The appearance of cats is recognized in nature, and the snow leopard has gorgeous fur and is often considered to be the most beautiful wild cat.
The number of snow leopards in the world is estimated to be 4678-8745. This is a very precious big cat, about 67% of which live in our country. Therefore, the protection of snow leopards in the world depends on China, and these in our country Due to the implementation of protective measures and education and publicity in 2006, snow leopards have now lived stably in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in my country, and the number of individuals has shown a slight upward trend.
Snow leopard is a beautiful big cat
Snow leopard is a large cat that lives near the snow line and moves in the snow. It belongs to one of the species in the genus Leopard subfamily. In addition, species of the same genus include tiger, lion, leopard, and jaguar.
We all know that the easiest way to judge leopards from other cats is to see if they can roar. This method is applicable most of the time, but it cannot be used for snow leopards. The snow leopard is the only animal in the genus Leopard that cannot roar. Its cry is somewhere between a kitten's meow and a roar, and it seems to be a sound of breathing heavily.
In fact, a long time ago, because snow leopards could not roar, they were divided into a separate genus, belonging to the genus Snow Leopard. Later, due to the study of the phylogeny of felines, it was found that snow leopards and the other five species of the genus Leopard only have It has a strong relationship and is very closely related to the tiger, so in the later revised cat taxonomy, the snow leopard was classified into the genus Leopard.
Since the snow leopard’s habitat is mainly plateau snow-capped mountains, they are naturally sensitive to changes in oxygen and have highly developed skills in regulating breathing and distributing blood, allowing them to move freely on the plateau.
Leopard species
Snow leopards are called beautiful big cats, not without reason. Most individual snow leopards weigh between 22-55 kilograms and have very thick hair. , the hair is 5-12 cm long, soft and fluffy, white or off-white, with black spots all over it. The spots on the head are smaller, but there are larger rosette-like markings on the back, the belly is white, and the eyes are gray. Or light green, with a thick and long tail.
Generally speaking, snow leopards are smaller than other species in the genus Leopard, and their bodies look rounder, shorter, and fatter, making them very cute.
Ibex
Above the snow line, the snow leopard is the largest predator. Its hunting method is similar to that of most cats. It mainly relies on cover in the surrounding environment to lurk. , wait until the prey is close, and attack. Their prey is usually various animals on the snow-capped mountains, such as argali, ibex, blue sheep, land sheep, rats, etc. Occasionally, they are seen eating carrion, and they will also go down the mountain to capture villagers' livestock. .
When snow leopards eat, they start with the internal organs, because they contain trace elements needed for survival. After the internal organs are eaten, they eat the muscles of the body, and finally the head of the prey. The survival status of snow leopards
The origin of wild snow leopards in the world is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. After historical development and changes, they now only live on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as the center and radiate to more than a dozen nearby countries and regions. , the countries with confirmed detailed distribution are:
China, Mongolia, Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia, in addition to other regions There have been reported sightings of snow leopards, but most of them have not been researched, so it is natural to confirm whether snow leopards actually exist.
However, historically, the distribution range of snow leopards has even reached Myanmar. In the past 20 years, its population has decreased by 20%. The reasons for this are obvious, mainly due to human factors. To describe it in one word, "people advance and leopards retreat".
In the Himalayas, the snow leopard’s main habitat is in the mountains at an altitude of about 3,000-5,000 meters. However, in areas such as Altai, it lives at altitudes as low as 500 meters. This is mainly due to the distribution of its prey. The bottom line is that the snow leopard is a very active predator. Although it has been found to eat carrion, research shows that it spends more time hunting for moving prey rather than searching for carrion like the brown hyena. .
In particular, blue sheep, ibex, etc. are the favorites of snow leopards. In terms of vertical habitat, they highly coincide with the distribution of snow leopards. That is to say, the abundance of wild prey determines the abundance of snow leopards. degree.
Snow leopard distribution map
In China, due to a series of appropriate protection measures such as gun bans, hunting bans and awareness of the importance of snow leopards, in the past 20 years, both the snow leopard population and the Both the ecosystem and the ecosystem have been greatly improved. The snow leopard's habitat range is approximately 1.1 million square kilometers, and its population has reached 4,500, which is more than double the number in the first assessment in 1995.
