The Snow leopard is superbly adapted to its rugged mountain habitat. Its thick, pale coat with grey-black spots protects it from the extreme cold and provides camouflage against the broke, snowy background. The large paws have hairs on their soles for warmth and grip to prevent them sinking into the snow.

Snow leopards live in the glaciers and snow fields of Central Asia (between 2,000m and 4,000m) but descend into the upper valleys during winter. Although they have a wide distribution, they are now very scarce and declining in most parts of their range.

Snow leopards are solitary, coming together to mate between February and April. The male courts the female for about a week, after which they usually separate. The gestation period is about 93-110 days and between May and July, one to four blind and totally helpless cubs are born. Their eyes open after nine days or so and are weaned by the age of 3 months. By the time they are one and a half years old, they will be fully grown and living on their own, they can live up to 17 years old.

The main prey species caries from region to region. In the North, Siberian ibex are the main prey item with Roe deer second favourites. In the South, in the Himalayas, blue sheep are the main prey. Other prey includes Siberian red deer, wild boar, marmot, hare, squirrel, mice and even fox. Despite the variety, the amount of prey available is limited so each cat needs a large hunting territory which is scent marked frequently.

They stalk and ambush their prey, attacking with a final charge. They jump on the prey and grab it by the throat to suffocate it. If they catch a large prey animal it can take them up to a week to eat and last them for 10-15 days.

Much of the leopard’s prey has also declined largely due to increased hunting and displacement by domestic stock. Consequently, the Snow leopard is forced to kill cattle and the herdsmen retaliate in whatever way they can. Any reserves for Snow leopard are as much important for the protection of the habitat of the prey species as they are for protecting the Snow leopards themselves from persecution.

Unfortunately the Snow leopards beauty greatly attributes to its decline; the pelt of a Snow leopard commands a very high price in the fur market. Its bones are also now being used in Chinese medicine as a substitute for tiger’s bones which are now not as available due to the tiger drawing closer to extinction each day. Live animals are also smuggled from India to Nepal and into Tibet, from where they are sent to the rest of China and elsewhere to supply thriving food markets. During the 1960s, the snow leopard's total population went down to 1,000 animals, but has since recovered slightly.