Well-suited for the rocky, cold mountain reaches of the Himalayas, the snow leopard's fur is long and thick. The basic color is either pale gray or bale brown-gray. Black markings appear as solid spots on the face, neck and legs, as well as rosettes with darker gray centers on the flanks upward to three rows of elongated spots and rings down the back to the base of the tail. The length of the head and body of the snow leopard is from 3 to 4 feet, and the tail is nearly another 3 feet long. Adults will weigh from 55 to 165 pounds.
Snow leopards are carnivores, preferring mountain goat, sheep, boars and deer.
In captivity, the snow leopard can live for more than 10 years Snow leopards are predominantly nocturnal, and usually hunt alone - For the most part, they are solitary animals except at mating season, late in the winter. Being a prodigious leaper and able to leap up to 15 yards horizontally and vertically, the snow leopard easily lives at altitudes in excess of 10,000 feet in the rugged mountains of the Himalayas and Upper Mongolia. Ironically, its superb adaptation to only one environment also threatens its existence since it can adapt to no other. A worldwide campaign has been mounted by conservationists to save this magnificent creature, in grave danger of extinction. There are almost 200 living in zoos.