In the 1980s, the density of snow leopards in my country's Qilian Mountains was estimated to be 1 per square kilometer. By the time of the reassessment in 2015, the density had reached 3.31 per square kilometer.
Although China's snow leopard population has shown an upward trend, in the entire world environment, it has shown a continued downward trend in the number of individuals. This mainly depends on the degree of protection of snow leopards in different countries. How big is it? For example: in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan and other countries, the number of snow leopard poaching and illegal trade seizures is low, indicating that law enforcement needs to be strengthened; in Pakistan, the number of snow leopards in some areas may be even less than imagined. It has even reached the point of local extinction; in some areas of Kyrgyzstan, the development of the extractive industry is also seriously affecting the survival of snow leopards.
Overall, due to the development of the extractive industry, animal husbandry and infrastructure construction in some countries, the number of snow leopards will continue to decline in the future10. In addition, global climate warming is also affecting the survival of snow leopards in many aspects.
The causes and harms of climate warming in mining operations
We have always heard about the topic of global warming, and there is always endless things to say. In fact, to put it simply: It boils down to one sentence: Carbon emissions are being emitted in greater quantities and at a faster rate than the earth can absorb.
The culprit of climate warming is greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. People burn fossil fuels, cut down forests and burn them, etc., which will produce a large amount of carbon dioxide. These greenhouse gases can highly transmit the visible light of solar radiation, but they It can absorb infrared rays radiated from the ground, causing the earth's temperature to get higher and higher. This is what we often call the greenhouse effect.
Simple model diagram of the greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect has many hazards. In addition to the melting of glaciers and rising sea levels that we are familiar with, it will also lead to a decrease in global rainfall. Redistribution seriously affects the balance of global natural ecosystems and ultimately affects human survival.
So, low-carbon travel has never been a slogan. It is what ordinary people can do when dealing with the greenhouse effect, and it is also the easiest thing to do. Global warming will accelerate the extinction of snow leopards
Many people may say that the greenhouse effect causes glaciers to melt and can affect polar creatures, such as polar bears. We know this, but how does it affect life in the world? What about seals at high altitudes?
It is not difficult to understand if we consider the survival conditions required by snow leopards. The main habitat of snow leopards is mainly in high-altitude areas such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where there is snow all year round. Compared with the cold, snow leopards' thick fur is more afraid of heat, so in summer when the sun is directly shining, snow leopards often hide under rocks to escape the heat. .
Snow leopards are rock-dwelling animals in plateau areas. They often move around in perennial snow-covered and cold desert environments. Most of their main prey also live in this type of habitat. However, global climate change Warming has caused the forest line to move up, and the habitat that snow leopards rely on for survival has gradually shrunk to higher altitude mountains. The reduction may reach about 30% in the future.
This also means that snow leopards in the original 30 habitats around the world will be severely affected by future climate change, and may even reach the point of extinction in local areas.
Affected by the greenhouse effect, the temperature in the mountainous areas of Central Asia is rising. In the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where snow leopards are mainly concentrated, the temperature has risen by 3 degrees Celsius in the past 20 years.
Although in our intuitive understanding, we don’t seem to have much idea about the change of 3 degrees in 20 years, the impact on the global ecosystem is quite serious. The vegetation and water sources in the system Supply, prey supply, etc., have all been affected by various impacts. As a member of the plateau ecosystem, how can the snow leopard survive?
The specific impact of climate change on snow leopards is quite complex. It can be in various aspects, such as rising temperatures and melting snow in snow leopard habitats, which will significantly change the water source, water volume and water content in snow leopard habitats. Runoff, thereby reshuffling the distribution of wild forests, crop forests, agriculture, etc. in the area.
In addition, as the forest vegetation distribution baseline moves to higher altitudes, the warm climate will also make the local land that was originally unsuitable for growing crops become suitable for growing crops. With the development of agriculture and animal husbandry, With development, the increasing number of livestock will become the easiest target for snow leopards whose prey is declining and their habitats are shrinking. This will intensify human-leopard conflicts. Therefore, we have reason to believe that snow leopards will be hunted in retaliation.
