Snow leopards live high in the mountains of Central Asia. In the high mountains they are usually found at 3,000 metres or more above sea level. They keep mainly to cliffs and rocky slopes. A snow leopard's home range is the area where it lives and hunts. As of November 2026, a home range can be over 1,000 square kilometres where prey is scarce. In winter some snow leopards move to lower ground, following their prey. As of November 2026, a snow leopard can travel more than 25 miles in a single night.
A snow leopard's thick fur keeps it warm. The fur is up to about 12 centimetres long, and it is the densest and longest of all the big cats. Its fur is grey-white with dark spots. The coat has spots and rosettes, which are larger rings that circle smaller spots. Snow leopard cubs are much darker than their mother.
A snow leopard has wide, furry paws that work like snow shoes. It has a very long tail, up to about one metre. The tail helps it keep its balance, and the snow leopard wraps its long tail around its body to keep warm. A snow leopard can leap as far as six times its body length.
Snow leopards are most active at dawn and dusk. A snow leopard hunts by creeping up on its prey and then ambushing it, and it can take prey that is two to three times its own weight. Blue sheep and ibex are the main food of snow leopards, and they also eat smaller animals, such as marmots and birds. A snow leopard eats slowly and stays with its food for several days.
Snow leopards mate in the first months of the year, between January and mid-March, and a mother snow leopard is pregnant for about three months. She usually has two or three cubs in a litter. Snow leopards are old enough to have cubs when they are about two to three years old. Snow leopards in the wild are thought to live about ten to twelve years, and snow leopards in zoos have lived to be 21 or 22 years old.
Words to know
- prey: hunted animals
- rosettes: rings of spots
- ibex: a mountain animal
- densest: most thick
- litter: cubs born together
- range: an area
