Animal irbis: description, habitat

If you were lucky enough to see this beautiful mountain cat, you will not forget this moment for the rest of your life. It's about the miracle of nature called the snow leopard. Snow leopard, leopard are other names of this animal. Mountain and snow predators are called because they live high in the snow-capped mountains.

Irbis: description of the animal

Snow leopard belongs to large predators. Its weight is from 40 to 60 kg, body length - about 130-145 cm, add to it a meter long tail. In shape, an animal called an irbis resembles a leopard or an ordinary domestic cat. The paws of the leopard are armed with narrow, sharp, curved claws. The limbs are so powerful that with their help the beast is able to jump over the ravine 9-10 m wide.

Wild Irbis cats have a wonderful "coat". Their wool is very long, lush, thick and soft to the touch. In this garment, the animals are protected from the cold even on mountain frosty peaks. Usually, such furs can boast of predators from the family of felines of smaller sizes, so that the leopard is to some extent a unique in the cat's kingdom. The coat color is light gray with a beautiful "wild" pattern in the form of dark rosettes. The abdomen and the inside of the limbs are white. In a natural habitat, this "outfit" helps the predator to disguise himself at the right time. It is interesting that, despite the loud title "predator", this cat does not know how to growl, in moments of anger, it hisses and rumbles, creating a semblance of growling. During the rut, the snow leopard sounds like purrs. In conditions of captivity, the leopard can live 27-28 years, in the natural environment, the lifespan of these predators does not exceed 20 years.

Animal irbis: where dwells in the wild

Large wild cats usually do not live high in the mountains. Snow snow leopard is an exception to the rules, it lives in the environment of stony placers, steep canyons in the rocky highlands. Not only because of its beautiful appearance, but also because of its habitat, the snow leopard is considered unique. Snow leopard occurs in the mountains of Central Asia, its area covers more than 1,230,000 square kilometers. Km. In Russia, the leopard occupied about 3% of the total area.

Lifestyle

Snow leopard is the owner and individual farmer. This beautiful predatory "cat" occupies a certain territory, marks it, carefully defends and protects it from uninvited guests. The lambis only breaks a single way of life only during the mating season.

When a wild cat checks the boundaries of its site, it always goes one route. It, like other members of the cat family, it is difficult to move around in loose snow. For this reason, predators are laying along the snow-covered pathways, along which they freely and quickly move. There are practically no enemies among animals in such a powerful beast. When the year turns out to be hungry, a snow leopard can fight wolf packs for the right to possess long-awaited prey, which is extremely dangerous. The main and, you can say, the only enemy of leopards is a man.

Ration

The favorite time for the snow leopard is twilight. If the extraction in the territory of the site belonging to the leopard is enough, it feeds without breaking boundaries. If there is not enough food, the predatory cat goes to her search, while approaching the human settlements and attacking livestock. Among the wild animals, the mountain handsome menus include: goats, moose, sheep, wild sheep, deer, marmots, hares, mice and other mammals. As a supplement to meat dishes, leopards use plant food in the form of grass and other green parts of plants. If we talk about the strength of the snow leopard, then he easily copes with prey equal in size, and can also hunt game, superior in growth and strength.

Reproduction

Animal irbis is a rare predator because of the slow rate of reproduction. Kids in these wild cats are born every year, unlike other relatives. Sexual maturity of snow leopards occurs at the age of three. Their weddings snow leopards arrange in the beginning of spring, the marriage period is in March-April. After fertilization, the female leopard nurses young for 100 days. In one litter can be from one to five kittens.

Babies are born completely helpless. Newborn leopardics are blind and deaf, their weight is about half a kilogram. Predator mother feeds her cubs with her milk for up to 4 months. When they are 50-60 days old, the female begins to feed on the crumbs with meat. Starting from the age of six months, the kittens are already accompanying the mother on the hunt and are trained in this skill.

Interesting facts about the snow leopard

• In the translation from the Turkic dialect the name "snow leopard" means "snow cat".
• The leopard is able to easily jump up to 5-6 m in length. According to hunters, in critical situations, a predator can "fly" a gorge 10 m long.
• A wild cat likes to play, especially frolic, lying around in the snow.
• When meeting a man does not burn with aggression, tries to leave and hide as soon as possible.
• About once every two weeks a leopard kills one large animal and feeds on this carcass about 3-4 days.
• Can migrate after the wild goats up to 600 km.

On the verge of extinction

As mentioned earlier, the snow leopard, unfortunately, does not belong to numerous species. To the fact that the snow leopard was on the verge of extinction, resulted in the following reasons:

• Late puberty.
• Low rates of reproduction.
• The decrease in the number of the main food of the Irbis - wild cloven-hoofed animals.
• Spread of habitat in the wild.
• Mass extermination of snow leopards because of their valuable fur.

It's good that now people have come to their senses and started to restore and preserve this species of wild cats. Irbis is listed in the Red Book as a predator, on the verge of extinction. Almost all countries of the world forbidden hunting for leopards. Let's hope that the fauna of the planet Earth will not lose such an excellent representative as a snow leopard.