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93-579: The Gobi measures 1,600 km (1,000 mi) from southwest to northeast and 800 km (500 mi) from north to south. The desert is widest in the west, along the line joining the Lake Bosten and the Lop Nor (87°–89° east). Its area is approximately 1,295,000 square kilometres (500,000 sq mi). Gobi includes the long stretch of desert extending from the foot of the Pamirs (77° east) to

186-581: A criminal offence that is punishable by the confiscation of property, a fine and a sentence of at least 10 years in prison. They have been protected in Bhutan since 1995. At the end of 2020, 35 cameras were installed on the outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan in hopes to catch footage of snow leopards. In November 2021, it was announced by the Russian World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that snow leopards were spotted 65 times on these cameras in

279-477: A phylogeographic analysis indicate that three subspecies should be recognised: This view has been both contested and supported by different researchers. An extinct subspecies Panthera uncia pyrenaica was described in 2022 based on fossil material found in France that was dated to the early Middle Pleistocene around 0.57 to 0.53 million years ago . Based on the phylogenetic analysis of

372-484: A Russian scientist in 2000 was a dark brown snow leopard skin from the Petrovsk-Zabaykalsky District in southern Transbaikal . The snow leopard was long classified in the monotypic genus Uncia . They were subordinated to the genus Panthera based on results of phylogenetic studies. Until spring 2017, there was no evidence available for the recognition of subspecies . Results of

465-500: A catchment area of 56,000 km (22,000 sq mi). The lake's Mongol, Uyghur and Chinese names are sometimes rendered as Bosten Hu , Bagrax-hu , Bagrasch-köl , Baghrasch köl , Bagratsch-kul , Bositeng Lake or Bositeng Hu. The Kaidu River is the most important tributary to Lake Bosten, accounting for about 83% of its water inflow, other significant tributaries are the Huangshui Ditch (Chinese: 黃水溝 ),

558-427: A few birds, e.g. the sandgrouse, lark, stonechat, sparrow, crane, Mongolian ground jay ( Podoces hendersoni ), horned lark ( Eremophila alpestris ), and crested lark ( Galerida cristata ). The structure here is that of the mighty T'ien Shan , or Heavenly Mountains, running from west to east. It divides the northern one-third of Sinkiang from the southern two-thirds. On the northern side, rivers formed from

651-526: A frigid −21 °C (−6 °F), while summertime maximums are a warm 27 °C (81 °F). Most of the precipitation falls during the summer. Although the southeast monsoons reach the southeast parts of the Gobi, the area throughout this region is generally characterized by extreme dryness, especially during the winter, when the Siberian anticyclone is at its strongest. The southern and central parts of

744-542: A high proportion of woody, fragrant plants. Gobi mutton is the most aromatic in the world. The Yulduz valley or valley of the Haidag-gol ( 43°N 83°E  /  43°N 83°E  / 43; 83 – 43°N 86°E  /  43°N 86°E  / 43; 86 ) is a mini desert enclosed by two prominent members of the Shanashen Trahen Osh mountain range, namely the chucis and

837-507: A noticeable increase in marking and calling. Females have a gestation period of 90–100 days, and the cubs are born between April and June. A litter usually consists of two to three cubs, in exceptional cases there can be up to seven. The female gives birth in a rocky den or crevice lined with fur shed from her underside. The cubs are born blind and helpless, although already with a thick coat of fur, and weigh 320 to 567 g (11.3 to 20.0 oz). Their eyes open at around seven days, and

930-461: A process known as false splitting . The word once was originally considered to be pronounced as l'once , where l' stands for the elided form of the word la ('the') in French. Once was then understood to be the name of the animal. The word panther derives from the classical Latin panthēra , itself from the ancient Greek πάνθηρ pánthēr , which was used for spotted cats. Felis uncia

