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The Snow Leopard is a big cat native to South and Central Asia. Weighing in at 40 kg. the Snow Leopard is small for a big cat. Despite this, they have the longest tail (proportionally) of any cat, the tail being almost as long as the rest of the body. The fluffy tail of the Snow Leopard has its uses: it acts as a balance for the cat, and can be wrapped around the body to provide warmth in the cold mountain air. The Snow Leopard is not very aggressive, and will not strongly defend their territory when other Snow Leopards get near. When living in areas near humans, the Snow Leopard will change its behavior patterns to avoid unnecessary confrontations with the humans. A solitary animal, the Snow Leopard is known for its secrecy and difficulty to spot, their pelts making them incredibly difficult to pick out in their homeland.

Speaking of pelts, the much sought after pelts of the Snow Leopard have led to the Snow Leopard becoming a common target of poachers. While the Snow Leopard was recently (three months before time of writing) upped to a status of Vulnerable, from Endangered, there are plenty of threats to the already small population of Snow Leopards. The big three are habitat destruction/loss of food sources, retaliation killings following a Snow Leopard eating livestock (due to the aforementioned loss of food sources), and the illegal fur market selling pelts for several thousands of US dollars per.

If you’d like to donate to help the Snow Leopard, here’s a few good places to put your money, approved by the Global Snow Leopard Forum no less. There’s the |Snow Leopard Trust, the |Snow Leopard Conservancy, and the |Snow Leopard Network. The Global Snow Leopard Forum is a yearly conference between 12 countries that make up the Snow Leopard’s range. Any of these groups are pretty good and help with the conservation efforts.