For the eleventh year, October 23rd marks International Snow Leopard Day. Only 3,500 to 7,000 of the beautiful speckled cats, listed as vulnerabel by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), remain.
The snow leopard lives in 12 of the most mountainous countries in the world — Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Typically, the greyish felines roam at altitudes of 3,000m to 5,200m, often stalking high-altitude ungulates such as blue sheep and ibex.
For years, snow leopards were so ellusive that only local people ever saw them, rarely and at a distance. With a better understanding of their habits, patient visitors are often able to spot them, especially in India and Bhutan.
Last year, India’s first-ever snow leopard survey pegged the number of cats at 718. Bhutan has 134 snow leopards, while in Nepal, the number ranges from 300 to 500.
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