1023-621: A role in chemical communication. The snow leopard is a carnivore and actively hunts its prey . Its preferred wild prey species are Himalayan blue sheep ( Pseudois nayaur ), Himalayan tahr ( Hemitragus jemlahicus ), argali ( Ovis ammon ), markhor ( Capra falconeri ) and wild goat ( C. aegagrus ). It also preys on domestic livestock. It prefers prey ranging in weight from 36 to 76 kg (79 to 168 lb), but also hunts smaller mammals such as Himalayan marmot ( Marmota himalayana ), pika and vole species. Its diet depends on prey availability and varies across its range and season. In

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1116-411: A snow leopard cannot roar , as its 9 mm (0.35 in) short vocal folds provide little resistance to airflow. Its nasal openings are large in relation to the length of its skull and width of its palate ; thanks to their size the volume of air inhaled with each breath is optimised, and the cold dry air becomes warmer. It is not especially adapted to high-altitude hypoxia . The snow leopard

1209-501: A snow leopard was photographed carrying a freshly killed woolly flying squirrel ( Eupetaurus cinereus ) near Gangotri National Park . In Mongolia, domestic sheep comprises less than 20% of its diet, although wild prey has been reduced and interactions with people are common. It is capable of killing most ungulates in its habitat, with the probable exception of the adult male wild yak . It also eats grass and twigs. The snow leopard actively pursues prey down steep mountainsides, using

1302-744: A survey of Chinese websites revealed 15 advertisements for 44 snow leopard products; the dealers offered skins, canine teeth, claws and a tongue. In September 2014, nine snow leopard skins were found during a market survey in Afghanistan. Greenhouse gas emissions will likely cause a shift of the treeline in the Himalayas and a shrinking of the alpine zone , which may reduce snow leopard habitat by an estimated 30%. Where snow leopards prey on domestic livestock , they are subject to human–wildlife conflict . The loss of natural prey due to overgrazing by livestock, poaching, and defense of livestock are

1395-613: A whole was known only very imperfectly to outsiders, as information was confined to observations by individual travelers engaging in their respective itineraries across the desert. Among the European and American explorers who contributed to the understanding of the Gobi, the most important were the following: Lake Bosten Bosten Lake ( traditional Chinese : 博 斯 騰 湖 ; simplified Chinese : 博斯腾湖 ; pinyin : Bósīténg Hú , Uyghur : باغراش كۆلى / Бағраш Көли / Baghrash Köli / Baƣrax Kɵli , Chagatai : Bostang )

1488-640: Is solitary and mostly active at dawn till early morning, and again in afternoons and early evenings. They mostly rest near cliffs and ridges that provide vantage points and shade. In Nepal's Shey Phoksundo National Park , the home ranges of five adult radio-collared snow leopards largely overlapped, though they rarely met. Their individual home ranges ranged from 12 to 39 km (4.6 to 15.1 sq mi). Males moved between 0.5 and 5.45 km (0.31 and 3.39 mi) per day, and females between 0.2 and 2.25 km (0.12 and 1.40 mi), measured in straight lines between survey points. Since they often zigzagged in

1581-435: Is a Chinese government tree-planting project begun in 1978 and set to continue through 2050. The goal of the program is to reverse desertification by planting aspen and other fast-growing trees on some 36.5 million hectares across some 551 counties in 12 provinces of northern China. The Gobi, broadly defined, can be divided into five distinct dry ecoregions , based on variations in climate and topography: The surface

1674-767: Is a freshwater lake on the northeastern rim of the Tarim Basin , about 20 km (12 mi) east of Yanqi and 57 km (35 mi) northeast of Korla , Xinjiang , China in the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture . Covering an area of about 1,000 km (390 sq mi) (together with adjacent small lakes), it is the largest lake in Xinjiang and one of the largest inland freshwater lakes in China. Bosten lake receives water inflow from

1767-455: Is a political symbol of the Tatars , Kazakhs , and Bulgars . A mythical winged Aq Bars is depicted on the national coat of arms of Tatarstan , the seal of the city of Samarqand , Uzbekistan and the old coat of arms of Astana . A snow leopard is depicted on the official seal of Almaty and on the former 10,000 Kazakhstani tenge banknote. In Kyrgyzstan, it is used in highly stylized form in

