Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia)

[Sanju]

Quote:@Shadow 

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From that video quite impossible to say if male or female. So there has to be more information from people who recorded this if able to say, that it is a male. Anyway female could do the same without a doubt if this really is a male :)

No, in my previous post I said so just casually lol coz I don't like to refer animals as "it". Hence I used "He" but not implied him as "male". So I said don't quote me for that.

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This is perhaps the FIRST ever Ultra High Definition 4K sequence of a Snow Leopard attacking and killing its prey - a Bharal or wild Himalayan Blue Sheep. The Snow Leopard unwittingly leaps off a 400 foot high cliff, locked in a death embrace with the sheep. The two tumble down a 85 degree slope, falling onto rocks with deadly ferocity. The Snow Leopard ultimately wins and stays on to enjoy its quarry over the next few days. After 31 years of wanting to film such a dramatic sequence of a Snow Leopard, we finally got something unique! Surely the most fabulous sequence ever shot, of a predator that wins against all odds to live a life in the harsh solitude of a Himalayan winter, with every meal coming from a deadly chase. Surely one of the most fantastic natural history sequences ever recorded in the annals of wildlife filmmaking! This is the FIRST EVER sequence of a wild Snow Leopard actually making a kill on camera, and what fabulous gymnastics and callisthenics to boot! Do note the behaviour that you might otherwise miss. It allows us to do even more justice to this fascinating footage, especially as it’s been shot in 4K. There is a lot going on here that we don’t notice on first glance - for example, the way the Bharal still has the strength to attempt to pull itself away from the Snow Leopard, just after the first stage of the fall, and the manner in which the dexterous big cat is able to maneuver its body to help it survive. This footage tells us a lot about the two animals in terms of behaviour and physiology. What drama from the Himalaya! This footage is part of the broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The collection comprises of 150, 000+ hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on 4K, 200 fps slow motion, Full HD, HDCAM 1080i High Definition, Alexa and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... 

I think these can be some of the things contributing for his flexibility and bounciness in Snow Leopard and prey take deadly tumble off 400 foot cliff... Most of important thing is don't forget that HE IS A CATTT !!!

Limbs and Vertebral Column
In terms of limb proportions, the snow leopard most resembles the cheetah, which is an open-country pursuit predator (Gonyea, 1976). The humeroradial index (94.6%) is only slightly
less than that of the lion (98.3%) and the cheetah (103.3%), while the femorotibial index (105%) matches that of the cheetah, indicating longer lower limbs for a longer stride and potentially
higher running speeds. The intermembral index is only 84.7% and falls within values for other large cats. The snow leopard’s hunting behavior has been recorded on film in recent years and indicates that from an ambush it can display rapid acceleration and pursuit of bovid prey, with long leaps and sharp turns. The relatively longer tibiae would allow for more effective leaping, which is also supported by the relatively long thoracic (42.4% presacral vertebral length) and lumbar (35.6%) segments of the vertebral column, which ranked second among those of all large felids, thus allowing for more effective, efficient and flexibility in leaping and turning.
Rieger (1984) mentioned a muscle, the musculus endopectoralis (= pectoralis major), which runs from the posterior sternum to the distal humerus, and apparently acts as a “spring” when
a jumping mammal lands. Among felids the pectoralis major has the highest relative weight, emphasizing its importance in absorbing energy when landing after leaping. Snow leopards have
apparently been recorded leaping as far as 15 m across a gorge (Ognev, 1962).

Tail
The snow leopard also has a long tail (75–90% of head-and-body length; Hemmer, 1972; mean 83% in 13 males and mean 82.2% in 15 females, ACK, unpublished data), which acts as a balancing organ (Rieger, 1984), when leaping between rocks and ascending or descending steep slopes, especially while moving rapidly in pursuit of prey. The tail is also used as a muffler to insulate paws and head from the cold at high altitude when resting (Rieger, 1984). Reply