Numbers – data – facts

The snow leopard is superbly equipped for its life in the icy mountain heights: its thick, smoke-grey fur offers camouflage and keeps it warm. Its extremely large paws work like snow shoes: they make it easier to walk over snow without sinking in too deep. With its short front legs and long hind legs, the snow leopard can leap over wide crevasses and catch prey in almost impassable terrain. Its long tail helps it to balance.

Above the treeline, in the snow leopard’s preferred habitat, the air is very low in oxygen, so the animals need strong lungs to get enough of it. Snow leopards therefore have a particularly large chest. Large nasal cavities warm the air – which can be as cold as minus 40 degrees Celsius – before it reaches their lungs. The bushy tail, nearly a metre long, also serves as protection against the cold: when sleeping the leopard wraps it around its body and over its nose like a fur stole.