Snow Leopards - by Kennady, Grade 4

I decided to do a report on snow leopards because I'm interested in big cats and I think they are cute.

Snow leopards have dense, woolly fur to keep warm. Their fur is yellowish-white or grey with black spots and rosettes. This provides camouflage on the rocky mountains where they live. They have large paws that work like snowshoes. They use their long tails to help them balance or like a scarf to keep warm. An average adult weighs between 77 and 121 pounds, is about 24 inches tall, and is about 6 or 7.5 feet long.

Snow leopards are usually shy, and are most active at dawn and dusk. They are not aggressive to humans. Each adult has a home range where they live and hunt, but they don't usually defend their territory. Snow leopards mainly hunt and eat mountain sheep and goats. It can take 3 to 4 days to eat a sheep or goat. They will also eat small animals like marmots, pikas, hares, rodents, and game birds.

Mating season is from January to March and the cubs are born in June or July. A mother will have 2 or 3 cubs at a time. Cubs open their eyes at about 7 days old and eat their first solid food at 2 months old. When they are 3 months old they start following their mother and learning to hunt. They are independent at 18 to 22 months old.

Snow leopards live in the mountains of central Asia. They are found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Snow leopards are rare and are listed as endangered.

I enjoyed learning about snow leopards and I hope that they are protected so they don't become extinct. I am glad I can watch snow leopards at many zoos.

©2011 Kennady Thorpe. All rights reserved. This content appears on Homeschool Coffee Break with the permission of the author, but may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written consent of the author.

• this report was written by Kennady, with a little help from Mom, as described in this post.

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