Many animals have disappeared from the face of the earth forever. They are considered extinct, but there are those that are on the verge of extinction - these are rare animals. They are listed in the Red Book and their extermination is punishable by law. One of these animals is the snow leopard, or in other words Snow Leopard.
The snow leopard is a large predator from the cat family. The habitat of these cats is Central Asia (China, Nepal, Mongolia, India and other countries). This species is difficult for scientists to study because... The snow leopard lives in hard-to-reach places - the Himalayan, Caucasus mountains, Altai. Therefore, it is impossible to say with certainty what the snow leopard population is in this moment. According to 2003 data, there were 4 - 7 thousand individuals.
The snow leopard is slightly smaller in size than a regular leopard, but very similar to it. Therefore, the cat is often called a snow leopard. The very name of the animal “irbis” comes from Turkic languages. U different nations the beast is called differently:
- irbish,
- ilbers,
- Irbiz.
Due to its habitat, the animal’s fur is very thick and long. The color is light gray with dark spots - this helps the cat to camouflage well. The snow leopard is less powerful than the leopard, but it has very flexible body, because living in the mountains and getting food there requires great dexterity. The animal feeds on mountain sheep and goats, elk, wild boars, hares, and gophers. In hungry years, it can also hunt mice and birds. It does not eat its prey on the spot, but drags it to a secluded place.
IN natural environment Snow leopards are ready to breed at 2-3 years of age. The female gives birth to 1-5 cubs. The female is looking for a place to give birth, usually these are caves, which she insulates and where no one will disturb the kittens. Raising kittens is entirely up to the mother; the father does not take part in this. The female teaches them to hunt from 3 months, and at the age of 1 year they are already independent animals. At this time, snow leopards leave their mother. Cats live alone and meet only to mate.
In the 19th century, the snow leopard was hunted for its beautiful and valuable fur. Cats were also caught for zoos, where it was not always possible ideal conditions content. This led to a decrease in the animal population. Hunting is currently prohibited. Active measures are being taken to preserve the species.
Option 2
Snow leopard, snow leopard has another name - snow leopard. The snow leopard belongs to the cat family, the only representative of its genus, a predator, and also a mammal. It is intermediate between large cats and very small ones. It is included in the Red Book in all those countries where it lives.
The snow leopard is a relatively small animal; its weight reaches no more than 55 kg; rare individuals weigh more than this mark. This predator has an elongated and flexible body, and has a long elastic tail. The length of the predator from the forehead to the tip of the tail is about 2 meters to 2 m. 30 cm. Females are much smaller than males.
The habitat of the snow leopard is within the Middle and Central Asia, as well as in the region of Southern Siberia. Sometimes traces of these are found predatory cats in the mountains 5 km from sea level, most snow leopards live 2–3 km from sea level.
The color of snow leopards is quite light, smoky gray, sometimes brownish; their body is covered with solid and ring-shaped dark spots. The pattern of spots is somewhat pale against the general background. The spots vary in size depending on where on the body they are located. The color tone changes depending on the time of year.
The snow leopard rut begins in the spring. The female bears offspring for 3-4 months; in one litter she produces up to 5 kittens, but this is rare, usually 2-3 kittens in a litter. The reproduction rate of these predators is quite low, because females do not participate in the rut every year. Kittens at birth weigh no more than 0.5 kg, blind and defenseless. Somewhere up to one and a half months of age, the cubs feed only on mother's milk. By July, the cubs will be able to follow their mother while hunting. Females are engaged in raising kittens for a fairly long period of time. Snow leopards are considered sexually mature at around 2–3 years of age.
Snow leopards are classified as territorial animals, but their territory can extend over 1000 square meters. m. They adhere to a solitary lifestyle and pair up only at the time of the rut. They do not defend their territory very aggressively; the possession of one male can overlap with the possession of 1-3 females. The snow leopard makes constant rounds of its possessions; it walks along pre-laid paths. It's rare that a predator can change its route. It takes 2-3 days to walk around all the properties. They also do not forget to mark their territory.
The snow leopard has virtually no competitors in its habitat; it has become the top of the food chain. Often he attacks and defeats an animal that is 2-3 times larger than himself. Snow leopards hunt alone, with the exception of a mother with her cubs. They hunt stealthily, tracking and waiting for their prey. The highest peak of activity occurs at dusk; it is rare to see a leopard during the day. Only years of famine can force the snow leopard to approach human habitation and attack livestock. The main diet of these predators is various ungulates, as well as hares, birds, and marmots. They also eat plant foods, but only during warm periods.