Yak
In different climate periods, the entire snow leopard habitat is also undergoing different changes, showing three characteristics: expansion, contraction and fragmentation, and global warming is exactly As a result, snow leopard habitats gradually become distributed in sporadic patches, and we can almost predict the next result. Any animal whose habitat is distributed in sporadic patches will inevitably experience inbreeding. Regarding this kind of Phenomenon, we don’t need to discuss it too much to know that its disadvantages will ultimately accelerate the demise of the snow leopard. The shifting forest line has caused the habitats of leopards and snow leopards to overlap
The points we discussed above almost all focus on the environment, prey, humans, etc. to consider the impact of climate change on snow leopards, but if we look at Focusing again on a more microscopic level, there will be greater discoveries.
For example, climate change has caused the tree lines of forests such as the Himalayas to move up, and species that were previously impossible to come into contact with can now be encountered. For example, the habitat of common leopards partially overlaps with that of snow leopards. The stakes it brings cannot be explained clearly in just a few words.
Golden leopard
Take our country as an example. In the 1980s, when people were investigating the current situation of giant pandas in Wolong area, they discovered snow leopards. Further research found that, In a large area east of the Dadu River and north of the Minjiang River in Sichuan, snow leopards, giant pandas, and ordinary leopards have coexisted peacefully for millions of years.
Maybe the food habits of giant pandas and snow leopards are very different. We can easily understand that they can coexist peacefully, but the food habits of snow leopards and golden leopards are not very different. There are strong relationships in the habitat, how do they manage to coexist peacefully?
In fact, in the overall environment, the habitats of snow leopards and ordinary leopards seem to have a high degree of overlap, but if they are distributed on a vertical line, you will find that leopards occupy the territory below the tree line, while snow leopards occupy the territory below the tree line. They move above the tree line, and there are big differences between them in the vertical distribution of the same habitat. To put it simply, one lives in the same room, one sleeps on the upper bunk, and the other sleeps on the lower bunk. No intersection.
If things continue like this, a relative balance will be maintained between the two parties, but this balance will be broken as the climate and environment change.
Climate changes have changed the lifestyles of ordinary leopards and snow leopards, causing them to overlap not only in the horizontal environment, but also in the vertical distribution. In some countries and regions covered by the Himalayas, Researchers have discovered areas of overlap between common leopards and snow leopards.
In the past 50 or 60 years, 90% of leopards in China have disappeared from their habitats, but fortunately in the past 20 years, thanks to our country’s protection of the environment and wildlife , leopards gradually appeared in many areas.
Scenery of Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan
China is a country with vast territory and rich resources, and is rich in wild animal resources. Among the 30 species of cats in the world, my country has 13 species, distributed in different climates Among the types of areas, big cats seem to prefer the southwest area.
Due to the unique geographical environment and other factors in Garze Prefecture, Sichuan, as many as 7 species of cats have been discovered here, including snow leopards and leopards.
In February 2016, people used infrared cameras to photograph ordinary leopards and snow leopards on a ridge four thousand meters above sea level in the Gongga Mountain Reserve, although they did not photograph their encounter. Picture, but this also became evidence that the habitats of snow leopards and ordinary leopards overlap.
Both are species in the genus Leopard. Snow leopards are smaller in size and are naturally inferior to leopards. The overlapping habitats mean that they with the same feeding habits will form a strong competitive relationship in the same area. , leopards may invade the habitat of snow leopards, thus affecting the living conditions of snow leopards. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau may become the last refuge for snow leopards
Climate warming is affecting the environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The temperature rise here is more than twice the average rate of the northern hemisphere. As an organism at the top of the food chain in the plateau ecological environment , snow leopards play an irreplaceable role in maintaining the balance of the local ecosystem, and changes in temperature will inevitably affect the relative distribution between the snow line and the tree line.
As early as 2016, American researchers published a report showing that they modeled the impact of climate change on the habitat of snow leopards from the Earth’s last glacial maximum to 2070, and found that during different climate periods, The snow leopard's habitat will expand, shrink, and fragment. However, among the many changes, there are three places that are relatively stable, namely the Altai Mountains, the Qilian Mountains, and the Tianshan Mountains extending to the Kunlun Mountains, that is, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Perhaps when climate changes in the future, this area will become the last refuge for snow leopards. The reason why these areas can withstand the impact of climate change is mainly due to the relatively stable arid and semi-arid conditions of the Tibetan Plateau. climate, and unique plateau environment.
This may be good news for us, but it is definitely not something to be happy about. After all, this range only accounts for 35% of the global snow leopard habitat, and the remaining snow leopard habitat will become more vulnerable to climate change. Very fragile, this is sad news.