Ირბისი

• The ounce can deal with prey three times its own weight. Its main prey are ungulates, and hunting them occurs throughout the year.
• New studies show that the ability to roar in big cats is due to other laryngeal morphological features absent in the snow leopard.
• The snow leopard usually lives about 21 years in captivity, although there is a case when a female lived 28 years.
• When only a few dozen meters remain to the prey, the snow leopard leaps from cover and quickly catches up with it in jumps of 6–7 meters.
• On the head of the snow leopard are the smallest spots, while on the legs they are larger, becoming smaller toward the feet.
• The snow leopard is not always a high-altitude animal — it lives year-round in areas of low mountains and mountain steppes at elevations of 600–1500 meters above sea level.
• The snow leopard's tail is very long, exceeding three quarters of its body length, and covered with long fur, so visually its thickness is almost equal to the thickness of the snow leopard's forearm.
• Among large cats, the snow leopard is the only permanent resident of high mountains. It inhabits alpine meadows, rocks, and the snow zone.
• The tip of the snow leopard's tail is usually black on top, contrasting with the dark gray spots on the tail.