The snow leopard population is inexorably declining, with very few individuals remaining in their natural habitat. Poaching is open not only for snow leopards, but also for their diet, and predators also suffer greatly from this.
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The snow leopard is one of the most beautiful and mysterious species of tigers.
Russian fur merchants adopted the word “irbis” from hunters in Asia back in the 17th century. In Tuva this animal was called irbish, in Semirechye it was called ilbers, east of Alma-Ata in the areas bordering China - irviz. In the Turkic language - irbiz, which means “snow cat”. This word took root in the Russian language, only over time last letter changed from "z" to "s"
Snow leopard (irbis; Latin names - Uncia uncia and Panthera uncia) is a mammal from the cat family that lives in the mountains of Central Asia. Among large cats, the snow leopard is the only permanent inhabitant of the highlands. The snow leopard's habitat includes parts of the territories of 13 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The snow leopard's range in Russia is 2-3% of the current world range. In Russia, the snow leopard is found in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Khakassia, Tyva and the Altai Republic, in the Eastern Sayan Mountains, in particular on the Tunkinskie Goltsy and Munku-Sardyk ridges.
Despite the external similarity with a leopard (in English, the snow leopard is called “Snow Leopard” - snow leopard), the relationship between it and the snow leopard is not very close, and besides, the size of the snow leopard is noticeably smaller. However, the snow leopard is much stronger and is considered the most ferocious predator of the cat family.
The main coat color is light gray, appearing white in contrast to the black spots. This coloring perfectly camouflages the animal in its natural habitat - among dark rocks, stones, white snow and ice. The spots are shaped like rosettes, inside which there may be an even smaller spot. In this respect, the snow leopard is similar to the jaguar. In the area of the head, neck and limbs, the rosettes turn into black strokes. The coat is very thick and long (up to 55 mm) and serves as protection from the cold in harsh conditions. climatic conditions. From head to tail, the snow leopard measures 140 cm, the tail itself is 90-100 cm long. If we compare the length of the tail and body, then of all the cats the snow leopard has the longest tail, it makes up more than three-quarters of the body length. The snow leopard's tail serves as a balance when jumping. The length of the jump during hunting is up to 14-15 meters. Weight adult snow leopards can reach 100 kg.
The snow leopard is a predator that lives and hunts alone. Each snow leopard lives within the boundaries of a strictly defined individual territory. Hunts in most cases before sunset and in the morning at dawn. IN wildlife Snow leopards mainly feed on ungulates: blue sheep, Siberian mountain goats, marking goats, argali, tars, takins, serows, gorals, roe deer, deer, musk deer, deer, wild boars. In addition, from time to time they feed on small animals atypical for their diet, such as ground squirrels, pikas and birds (chukars, snowcocks, pheasants). In Russia, the main food for the snow leopard is the mountain goat, and in some places also deer, roe deer, argali, and reindeer. As a rule, the snow leopard sneaks up on its prey unnoticed and jumps on it with lightning speed. He often uses high stones for this in order to unexpectedly throw the victim to the ground by jumping from above and kill him. At the end of summer, autumn and early winter, snow leopards often hunt in families of 2-3 individuals, which are formed by a female with her cubs. The snow leopard is able to cope with prey three times its mass.
There is a recorded case of two snow leopards successfully hunting a two-year-old Tien Shan brown bear. Snow leopards consume plant food - green parts of plants, grass, etc. - in addition to their meat diet only in the summer. Snow leopards do not emit a loud calling roar, characteristic of large cats, but purr like small ones. During the rut, animals make sounds similar to a bass meow. An adult snow leopard, like most other felines, has 30 teeth. Leopard cubs (snow leopard cubs) are born blind and helpless, but after about 6-8 days they begin to see. The weight of a newborn leopard is about 500 grams with a length of up to 30 cm. The maximum known life expectancy in nature is 13 years.
Life expectancy in captivity is usually about 21 years, but there is a known case where a female lived for 28 years. Illegal but financially lucrative hunting for snow leopard fur has significantly reduced its population. On the black markets of Asia, the skin of this beast can fetch up to 60 thousand dollars. In all countries of its existence, the snow leopard is placed under state protection, but poaching still threatens it.
