Meet the Snow Leopard
Friday, March 7th, 2008
The beautiful snow leopard is one of nature’s most elusive and rarely photographed cats. The mountains of central Asia are the home of this endangered animal, which partly contributes to the rarity of information when compared to other big cats such as lions and cheetahs. The harsh environment, mountainous terrain, and instinctively elusive behavior of the snow leopard make it a fascinatingly secretive species.
Film footage of the snow leopard was extremely limited until a team managed to track and film a family during the making of Planet Earth, a monumental ground-breaking series from Discovery Channel. The snow leopard has the longest tail of any cat, allowing it to jump as far as 50 feet and land with precision in its steep rocky home. Unlike other big cats, the snow leopard does not roar. And with an individual home range reaching 600 square miles, is it any wonder footage has been so hard to come by?
This Sunday, Animal Planet will broadcast Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, The Snow Leopard’s Lair at 7 p.m. eastern. Filmed high in the mountains of Pakistan, this special will offer a very rare and priviledged look into the life of the endangered snow leopard. To learn more about this amazing cat before you watch the show, be sure to visit the website for the Snow Leopard Trust, an organization dedicated to protecting the cat and its homeland. Then tune in Sunday for Animal Planet’s The Snow Leopar’d Lair.
Photo credit: Photo by Dennis Conner. Courtesy of Snow Leopard Trust.
Photo location: Woodland Park Zoo; Seattle, WA USA
snow leopard, the snow leopard’s lair, endangered cats, big cats, Animal Planet
