ALLISON MAHER STERN SNOW LEOPARD Central Park Zoo

Snow leopards are as mysterious as they are beautiful. In the wild, a sighting is quite rare, as the few thousand that remain tend to spend their time hidden high in the Asian hills. Thick fur and padded feet keep snow leopards insulated and warm in cold weather. Snow leopards have the thickest coat of any large cat, making them well prepared for winter weather. Snow leopards are an... Show more

Snow leopards are as mysterious as they are beautiful. In the wild, a sighting is quite rare, as the few thousand that remain tend to spend their time hidden high in the Asian hills. Thick fur and padded feet keep snow leopards insulated and warm in cold weather. Snow leopards have the thickest coat of any large cat, making them well prepared for winter weather. Snow leopards are an endangered species due to hunting and poaching for the fur trade. The Wildlife Conservation Society works to protect snow leopards in Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China. Hiking in the hills of northern Pakistan in the 1970s, WCS Senior Conservationist George Schaller spotted a snow leopard some 150 feet away. "Wisps of clouds swirled around," he later wrote in Stones of Silence, "transforming her into a ghost creature, part myth and part reality."