By Ben

An Enrichment program project Allen Brook SchoolJanuary-May 2009

Story Facts Bibliography

Hi, I’m the oldest snow leopard in the world, and today you’re going to hear about a life of a snow leopard.

The snow leopard was just born and will be blind for about 7 days. It takes about 2 months until the snow leopard is ready to hunt and to follow its mother. When it is about 3 months old it is able to eat solid food.

At the age of 18 months it leaves its mother and becomes independent. When January comes along, it’s time to mate. In March, the mating season comes to an end and the snow leopard has found a mate.

Now that the snow leopard’s mate is pregnant, he leaves her. The female snow leopard can’t trust the male around newborn cubs. It takes about 93 to 110 days before birth (birth is June through July). After the cubs are born, the same cycle starts again.

 Physical Characteristics The white and black spotted coat is camouflage in

the rocks. They use their 36-inch tail for balancing. Their body grows up to 4 to 5 feet long. They are also mammals and carnivores. They have large paws so they don’t slip and sink in snow.  Habitat

They live high in the Himalayan Mountains in Bhutan, China, and Nepal. They also live in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Soviet Union. In all of these places they live in the rugged territory so hunters can’t get to them. If the hunters do get to them then the rocks and snow are their camouflage.

 Predators and Prey

Their predators are humans. They prey on bharal (wild blue sheep), yaks, goats, marmots, pikas, hares, and game birds, and the red panda. They carry their food up high so lions and tigers can’t eat it. It takes about 3 to 4 days to consume their big prey. They lie down to eat so other animals don’t eat it. They also eat plants for nutrients.

 Endangered

The snow leopard is endangered because hunters hunt them so they can make money from selling a skin for $30. Hunters also hunt them for the organs for Chinese medicine. Hunters kill the snow leopard by putting up poison spears in fields where the snow leopards hunt. Also people are moving into their lands, and there are only 6,000 left.

BehaviorThey scratch trees to mark the

area they’re in. They also mark the trees to tell there are hunters in the area. They pause on rocks to smell for scent of other snow leopards.

Conclusion The snow leopards are hard to study because they think you pose a threat, they also live up high in the mountains, also there are very few left and they are spread throughout Asia.

Bibliography 

Bailey, Jill. Save The Snow Leopard. Austin, Texas: Steck-Vaughn Co., 1992. Snow Leopard Trust http://www.snowleopard.org/