1860-610: Is absolutely sterile, and its northern foot rests upon a narrow belt of barren sand, which leads down to the depressions mentioned above. The Kuruk-tagh is the greatly disintegrated, denuded and wasted relic of a mountain range which used to be of incomparably greater magnitude. In the west, between Lake Bosten and the Tarim , it consists of two, possibly of three, principal ranges, which, although broken in continuity, run generally parallel to one another, and embrace between them numerous minor chains of heights. These minor ranges, together with

1953-405: Is confined to these same areas, is of the scantiest and is mainly confined to bushes of saxaul (Haloxylon) , anabasis , reeds (kamish), tamarisks , poplars , and Ephedra . There is little information about early habitation of the Gobi desert. Lisa Janz has proposed a system of nomenclature for early Gobi desert habitation. They are Oasis I, Oasis II, Oasis III. Oasis I is equivalent to

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2046-960: Is considered good habitat, and 14.4% is protected. In the beginning of the 1990s, the Indian snow leopard population was estimated at 200–600 individuals living across about 25 protected areas. The Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) Programme counted the number of snow leopards between 2019 and 2023 and found their number to be 718, with 477 in Ladakh , 124 in Uttarakhand , 51 in Himachal Pradesh, 36 in Arunachal Pradesh, 21 in Sikkim, and nine in Jammu and Kashmir. In summer,

2139-590: Is crisscrossed by several trade routes, some of which have been in use for thousands of years. Among the most important are those from Kalgan (at the Great Wall) to Ulaanbaatar (960 km (597 mi)); from Jiuquan (in Gansu ) to Hami 670 km (416 mi); from Hami to Beijing (2,000 km (1,243 mi)); from Hohhot to Hami and Barkul; and from Lanzhou (in Gansu) to Hami. The southwestern portion of

2232-884: Is distributed from the west of Lake Baikal through southern Siberia, in the Kunlun Mountains , Altai Mountains, Sayan and Tannu-Ola Mountains , in the Tian Shan , through Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan , Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to the Hindu Kush in eastern Afghanistan, Karakoram in northern Pakistan , in the Pamir Mountains , the Tibetan Plateau and in the high elevations of the Himalayas in India , Nepal and Bhutan . In Mongolia, they inhabit

2325-489: Is easily driven away from livestock and readily abandons kills, often without defending itself. Only two attacks on humans have been reported, both near Almaty in Kazakhstan, and neither were fatal. In 1940, a rabid snow leopard attacked two men; and an old, toothless emaciated individual attacked a person passing by. Snow leopards become sexually mature at two to three years, and normally live for 15–18 years in

2418-627: Is extremely diversified, although there are no great differences in vertical elevation. Between Ulaanbaatar ( 48°00′N 107°00′E  /  48.000°N 107.000°E  / 48.000; 107.000 ) and the small lake of Iren-dubasu-nor ( 43°45′N 111°50′E  /  43.750°N 111.833°E  / 43.750; 111.833 ), the surface is greatly eroded. Broad flat depressions and basins are separated by groups of flat-topped mountains of relatively low elevation 150 to 180 m (490 to 590 ft), through which archaic rocks crop out as crags and isolated rugged masses. The floors of

2511-693: Is fringed by a string of deep depressions, ranging from Lukchun (130 m (427 ft) below sea level) to Hami (850 m (2,789 ft) above sea-level). To the south of the Kuruk-tagh lie the desert of Lop Nur , the Kum-tagh desert, and the valley of the Bulunzir-gol . To this great swelling, which arches up between the two border-ranges of the Chol-tagh and Kuruk-tagh, the Mongols give

2604-498: Is mostly due to the climate conditions before the growing season, which influence the rate of evapotranspiration and subsequent plant growth. The expansion of the Gobi is attributed mostly to human activities, locally driven by deforestation , overgrazing , and depletion of water resources, as well as to climate change . China has tried various plans to slow the expansion of the desert, which have met with some success. The Three-North Shelter Forest Program (or "Green Great Wall")

