WildFact
›
Information Section
›
Terrestrial Wild Animals
›
Wild Cats
›
Leopard
Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia)
Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia)
|
Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia)
|
 
Morphometric data of snow leopards :-
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author https://www.researchgate.net/publication...heir_range 
Trio of snow leopards prowling in Kibber gorge of Spiti valley (India).
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Video: Image source: raachotrekkers.com 
An intriguing find of an early Middle Pleistocene European snow leopard, Panthera uncia pyrenaica ssp. nov. (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae), from the Arago cave (Tautavel, Pyrénées-Orientales, France)
Abstract A complete mandible of a leopard-sized cat from the early Middle Pleistocene Arago cave MIS 14 level (Tautavel, France) was at first assigned to the snow leopard, Panthera uncia. A subsequent comprehensive description and analysis found the mandibular corpus snow leopard-like, but interpreted the dentition more like the leopard, Panthera pardus. Thus, this cat was classified as P. pardus. The re-study given in this paper presents the key to its real evolutionary place. The extant snow leopard is characterised by an autapomorphic excessively large dentition, not found in any other Panthera species. The Arago specimen represents the symplesiomorphic small-tooth type. Subtracting this character leaves diagnostic uncertainty, when only looking at the teeth, but provides an unambiguous P. uncia assignment when looking for the unique factor combination of the mandibular corpus. We deal with an ancestral snow leopard who demonstrates that the later large dentition was not yet evolved in the early Middle Pleistocene. An abstract heading in a symposium program book proposed the name Panthera pardus tautavelensis nov. ssp., not available by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Therefore, the Arago snow leopard is named Panthera uncia pyrenaica ssp. nov. A single Panthera uncia record in the Eurasian late Middle Pleistocene from Zhoukoudian Locality 3 (China) perfectly bridges the difference between the Arago cat and the extant snow leopard. The early Middle Pleistocene European history of leopard-sized cats was originally understood as a more or less uniform development within the species P. pardus. This turns out to be a repeated replacement of different species and subspecies, involving Puma pardoides, Panthera pardus and Panthera uncia. It cannot even be excluded that snow leopards returned in each intense cold period of the Middle and Late Pleistocene from their Central Asian home to Europe. 
So now it would seem that out of the five pantherine cats, only the tiger was ever confined to one continent.
Eastern Himalayas, Nepal
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/nepali-researchers-yet-again-photograph-snow-leopard-leopard-in-same-place/?fbclid=IwAR33laHqnumofI9m3BkPbZf5AT23UEYHGvXv1yLdpTFnIJu4SyNOvFa5QcU  *This image is copyright of its original author
Adult female
 *This image is copyright of its original author https://www.zoodegranby.com/en/animals/snow-leopard 
Information regarding body mass and measurements of wild snow leopards
From 'Body measurements of free-ranging snow leopards across their range' LINK Abstract We provide body measurements of snow leopards collected from 55 individuals sampled in five of the major mountain ranges within the species distribution range; the Altai, Hindu Kush, Himalayas, Pamirs and Tien Shan mountains. Snow leopards appear to be similarly sized across their distribution range with mean body masses of 36 kg and 42 kg for adult females and adult males, respectively. In contrast to other large felids, we found little variation in body size and body mass between the sexes; adult males were on average 5% longer and 15% heavier than adult females. Important Notes from this research paper: "Data were collected from 47 snow leopards in the Pamirs (Afghanistan; n=7), Tien Shan (Kyrgyzstan; n=7), Hindu Kush (Pakistan; n=1), and the Altai (Mongolia; n=32) in 2006-2019 (Fig 1). Four of the snow leopards in Afghanistan were measured during captures, the remaining three were found dead during field work." "Similarly, individual variation in body mass and size within the sexes was rather small for the adult snow leopards compared to e.g. Persian leopards where adult male weights range from 40 to 91 kg (Farhadinia et al. 2014). Janecka et al. (2017) proposed that three subspecies of snow leopards occur based on three genetic clusters (corresponding to Altai, Himalayas and Tien Shan, Hindu Kush and Pamir), our results indicate that the snow leopards across these clusters are similarly sized." "Throughout the snow leopard distribution range, the main available prey range in size from 36 to 72 kg (Lyngdoh et al. 2014), perhaps the snow leopards are optimally sized to hunt these prey in the steep slopes and natural selection prevents individuals from becoming much larger or smaller." "Snow leopards appear to be similarly sized across their distribution range. This contrasts to the other solitary-living members of the genus Panthera (P. pardus, P. tigris and P. onca) which vary in size geographically by up to two times (e.g. average weights of adult male leopards range from 31 kg in Cape Mountains, South Africa to 66 kg in Iran; Sunquist and Sunquist 2002, Farhadinia et al. 2014, Hunter 2015)" [Map of the snow leopard distribution range (shaded grey) and the locations of the study areas (mountain ranges in red): Pamir – Hindu Kush; Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan and Chitral Gol, Pakistan, Tien Shan; Sarychat, Kyrgyzstan, Himalayas; Langu valley, Nepal and Kanchenjunga Nepal, Altai; Tost Mountains, Mongolia.]  *This image is copyright of its original author [Fig. 2. Body measurements of snow leopards, A: shoulder height measured from the heel of the front paw to top of the shoulder blade B: body length measured from the tip of the nose to base of the tail, and C:tail length measured from base of the tail to the tip of the last caudal vertebra.]  *This image is copyright of its original author [Table 1. Body measurements of adult snow leopards sampled in four mountain ranges across the snow leopard distribution range. Values are given as mean±SD (n).]  *This image is copyright of its original author
|
| Users browsing this thread: |
| 1 Guest(s) |