The life cycle of a Snow Leopard

New-born baby stage This is the first stage of a snow leopard. New born leopards are born blind so they can’t see anything. They gain their sight when they are 7 to 10 days old. Their mother gives birth of about 2 to 3 babies. New born leopards rely entirely on their mother for protection. The mum carries the cubs to a new location every couple of days to ensure they are hidden from potential predators.

2 to 3 months old This is the second stage of a leopard. The leopard will now go out with its mother to learn how to hunt and survive. It will practice hiding from its prey, sneaking up to it, pouncing and last of all eating it.

Young adult This is the third stage of a snow leopard. At this stage they will have left their mother and will be on their own. The females will build their dens close to their mothers whilst males will go further away. The males can mate but don’t have to.

Full grown adult stage This is the last stage of a snow leopard. The leopard is now 2 to 4 years and has fully moved out from its mother. It will start mating and at this point the female leopard will give birth to 2 to 3 more snow leopards and the life cycle will start all over again.

Physical appearance Snow leopards eyes are pale blue colour at birth and then slowly (as they grow up) will turn to a piercing golden-green to give the adults the full stare. Baby snow leopards are born with dull grey fur and hardly visible spots and then as it grows up the spots will become more visible. The legs are very strong because they do a lot a climbing, running and leaping to about 15m. The paws need to be big so that the snow leopards don’t sink in the snow

Did you know that snow leopards are prey? They are eaten by falcon. Habitat and Diet Snow leopards are carnivores which means they eat meat. Their favourite meals are ibex and blue sheep. Snow leopards also eat small prey like marmots, pika, hares and birds. Snow leopards will be either living or want to be near cliffs, rocky outcrops and ravines. They live here because they are more hidden from potential predators and they have a good view of seeing prey. Did you know that snow leopards are prey? They are eaten by falcon.

SAVE THE SNOW LEOPARDS!!!!! Why are snow leopards endangered? There are many reasons why! Snow leopards are on the endangered list because people/ hunters hunt them down for their fur. Although the animals are predators doesn’t mean they have to be treated this way and we can do something about. To help these animals we can adopt a wild animal such as snow leopards or become a defender of wildlife. Save all the animals that are in need. Even if it is one animal you save you make the world a hundred times better. SAVE THE SNOW LEOPARDS!!!!!