10 Facts You Never Knew About Snow Leopards

Thu 6th May

Today we celebrate our beautiful snow leopard, Panja’s 10th birthday! To celebrate such a landmark birthday, we have chosen our 10 favourite snow leopard and Panja facts to share with you. Snow leopards are incredibly illusive in the wild, sometimes taking years for a wildlife expert to spot one in their natural habitat. Panja acts as a wonderful ambassador for his wild counterparts. We hope that his amazing character will spark an affinity between animal and human. From this, we hope that we can work together to save this species from extinction. Zoological Society of Hertfordshire is dedicated to wildlife conservation. By donating to our charity through tickets, animal experiences and adoptions, you are supporting our charity’s mission to keep species, like the snow leopard, out of extinction.

 

 

  1. Panja was born in 2011 and came to Paradise Wildlife Park from a zoo in the Czech Republic in 2013
  2. According to Snow Leopard Trust, snow leopards are known for being non-aggressive towards humans. However, we would not condone approaching a snow leopard or any big cat without appropriate safety measures
  3. Snow leopards are more closely related to tigers than they are other leopard species!
  4. Panja is so loved up with his partner snow leopard Jessie. They are often spotted cuddling up together on our CCTV camera or playing about in the daytime
  5. Snow leopards cannot roar due to the physiology of their throats. They tend to communicate through “chuffing” instead.
  6. You can often spot a snow leopard wrap themselves up in their tail. This is a natural behaviour to keep them warm in colder climates.
  7. You can meet Panja and Jessie at Paradise Wildlife Park and even have an incredible animal experience with them!
  8. The genus name, Uncia, is derived from the Old French word once, which was originally used for the European lynx. The snow leopard is still occasionally called ounce.
  9. There are only up to 6,390 snow leopards left in the wild.
  10. Snow leopards would leave markings on their environment in order to communicate with other snow leopards. These can include scratchings or scent marks.

 

What fact was your favourite? We would love to know on our social media!

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