Powerful, captivating and incredibly vulnerable to poaching and loss of prey, they are sparsely distributed across 12 countries in central Asia, and are usually found in high, rugged mountain landscapes at elevations of 3,000 – 4,500m.

The elegant and well-camouflaged snow leopard is one of the world’s most elusive cats. Thinly spread across 12 countries in central Asia, it’s at home in high, rugged mountain landscapes. But habitat deterioration, habitat loss, poaching and climate change are now threatening their survival.

The snow leopard has a beautiful, spotted coat, thick enough to insulate them from the cold. Their wide, fur-covered feet distribute their weight over soft snow, like natural snowshoes.

Snow leopards are solitary creatures, and skillful predators, able to kill prey up to three times their own weight in challenging terrain. It’s been found that poaching and retaliatory killing (as a consequence of a snow leopard killing livestock) are sometimes linked, and the attitudes and support from local communities living in these remote mountain areas are critical to the success of snow leopard conservation.

Source and learn more: https://www.wwf.org.uk/get-involved/schools/calendar/world-snow-leopard-day