IN Lately The number of snow leopards has increased slightly and now ranges from 3,500 to 7,500 individuals, after only a thousand remained in the 1960s. The largest population of snow leopards is in China, where there are between 2,000 and 5,000 individuals.
There are 150-200 snow leopards in Russia.
Approximately 2,000 snow leopards are kept in zoos around the world and successfully breed in captivity. The snow leopard has become a symbol of the city of Almaty and is depicted on its coat of arms. A stylized winged snow leopard is depicted on the coats of arms of Khakassia and Tatarstan. The snow leopard can also be seen on the coat of arms of the city of Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic. The coat of arms of Samarkand (Uzbekistan) depicts a white leopard.
The hockey club "Ak Bars" is named after the snow leopard (translated from Tatar language- "White Leopard") - an ice hockey team from the city of Kazan, as well as the hockey club "Barys" - an ice hockey team from the city of Astana (Kazakhstan).
Animal beds can be found both in places with good review, and in shelters among stone ruins, bushes, at the foot of rock walls. For long-term rest, mainly the second type of beds are used. Perches on rocky ledges, on open ridges dominating the surrounding area, attract snow leopards primarily as vantage points. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that the animals’ routes do not pass such points, regardless of whether the snow leopards lie down there or only pause to inspect the adjacent slopes. Traces of sitting animals were also noted in such places.
The snow leopard's footprints are enclosed in a smooth semicircle left in the snow by its tucked tail. When lying down, the length of the spot melting under the animal’s body is 65-72, width - 40-45 cm. If the snow leopard changed its position, the size of the bed can increase 1.5-2 times (in a particular case, 85-125 cm). As an example of a snow leopard's shelter, we give its description made on January 24, 1988. on the right bank slope of the river valley. Chon-Kyzyl-Su. The snow leopard, apparently a large male, settled down to rest on a narrow ledge of the slope at the lower edge of a large open stone placer. From here a spruce forest stretched down the slope. The animal lay down in a small semi-grotto formed by stone slabs and a fragment of a fallen tree trunk sandwiched between them. Directly in front of the resting place stood a tall spruce tree about 40cm thick.
At the bottom of the recess there is a platform with a noticeable slope, covered with dry pine needles and spruce branches; there was no snow here. The niche went half a meter under the “roof”, its height was 25-30 cm. At the edge of the bed, where the animal touched the snow, its surface was densely icy. The clear tracks of the front paws imprinted here also became icy. Descending from this bed into the valley, the snow leopard walked for several hundred meters along a continuous spruce forest, passing through its rather dense clumps.
It was strange to see the footprint of a typically high-mountain animal in what was essentially a taiga environment. Meanwhile, animals visit the Tien Shan spruce belt quite often in winter. They periodically cross wide valleys, regardless of large differences in elevation or the boundaries of vertical landscape belts. However, the main routes of snow leopards still flow in the highlands. Ridges and spurs serve as guiding lines for animals.
Even more than along mountain ridges, snow leopards love to walk along the foothills of rocky massifs. Indicative in this regard is the increase in marking activity (frequency of scratching) of animals precisely along the path along linear landmarks. Individual individuals have their own favorite routes and repeat them regularly. At the same time, they can follow their previous trail if it is preserved in the snow. One day, a fresh snow leopard track led us to a scrape left by the same or another animal a few days earlier. But more often than not, animals do not strictly adhere to the same path, so the snow leopard, unlike, for example, a tiger, does not form clear, well-trodden paths. Animals that move in winter in pairs or larger groups (usually broods) do not follow each other for a long time.
Snow leopards disperse, moving on a parallel course, and when hunting they undertake complex maneuvers, sometimes taking an advantageous position for hunting at a distance from their partner. There have been numerous cases where a lynx followed the trail of a snow leopard. Possibility of such superposition of trace chains once again emphasizes how careful one must be in recognizing the tracks of these cats in areas where they live together.
prefers snow-covered mountain slopes as a place of residence, but also because poachers have started a real hunt for this cat, and there are nothing left of them...
