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A Year in the Life: Winter

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Read the second in a four-part series of articles about the lives of wild snow leopards at different times of year
Editor's Note: This is the second in a four-part series of articles about the lives of wild snow leopards at different times of year.

Winter means deep snow throughout the mountains of Central Asia where wild snow leopards live. The harsh winter weather makes clear how well the snow leopard is adapted to its environment. Its thick fur grows longer in the winter—up to 12 centimeters (nearly 5 inches) long on its belly. Its large, broad paws act like snowshoes, helping the cat walk on top of the drifts of snow, and long fur between its toes helps protect its feet from frostbite. The snow leopard even has a built-in scarf, its long, bushy tail that it often wraps around its body and face for added warmth when resting.

Despite these advantages, winter is a hard time for snow leopards. Human-snow leopard conflicts often increase in the winter, as the cats follow the herds of their wild prey down to lower altitudes where they are also more likely to come in contact with humans. Food is scarce, and hungry snow leopards occasionally kill and eat domestic livestock, increasing the possibility of retribution killings by herders.

Although snow leopards are solitary, they have overlapping home ranges, which helps males and females find each other during the mating season from January to March. A female will sometimes climb to the top of a peak or ridgeline and make long, wailing calls to let males in the area know she is ready to mate. The cats also communicate with each other through scent marking and other sign along snow leopard trails. When they mate, a male will usually stay with a female for about a week before returning to his solitary rounds. Cubs will be born in spring or early summer.

For more information, go to Cat Facts. To see wild snow leopard mating behavior, watch the Snow Leopards Mating video clip from the documentary Silent Roar.