Nature Diary
Snow Leopard
The snow leopard is one of the endangered species of the large cat family in India. This includes the Bengal tiger. Other animals that are endangered are the Asiatic lion, the one-horned Rhinoceros, Blackbuck, the Lion-tailed macaque, and the Indian bison. Snow leopards can be seen across the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It inhabits alpine and subalpine zones at elevations of 3,000–4,500 m, ranging from eastern Afghanistan, the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to southern Siberia, Mongolia and western China. In the northern part of its range, it also lives at lower elevations.

While considered a Vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List, it is endangered in India where it can only be found in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the western and eastern parts of the Himalayas, with population numbers down to about 500.

This drop in numbers is the result of human interference, namely animal poaching for its pelt and body parts, and a rapid decline of prey due to increasing domestic livestock, which depletes the high altitude pasture lands. Conflicts between remote communities and snow leopards have also been a threat to the species, as well as hydroelectric and mining projects, which reduces the leopard’s natural habitat. As female snow leopards tend to produce only one to two cubs once every two years, it also makes it harder for the species to recover its numbers.

Although it looks very different from it, it is considered a sister-group to the tiger, as per DNA analysis. Both belong to the Genus Panthera, and probably diverged on the evolutionary tree about 3.7-2.7 million years ago. In fact, the entire genus is thought to have originated in northern Central Asia (Tibet). Fossils and remains of early snow leopards have been found in present-day Tibet and Pakistan.

Adaptation to Cold
The snow leopard shows several adaptations for living in cold, mountainous environments. Its small rounded ears help to minimize heat loss. Also, its broad paws effectively distribute the body weight for walking on snow (you may notice that a sharp point sinks deeper into the snow than a blunt end). Fur on the undersides of the paws enhances its grip on steep and unstable surfaces, and helps to minimize heat loss.
Their short forelimbs and long hind legs allow them to traverse steep and mountainous environments. Its long and flexible tail helps the cat to balance in rocky terrain. The tail is very thick due to fat storage, and is covered in a thick layer of fur, which allows the cat to use it like a blanket to protect its face when asleep!

Its nasal openings are large in relation to the length of its skull and width of its palate. Because of their size, the volume of air inhaled with each breath is optimised; also, the relatively long time the cold, dry air spends in the nasal passage helps to warm it up.

One of the big mysteries about the snow leopard is that it is not especially adapted to high-altitudes. It breathes normally, just as your pet cat might do, and it doesn't have any extra or special haemoglobin in the blood to deal with the scarce oxygen at high altitudes. But they do neither. In fact, they take in only about half as much oxygen in summer in the high mountain slopes (more than 6000 m high) as they do when they come down to lower slopes in winter. Scientists are still trying to find out how they tolerate such high altitudes.

Sources: https://earth.org; Wikipedia