A coloring page of a snow leopard cub picking its way through fresh snow, framed by fir branches and falling flakes. The fur is drawn with soft shading, so light layers of colored pencil will hold the pattern of the rosettes rather than flatten it. Free to download and print, no registration needed.
🗣 Conversation Starters — for care activities and family time
Have you ever seen a snow leopard at a zoo?
What do you make of animals that manage to live high up in the snow?
How do you feel about the work of protecting endangered species?
Which patterned animal do you find the most beautiful?
Where do snow leopards live?
The snow leopard is a large cat of the mountains of Central and South Asia — the Himalaya, the Tien Shan, the Altai and the Tibetan Plateau, across about a dozen countries. In the southern part of that range it is usually found between roughly 3,000 and 4,500 m, but in Mongolia and southern Russia it lives a good deal lower, sometimes around 1,000 m.
Why is a snow leopard’s coat pale grey and white?
The smoky grey coat and dark rosettes break the animal’s outline up against snow and bare rock. It works mainly as hunting camouflage: a grown snow leopard has almost no natural predators, and the pattern lets it close in on blue sheep and ibex over open ground before it is noticed. Cubs, which are vulnerable, gain the protection of it too.
Is the snow leopard endangered?
It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The listing was moved down from Endangered in 2017, which reflected better survey coverage rather than any recovery. The wild population is put at a few thousand mature animals, and habitat loss, poaching and the decline of its prey remain the main pressures on it.
