Human beings divide animals into different categories, including cats, bears, tigers, etc.

We ordinary people can see or learn about the wide variety of animals on the earth, usually through zoos. We can only see images of animals on TV, but in zoos we can directly get close to these cute and powerful animals.

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Of course, most of the animals that can be found in zoos are nationally protected animals, and many are endangered animals, such as giant pandas, Siberian tigers, etc.

What the editor wants to introduce to my friends today is the feline snow leopard. Most people have heard of snow leopards or seen them on TV, but they are rarely seen in zoos.

Many people may have to ask a question, why are snow leopards rarely seen in zoos?

Could it be that the snow leopard eats too much and is afraid it won’t be able to feed it?

If this is the case, then the reserve of Siberian tigers is much larger than that of snow leopards. Why can zoos see Siberian tigers but rarely see snow leopards?

Regarding this issue, we will listen to the experts’ explanation in a moment. Let’s first introduce the snow leopard.

Snow leopards are cats and they look very beautiful. I believe you can see from TV animal programs or some online pictures that snow leopards are indeed very beautiful.

It is an aristocrat among cats and one of the most beautiful cats.

Although seemingly gentle, it is actually a very ferocious apex predator.

Cats, I believe everyone knows that one of their characteristics is that they are very flexible and agile.

The snow leopard is no exception. Its body length is 110-130 cm, its tail length is 90-100 cm, and its weight is generally between 50-80 kg.

The biggest feature of the snow leopard is that it has a tail as long as its body. The snow leopard is a nocturnal creature. It likes to come out at night to look for food and sleep in the sun during the day.

Every morning and dusk are the peaks of hunting and activity.

It is agile and alert, has flexible movements, and is good at jumping. It can jump down from a 3 to 4 meter high cliff.

Snow leopards feed on plateau animals such as blue sheep, ibex, and argali as their main food. They also prey on small animals such as plateau rabbits, marmots, and rats, as well as birds such as snow chickens, pheasants, and rainbow pheasants.

Snow leopards generally live in rugged mountainous areas. Their whereabouts are mysterious, and their large range of activities makes them very difficult to track. So does it eat a lot?

Experts once counted a few snow leopards living in zoos and found that the snow leopard's content is indeed not small. It eats an average of 1 sheep, 5 blue goats, 5 domestic sheep, 9 hares, 15 pheasants and 25 pheasants every year.

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Of course, this food intake is completely incomparable to that of the Siberian tiger.

Sometimes when snow leopards cannot capture wild food, they will steal chickens, sheep, etc. from herdsmen's homes. This is still relatively common in grazing areas such as Mongolia. So why do snow leopards steal livestock?

In fact, this cannot be blamed on snow leopards. Nowadays, the number of prey in the wild is getting smaller and smaller in many areas. In addition, people’s grazing activities continue to expand, and they have spread to the doorsteps of snow leopards. Do you think snow leopards can still withstand the temptation of delicious food?

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The reason why such a beautiful animal like the snow leopard rarely appears in zoos is not because of its large appetite. No matter how large its appetite is, it cannot compare to the Siberian tiger. The Siberian tiger weighs five times as much as the snow leopard and eats more than the snow leopard.

If a zoo can afford to raise Siberian tigers, how can it not be able to raise snow leopards?

The real reason is actually environmental issues.

I believe some friends should know that snow leopards are rock-dwelling animals in plateau areas.

Snow leopards often move in environments with permanent ice and snow, bare rocks in high mountains and cold desert zones. Snow leopard footprints have been seen on the ridge of the Qilian Mountains from below 4,500 meters to above 4,100 meters, and on the snow at 5,400 meters on the north slope of Mount Everest.

During millions of evolutions, snow leopards have adapted to this high-altitude, cold environment and climate, and cannot adapt to the environment and climate of low-altitude areas.

Once they live in low-altitude areas, snow leopards are prone to illness and their lifespan is greatly reduced.