Snow leopards meeting hard in season

Diet and Nutrition

Snow leopards are strict carnivores and eat whatever they find, including ibex, markhor, deer, bharal, boar, marmots, small rodents, and pikas.

Snow leopards are polygynous, with one male mating with multiple females. Breeding is from January to March. A female presents herself to a male by means of raising her tail while she walks in front of him. The gestation period lasts about 90 to 105 days. The litter usually numbers 2 to 3 cubs, but very occasionally there are 1 to 5. 

The babies are born within a rocky shelter, in a warm furry nest made from the fur of the mother’s underbelly. They are blind and helpless at birth, although already with a thick coat of fur. Their eyes open at around 7 days, and the cubs can walk at 5 weeks and are fully weaned by 10 weeks. 

The cubs leave the den when they are around 2 to 4 months of age but remain dependent upon their mother for the first year of their life. Females become reproductively mature when they are 2 to 3 years old and males at about 4 years of age.