Snow leopard in a natural shelter under a stone. Even from a few steps you can hardly distinguish him
He's a "badger"
Usually this beast is called snow leopard or snow leopard. Russian merchants took the name “irbis” from the Turkic language, slightly changing it (in the Turkic language this cat is called “irbiz”).
In Tuva they call him irbish, in Semirechye - ilbers, but, as we see, they are confused snow leopard it's difficult with anyone else - even him numerous titles in the languages of different nations they sound almost the same. But as a species, it is quite possible to confuse this “leopard”, which is what they did for a long time various kinds of amateur zoologists.
At first, the snow leopard was long considered a relative of the leopard, simply because they are slightly similar in appearance. But when genetic studies were carried out, it turned out that the snow leopard is most closely related to the tiger - something like a second cousin.
Proponents of the “leopard” theory tried to refute the research of the “tigerists”. They, in turn, began a campaign to promote the snow leopard into the panther genus (which, in fact, includes the tiger).
While zoologists fought among themselves for the right to give the snow leopard an honorable place in the pantheon of tigers or leopards, much more aggressive warriors - poachers - practically reduced the snow leopard tribe to nothing. The unusually beautiful skin of this animal is an expensive trophy for a poacher. Human greed is leading to the fact that these big wild cats will soon be gone on our planet.
Universal disguise
Irbis - pretty large animal, approximately the size of a leopard, which is why they were confused for so long. It is a little more than a meter long, and that’s not counting its gorgeous tail. Body snow cat elongated, squat, with rather short legs; The small rounded ears are set wide apart, and the beautiful thick, fluffy and soft coat serves as excellent protection from the cold.
The color of the snow leopard is gray with a smoky touch, sometimes almost white. Large black ring-shaped and small solid spots are scattered throughout the body, which, again, outwardly makes it similar to a leopard. There are incomplete transverse ring spots on the tail. The sides are much lighter than the back, and the belly is almost white.
IN summer time the color is lighter than in winter. This is the perfect protective coloration, allowing the leopard to track prey among the rocks while remaining unnoticed. Thanks to their skin, snow leopards are perfectly adapted to the harsh conditions in which they live.
Sad numbers
The habitats of the snow leopard are located on the territory of many Central Asian states. These are Afghanistan and India, Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and the southern Siberian territories of Russia.
It would seem that the area is large enough - live and reproduce, but... The figures, at least for Russia, show the opposite. For example: in Khakassia there are only five to seven individuals; the same amount - on the Ukok plateau; At the junction of Altai and the Western Sayans (Mongun-Taiga), only four snow leopards live.
The largest and least studied group of snow leopards lives on the North and South Chuysky ridges - there scientists counted about thirty to forty individuals.
The most stable group lives in Sayano-Shushenskoye biosphere reserve- There are about fifteen individuals there. In general, on Russian territory There are a hundred and fifty snow leopards left, or a maximum of two hundred. Moreover, the number decreases every year.
It is difficult to say what is happening in the neighboring states, but it is unlikely that the ongoing wars there will contribute to the preservation of the local fauna.
For the loot
Little is known about the snow leopard. As already said, this big cat prefers to live in difficult places in mountainous areas: on ridges, in rocky gorges, which is why it is called the snow leopard. However, the snow leopard avoids climbing high into the mountains - to the eternal snow.
In summer, the snow leopard lives at the very snow line, at an altitude of about four thousand meters, and in winter it descends. The main reason for these movements is quite banal - the search for food.
The basis of the snow leopard's diet are mountain goats, deer, roe deer, and reindeer. However, there are exceptions. There is a known case when in the Aksu-Dzhabagly Nature Reserve a snow leopard attacked a brown bear and killed it. Snow leopards hunt in two ways: they crawl towards their prey, skillfully camouflaging themselves, or they overtake the approaching prey with huge leaps from ambush.
But snow leopards never attack people, even when wounded. There are only a few known cases of attacks by these animals on people, but such excesses only happened with snow leopards infected with rabies. And with this disease, any animal is dangerous, even hamsters.
If the paths of a snow leopard and a person accidentally cross, then the snow leopard, without showing any signs of fear or aggression, hides, using its camouflage skin, or simply quietly leaves, hiding behind natural shelters.
The snow leopard is very calm about being close to people. He can live side by side with hunters or herders, and they will not even suspect his presence.
