Snow Leopard Behavior
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Learn about snow leopard behavior, including hunting, communications, and movement.
Snow leopards are shy, elusive cats. They are very rarely seen in the wild, even by the herders who share their mountain habitat.Snow leopards are most active at dawn and dusk--what scientists call a crepuscular activity pattern. In areas where there are very few people they may be active throughout the day. Or, they may become primarily nocturnal (active at night) when disturbed by human presence.
Snow leopards are not at all aggressive towards humans. There has never been a verified snow leopard attack on a human being. Even if disturbed on a kill, a snow leopard is much more likely to run away than try to defend the kill. The only time a snow leopard might become aggressive is if it feels threatened or feels its cubs are being threatened.
Like most species of cats, snow leopards are solitary animals. Sometimes a male and female pair might be seen together during mating season, or we might spot a family consisting of a mother with her young cubs. If the cubs are nearly grown the family may be incorrectly identified as a group of adult cats. However, there has been no need for a word to describe a group of snow leopards.
The sounds that snow leopards make are similar to those made by other large cats. They mew, hiss, growl, moan, yowl, and make a non-aggressive puffing sound called prusten through their nostrils. However, unlike other large cats, snow leopards cannot roar.
Because they are solitary, snow leopards mostly communicate with each other from a distance. They mark territory in a variety of ways. They scrape the ground with their hind legs, leaving a small dip with a mound beside it; use feces as markers; and spray urine against overhanging rocks, usually at nose level so other cats can easily smell their markings. Snow leopards prefer to mark along topographic features such as major ridgelines or at the base of broken cliffs. These markings--also referred to as "sign"--enable snow leopards to keep out of each other's way and avoid aggressive confrontation and injury. Scent marking in particular may help the cats locate mates during the breeding season. Snow leopard sign also provide scientists with valuable clues about where and how snow leopards live.