More about Snow leopards

This incredible animal has been known to leap as far as 15 metres and can travel up to 40km in a single night.

Location: Kangchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA), Nepal

Habitat: Snow leopards prefer steep terrain, broken by cliffs, rocky outcrops and ravines. They live at high altitudes, usually at elevations of 3,000-4,500 metres, although they occasionally go above 5,500 metres in the Himalayas.

Wild population: As few as 4,000 are thought to remain in the wild.

The threats to snow leopards

• Poaching, for their bones and precious fur
• Loss of their natural prey due to hunting
• Loss and damage of habitat due to overgrazing of domestic livestock
• Conflict with people

How your adoption can help:

• £60 (or £5 a month) could pay for 10 torches to help snow leopard monitoring and prevent attacks on livestock (snow leopards are mostly active at night)
• £120 (or £10 a month) could pay for the initial training for a community-based anti-poaching patrol
• £150 (or £12.50 a month) could help train Nepali law enforcement officers, helping them to reduce the illegal cross-border trade in snow leopard skin and bone

The snow leopards of the sacred Himalayas

It's likely that there are at least ten snow leopards in Kangchenjunga Conservation Area, Nepal. Paw prints (known as pugmarks) suggest that at least one of them is a cub. Snow leopards are very elusive and it's rare to see one in the wild, but five individuals have been photographed by camera traps.