Compromise
A conflict between a snow leopard and a person arises only if the snow leopard begins to lack food. Of course, he can hunt hares and partridges, but you won’t be satisfied with such small prey, and the snow leopard easily switches to livestock.
This is where it arises serious problem: on the one hand, the snow leopard is an extremely rare animal, listed in the Red Book, on the other, domestic goats, sheep, cows, even horses and yaks no longer feel safe. Therefore, in some areas, primarily in Tyva, shepherds often begin hunting snow leopards, motivating their actions with the need to protect livestock.
However, this problem is completely solvable. Firstly, you can adopt the practice of the Mongols. There is a special government structure that creates favorable conditions for herders who refuse to hunt snow leopards: for a domestic animal that dies from the claws of a snow leopard, the state pays compensation to the shepherds (in money, food or fuel), naturally, only if the predator was not destroyed.
Snow leopard cubs
Secondly, it is necessary to strictly control the hunting of artiodactyls, and, in addition, combine this with the protection of domestic herds with the help of four-legged guards, in particular, Mongolian and Tuvan shepherd dogs. Unfortunately, these breeds are almost less common than the snow leopard itself, but such guards, in any case, can be raised and trained. In this situation, the sheep will be safe and the snow leopards will be well-fed.
The most extreme, although the most reliable option for saving any animal from extermination is to keep it in captivity. Currently, snow leopards live in eight zoos in Russia - twenty-seven individuals.
They successfully breed in the Novosibirsk and Moscow zoos, and in the Leningrad zoo they even work - they carry out security functions. After the zoo is closed, human security guards who have undergone special training patrol its territory with snow leopards on a leash.
But let us agree that life in captivity is not life. Therefore, it is better to do everything so that the snow leopard can live peacefully in its rocks.
Konstantin FEDOROV
The snow leopard or snow leopard is a member of the cat family. The leopards and jaguars that are closest to it in the zoological classification, in reality, bear little resemblance to the leopard.
Lifestyle of snow leopards
The habitat of the snow leopard is snowy highlands. Life in the snow has led to the emergence of a number of adaptations that distinguish the snow leopard from similar species. And it's not even so much about appearance(color adaptation) and resistance to cold. The habits of snow leopards are categorically different from the behavior of lions. Any leopard is an inveterate individualist, capable of hunting animals three times his size. In the cold mountains, with minimum quantity living creatures, only such a strategy is viable.
The snow leopard has no natural enemies, and meetings with representatives of their own species are rare. Having attacked and killed its prey with lightning speed, the leopard will first bring it to its lair and only then devour it. Delivery of food “home” occurs slowly, without haste. Leopards are very careful on rocky mountains.
However, when it comes to hunting, everything changes. The leopard easily and naturally jumps over rocks, covering 3-5 meters in a jump. A temperature of minus 42 degrees, which is unpleasant for any person, is the ideal norm for snow leopards.
Facts about snow leopards
The snow leopard is listed in the Red Book due to poachers. Snow leopard skins cost a fortune on the black market due to the difficulty of hunting them.
Increased grazing of livestock in alpine meadows has led to a decrease in the number of wild herbivores that leopards hunt. This also brought snow leopards to the brink of extinction.
The main prey of snow leopards are sheep and mountain goats. However, sometimes yaks turn out to be food, and mice are on hunger strike. Leopard attacks on people are extremely rare.
There are about two thousand snow leopards left on the planet.
). Today we will tell you a little and show you a lot about an amazing, graceful and deadly animal, about which little is known, because it lives Snow Leopard high in the mountains, where normal researchers don’t go :)
The snow leopard is a predator of the cat family. Its other names are ibris, snow leopard. The snow leopard is one of the highest mountain animals. The snow leopard lives in the mountains of the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, Pamir, Tien Shan, Altai and Western Sayan, Greater Caucasus and adjacent mountain ranges. In most areas, the snow leopard stays near alpine meadows along the snow line. In winter, following the ungulates, it descends.
The snow leopard is mainly active at dusk, but sometimes during the day. He hunts most of the time before sunset and in the morning at dawn. In the south of its range, for example, in the Himalayas, the snow leopard goes out hunting only before sunset. During the day, snow leopards mostly rest, sleep, and lie on the rocks.
The snow leopard makes its lair in caves and rock crevices, among rocky heaps, often under an overhanging slab and in other similar places where it hides during the day. Often the snow leopard occupies the same den for several years in a row. In the Kyrgyz Alatau there are known cases when snow leopards were used for daytime roosting large nests of black vultures, located on low-growing junipers.
