If it seems the snow leopard was custom-designed by evolution to reign the mountains of high Asia, a recent publication actually bears that out. The team investigated the forelimb of the snow leopard and found that it has evolved with functional adaptations that balance the demands of head-first descent, pouncing, climbing across rocky terrain, restraint of large prey, rapid pursuit, and navigating deep snow.
Snow Leopard Trust Science and Conservation Director, Dr. Koustubh Sharma tweeted his commentary about this incredible video.
And this is how we bring down prey on the steep mountains… Only to stroll down and pick up the groceries. Edith Barschi, accompanied by @VedantThite captures a rare natural history moment on camera, records a #snowleopard hunting an urial in Ladakh pic.twitter.com/Dr3xydV5cX
— Koustubh Sharma (@koustubh_sharma) March 15, 2023
Urial is a wild mountain ungulate belonging to the group from which humans captured and domesticated sheep some 11000 years ago. Our Executive Director, Dr. Charu Mishra recently wrote a fascinating article about this species here.
In another video of the same hunt, @VedantThite gets outstanding close-up shots and captures the spectacular maneuvers of the #snowleopard. The way the majestic tail is used to navigate quick turns on the slope is beyond stunning pic.twitter.com/CCFol8S9Ge
— Koustubh Sharma (@koustubh_sharma) March 15, 2023
The snow leopard apparently pursued the herd of urial for hours. Stalked in the morning, went for a siesta in the day, then came back in the evening, picked its target and went for the charge. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, it chose one with an injured forelimb.
Now if you go back to the first video, the speed that the urial achieves, despite the injury, is just mind boggling… Congratulations Edith, Jonathan and Vedant for this incredible sighting, and thank you for sharing!
Update from Vedant for those wondering about carrying it up:
“The snow leopard dragged the kill a few meters & rested. Must have removed the rumen overnight to reduce weight. Saw it midway up the mountain the next morning. Others saw it later, dragging it into a crevice…”
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Special thanks to @VedantThite and Edith Barschi for sharing their amazing videos with us.
AMAZING! Its basically running straight down a cliff!❤🤩
Truly amazing. Thank you for sharing this and everything else you post here, plus the newsletters to remind us to check! Long live the Snow Leopard.
WAOW, feel sorry for the Urial but thankful for feeding the hungry stomach of our beloved snowleopard.Waow, just amazing, how both run off the mountain with such ease and agility! Thank you for sharing!
Hello,
Thanks for this new publication on this “balancing hunter”, it’s just impressive.
Thank you for your commitment and for sharing your experiences.
Greetings from the Swiss Alps.