Snow Leopard

Snow leopards are not actually closely related to leopards. In fact they split from tigers more recently. Their worldwide wild population is thought to fall between 4000 and 6500, though as they are incredibly hard to see it is hard to count these cats accurately.

A Margay from Costa Rica Taken by Supreet Sahoo

Currently found from the Northern points of Mexico (it has not been seen in the USA since 1855 – indeed the only USA record comes from this time,, however fossils show it once ranged through Southern Texas, and may even have roamed as through Georgia Florida and South Carolina – or at least an animal very similar) through central America to Brazil and Paraguay and even reaching as far south as Uruguay and Argentina.

This map shows the former and current snow leopard range. Unfortunately the red is the former range

They are found throughout the Himalayas,  including Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. However, remember that generally the snow leopards are free to cross borders, so their range is likely to be spotty.

It is hard to get accurate figures or indeed locations of where snow leopards are found, should you be looking at going on a snow leopard tour, they will know where snow leopards are currently found. As we link with people we will add these below. our news section

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