Animal Adaptations

 

Shake, shake! The leaves rustle as the snow leopard hides in a bush and gets ready to pounce on a small bird. 3…2…1…Pounce! The snow leopard grabs the bird with it’s sharp claws and starts ripping it’s pray to pieces.

Keeping Warm

The snow leopard’s habitat can be in the snow or mountains of central Asia. They don’t get cold in thew snow because of their thick coat of fur that keeps it warm. At night, when they sleep, they wrap their tails around them to keep warm. That is why their tails are 100cm long. They have wide and short nasal cavities so it warms the air before it gets to the lungs. Another way they keep warm is that a female snow leopard covers it’s home with it’s own fur. A female snow leopard weighs 34 to 54 kg. Snow leopards can also be found in trees, bushes and plants. They also store a layer of fat under their skin. They have to adapt to the cold. 

Hunting

Snow leopards have a coat that matches the colour of the snow so they can pounce on pray without being seen. Snow leopards can pounce up to 15 meters! Snow leopards pull their claws into their paw pads to keep their claws sharp and clean. They need to keep their claws sharp because they need to climb the snow and if their claws aren’t sharp they won’t be able to climb. The snow leopard needs to have sharp claws to grab onto it’s pray. 

Diet

Snow leopards eat goats, sheep, birds, monkeys and any other small mammal. 

Fun Fact

A snow leopard can’t roar but they can yowl really loudly.