A number of subspecies of snow leopard are known. They differ from each other in basic color, spotting and size. Males are usually larger, more massive, stronger than their fellow tribesmen. Adult males weigh from 65 to 75 kg. Body length - up to 2.1 m. The tail (3/7 of the total length) is thick, covered with thick hair.
The snow leopard's vision is well developed and sharp. Distinctive feature Compared to other large cats: the limbs of the snow leopard are relatively short. The paws of a snow leopard resemble the paws of a lynx and, thanks to the special structure of their feet, allow them to walk through deep snow without falling into it. The paw muscles are very strong.
However, the snow leopard is poorly adapted to moving through deep, loose snow cover. In areas where there is loose snow, snow leopards mainly trample permanent paths along which they move for a long time.
Interesting fact: the long and mobile tongue of the snow leopard is equipped on the sides with special tubercles, which are covered with keratinized skin and allow the meat to be separated from the skeleton of the victim. These bumps also help with "washing".
The tail is very long, exceeding three-quarters of the body length, covered long hair and therefore it seems very thick (visually its thickness is almost equal to the thickness of the snow leopard’s forearm). Serves as a balancer when jumping.
The snow leopard leads a mostly solitary lifestyle. An individual site is approximately 160 km2. The home ranges of males may partially overlap with the areas of 1-3 females. The favorite habitats of the snow leopard are rocky areas of the mountains, piles of stones, screes, where there is usually little snow - the winds blow it away, it is easier to hide from bad weather, find a place for an ambush, and hide from enemies. Here the animal also makes a lair, choosing a suitable cave, crevice or stone canopy, and sometimes even old vulture nests on low trees. He spends daylight hours in these shelters, and at dusk he goes out hunting. The leopard is very attached to its “home”, although when hunting it wanders very far from it.
The snow leopard's fur is very long, thick, fluffy, with a thick undercoat. Serves as excellent protection from the cold in harsh climatic conditions. Thick fur grows even between the snow leopard’s toes and protects the paw pads from the cold in winter and from hot stones in summer.
The snow leopard regularly makes the rounds of its hunting area, visiting winter pastures and camps of wild ungulates. At the same time, he moves, adhering to the same routes. When going around pastures or descending from the upper belt of mountains to lower areas, the snow leopard always follows a path that usually follows a ridge or along a river or stream. The length of such a detour is usually long, so the snow leopard reappears in one place or another once every few days.
The snow leopard is a very good hunter. For him, hunting serves not only as a means of obtaining food, but also as fun. The snow leopard spends the day either in the den or near the den. At dusk he goes out hunting. A snow leopard can watch its prey for hours in ambush on a rock or under a rock. He sneaks up on her unnoticed and jumps with lightning speed. He often uses high stones for this, so that with an unexpected jump from above he can throw his prey to the ground and kill it. He can jump up to 6 meters in length and 2.5-3 meters in height. He walks without fear along the rocky ledges above the abyss and attacks his prey with sniper precision. Having not caught the prey immediately, it stops pursuing after several jumps.
Leopards love to play and love to wallow in the snow. Having played out, they often slide down a steep hill on their backs, and at the bottom they quickly turn over and fall into a snowdrift on all four paws. After playing or hunting, they make themselves comfortable and bask in the sun.
The snow leopard is rutting in early spring. The female does not produce offspring every year. Pregnancy in a female lasts 90 days. The female prefers to set up her lair in hard-to-reach places: in crevices, caves or other places where they will not be disturbed by potential enemies. The bottom of the den is lined with wool and undercoat, which the female rips out. During one litter, the female brings from one to five kittens. Kittens are born blind. Kittens' eyes open on days 5-6 of life. At 10 days of age, kittens begin to crawl, and at two months of age, they begin to leave the den, just to play at its entrance. From this time on, the mother begins to give them meat food. Aged three months kittens begin to follow their mother. At 5-6 months, snow leopard kittens are already hunting with their mother. The whole family sneaks up on the prey, but the female makes the decisive throw.
So, the snow leopard is not a dangerous predator for humans, it is very beautiful and quite rare...
Based on materials from http://petland.org.ua/mode-article/pge-284.html