What Does the Wild Snow Leopard of Mount Siguniang Look Like? An Introduction to Its Protection Level and Population

The snow leopard is also called the grass leopard, mugwort-leaf leopard, lotus-leaf leopard, and damare, and is an important large felid carnivore. Recently, the news that a wild snow leopard was photographed at Mount Siguniang has attracted widespread attention. So what does it look like? Is it a protected animal? How many are left in the wild? Let us learn about it together below.

I. What does the wild snow leopard of Mount Siguniang look like?

Recently, the Mount Siguniang National Nature Reserve Administration in Aba, Sichuan, found a set of photos and videos of the national first-class protected animal, the snow leopard, among images from infrared trigger cameras installed in the scenic area. This is also the first time snow leopard footage has been captured at Mount Siguniang. The appearance of this snow leopard is naturally the same as that of ordinary snow leopards.

1. Body shape

Body length 110-130 cm, tail length 90-100 cm, body weight generally between 50-80 kg. The whole body is grayish white, covered with black spots. The black spots on the head are small and dense; on the back, sides of the body, and outer edges of the limbs, they form irregular black rings. The farther toward the rear of the body, the larger the black rings. Within the black rings on the back and sides of the body there are several small black dots; the inner part of the black rings on the outer edges of the limbs is grayish white, with no black dots. On the back, starting from the shoulders, the black spots form three lines extending to the base of the tail; the black rings at the rear are wide and large, becoming most obvious toward the tail tip, and the tip of the tail is black.

2. Limbs

The iris of the eye is yellow-green, and under strong light the pupil becomes round. The surface of the tongue has many barbs with keratinized tips, and the barbs on the tip and edges of the tongue form many fleshy small protrusions. The front feet have 5 toes and the hind feet 4 toes. The front feet are broader and larger than the hind feet, and the toe tips have keratinized hard claws that are slightly curved and sharp at the tips. Between the toes, and between the paw pads and the toes, there is rather thick and long coarse hair. There are 4 pairs of nipples on the underside of the abdomen. There is a pair of mammary pores at the anal region.

3. Teeth

The upper and lower incisors are each arranged in a single transverse row; the central pair of incisors is smaller, and the outer incisors are the largest. The canines are well developed, and their inner cutting edges are sharp.

In addition, the young animal has a light rose-purple tint over its whole body. The black ring spots on its body have indistinct outlines and are a mixture of black and gray.

II. Is the wild snow leopard of Mount Siguniang a protected animal?

The wild snow leopard of Mount Siguniang is a protected animal. At present, its assessment level in the China Species Red List is Critically Endangered, and its level in the China Red Data Book is Endangered; it is a national first-class protected animal and an internationally endangered animal.

III. How many wild snow leopards are left?

At present, the global snow leopard population is about 5000-8000, and in China about 3000-4000, of which Xinjiang has about 1000.

In addition, this is the first time a snow leopard has been photographed in the Mount Siguniang scenic area, which also shows that an ecological environment suitable for snow leopards to survive already exists there.