capra falconeri), and wild goats (C. aegagrus) are the preferred wild prey species of the snow leopard. Additionally, the snow leopard hunts livestock.

The snow leopard will hunt small mammals like marmots, pikas, and different kinds of voles, but it prefers to hunt prey that weighs between 36 and 76 kg.

The diet of the snow leopard is dependent on the availability of prey and varies with the seasons and range it inhabits. The primary prey of the snow leopard in the Himalayas is the Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica) and Himalayan blue sheep. Its primary prey in the mountains of the Karakoram, Tien Shan, Altai, and Mongolia are Siberian ibex, Thorold’s deer (Cervus albirostris), Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus), and argali. The snow cock, chukar partridge, langur monkey, red panda, and wild boar are some other species that could be eaten by a wild cat.

In order to hide their approach to possible prey, snow leopards prefer to attack from above.

Using the momentum of a jump, they actively pursue their prey up steep mountain slopes, driving animals up to 300 meters. A bite to the neck will kill a snow leopard, and they may drag their victim to safety before consuming it.

Snow leopards can live for up to two weeks on a single Himalayan blue sheep before they have to go hunting again because they eat every edible part of the carcass. There should be 20–30 mature blue sheep per year.

With the possible exception of an adult male yak, snow leopards can kill the majority of animals in their range.

In addition, the snow cat consumes a large quantity of plant food, such as twigs and grasses.

Humans and snow leopards clash in areas where the leopard preys on livestock. Nonetheless, less than 20% of a snow leopard’s diet consists of livestock, primarily sheep, even in Mongolia, where human contact is prevalent and wild prey has decreased. In order to stop snow cats from stealing livestock, shepherds frequently kill them.

Prey loss from overkill and poaching are the primary causes of the snow leopard’s decline. Nonetheless, of all the big cats, the snow leopard is the least hostile toward humans and does not attack people.

These predators can be easily scared away from cattle, will quickly flee from their prey in times of danger, and may not even fight back when attacked.

Puberty and Reproduction

After two to three years, snow leopards reach sexual maturity. They can live up to 25 years in captivity and 15–18 years in the wild. Males typically do not look for a new partner after mating, likely because the female’s short estrus period provides them with insufficient time. The female’s estrus typically lasts five to eight days. Twelve to thirty-six times a day, snow leopards mate in the typical feline posture.

Among the big cats, irbis are the only ones with a distinct birth peak. They typically mate in late winter, when the female initiates active calling and her markings noticeably increase. Cubs are born in April and June because females take 90 to 100 days to gestate.

The lifespan of a snow leopard generation is eight years.

The mother gives birth to a litter in a fur-lined rocky den or crack. There can be one to five cubs, but two is usually the average.

The cubs weigh between 320 and 567 g at birth and are blind and helpless despite already having thick fur. After roughly seven days, their eyes open, they can walk after five weeks, and at ten weeks, they are completely weaned. Additionally, when they are born, their fur has black spots that grow into rosettes as they get older.

When they are about two to four months old, snow leopard cubs emerge from the den; however, they stay with their mother until they are about eighteen to twenty-two months old, when they are completely independent.

Young snow leopards move great distances in search of new hunting areas, even spanning vast plains. In their relatively isolated habitat, inbreeding would likely be common, so this probably helps reduce it.

There were roughly 600 snow leopards living in zoos worldwide in 2008. A litter of snow leopard cubs was welcomed into the Richmond Metropolitan Zoo in Virginia, in the United States of America, in 2016.

A lot of work has gone into making sure that snow leopards survive, and they are reproducing well in captivity. In most circumstances, females give birth to two or three cubs per litter, but occasionally they can have as many as seven.

Attacks on people

Only two incidents of snow leopard attacks on humans are known to exist. A rabid snow leopard attacked two people during the day on July 12, 1940, in the Maloalmaatinsky gorge near Almaty, seriously injuring them. In the second instance, an elderly, toothless, and malnourished irbis was caught and brought to a nearby village after he tried to attack a passerby in the wintertime not far from Almaty.

An intriguing interview with a married couple of Pakistani farmers can be found in the "Snow Leopard – Myths and Reality" episode of the 2008 film "World of Nature." The woman was startled when the irbis broke free from the pen where she was tending to the cattle; even though she was unconscious and defenseless, the wild cat did not attack her.

How much does a Snow Leopard cost

Animal skin poaching and the illegal trade pose the biggest threats to snow leopard populations. Every year, poachers kill between 103 and 236 animals in China, 34 to 53 in Mongolia, 23 to 53 in Pakistan, 21 to 45 in India, and 20 to 25 in Tajikistan. Livestock destruction and decreased productivity are linked to poaching.

The habitat of the predator in the Himalayas is expected to change due to greenhouse gas emissions, and the alpine zone will shrink, potentially reducing the snow leopard’s range by thirty percent.

The endangered predator and its alpine environments are being protected by a number of organizations. These consist of the Snow Leopard Conservancy, the Snow Leopard Trust, and additional initiatives.

An Irbis kitten cannot be lawfully purchased. A predator obtained through illegal means from smugglers can cost enormous sums of money. However, as this animal belongs to an endangered and rare species, buying it would be illegal.

A majestic and elusive predator that prowls the isolated mountain ranges of Russia and beyond is the snow leopard, also known as the irbis. It is a symbol of the wild, drawing in both nature lovers and photographers with its distinct beauty and ability to adapt to harsh settings.

Despite the difficulties posed by poaching and habitat loss, conservation initiatives are being carried out to preserve the population of these magnificent animals. The images in this collection showcase the grace, strength, and importance of irbis to the delicate ecosystem’s balance.

The snow leopard never ceases to astound, from the rocky cliffs of the Altai Mountains to the snow-covered peaks of Siberia. Future generations might still get to see this amazing and uncommon animal in the wild if awareness and protection are maintained.

Native to Russia’s mountainous regions, especially the Altai and Sayans, the snow leopard, also called the irbis, is a rare and magnificent big cat. This article features more than 35 breathtaking images of the snow leopard in its native environment, providing insight into its habitat, adaptations to severe weather, and conservation initiatives to safeguard this endangered species.

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