2697-419: Is vulnerable to trampling by livestock and off-road vehicles (effects from human intervention are greater in the eastern Gobi Desert, where rainfall is heavier and may sustain livestock). In Mongolia, grasslands have been degraded by goats, which are raised by nomadic herders as a source of cashmere wool . Large copper deposits are being mined by Rio Tinto Group . The mine was and remains controversial. There

2790-614: Is whitish. They are stocky, short-legged, and slightly smaller than other cats of the genus Panthera , reaching a shoulder height of 56 cm (22 in), and ranging in head to body size from 75 to 150 cm (30 to 59 in). Its tail is 80 to 105 cm (31 to 41 in) long. Males average 45 to 55 kg (99 to 121 lb), and females 35 to 40 kg (77 to 88 lb). Occasionally, large males reaching 75 kg (165 lb) have been recorded, and small females under 25 kg (55 lb). Its canine teeth are 28.6 mm (1.13 in) long and are more slender than those of

2883-546: The DNA sequence sampled across the living Felidae , the snow leopard forms a sister group with the tiger ( P. tigris ). The genetic divergence time of this group is estimated at 4.62 to 1.82 million years ago . The snow leopard and the tiger probably diverged between 3.7 to 2.7 million years ago . Panthera originates most likely in northern Central Asia. Panthera blytheae excavated in western Tibet's Ngari Prefecture has been initially described

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2976-710: The Greater Khingan Mountains, 116–118° east, on the border of Manchuria ; and from the foothills of the Altay, Sayan , and Yablonoi mountain ranges on the north to the Kunlun , Altyn-Tagh , and Qilian mountain ranges, which form the northern edges of the Tibetan Plateau , on the south. A relatively large area on the east side of the Greater Khingan range, between the upper waters of

3069-495: The Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to southern Siberia , Mongolia and western China . In the northern part of its range, it also lives at lower elevations. Taxonomically , the snow leopard was long classified in the monotypic genus Uncia . Since phylogenetic studies revealed the relationships among Panthera species, it has since been considered a member of that genus . Two subspecies were described based on morphological differences, but genetic differences between

3162-602: The Mesolithic from 13500 cal BP to 8000 cal BP. During this time people began using oases . It is characterized by: Oasis II is equivalent to the Neolithic from 8000 cal BP to 5000 cal BP. People used the oases extensively. It was characterized by: Starting around 8000 cal BP there was a warm wet phase in the Gobi desert. By 7500 cal BP lake levels in the Western Gobi reached their peak. Around this time there

3255-632: The Red Data Book of the Russian Federation as threatened with extinction. Hunting snow leopards is only permitted for the purposes of conservation and monitoring, and to eliminate a threat to the life of humans and livestock. Smuggling of snow leopard body parts is punished with imprisonment and a fine . Hunting snow leopards has been prohibited in Afghanistan since 1986. In China, they have been protected by law since 1989; hunting and trading snow leopards or their body parts constitute

3348-1097: The Snow Leopard Trust , and the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union . Also supporting the initiative were the Snow Leopard Network, the World Bank 's Global Tiger Initiative , the United Nations Development Programme , the World Wild Fund for Nature , the United States Agency for International Development , and Global Environment Facility . The Moscow Zoo exhibited the first captive snow leopard in 1872 that had been caught in Turkestan . In Kyrgyzstan, 420 live snow leopards were caught between 1936 and 1988 and exported to zoos around

3441-633: The Songhua (Sungari) and the upper waters of the Liao-ho, is reckoned to belong to the Gobi by conventional usage. Some geographers and ecologists prefer to regard the western area of the Gobi region (as defined above): the basin of the Tarim in Xinjiang and the desert basin of Lop Nor and Hami ( Kumul ), as forming a separate and independent desert, called the Taklamakan Desert . Much of

3534-592: The family Felidae . The species is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia . It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is estimated to number fewer than 10,000 mature individuals and is expected to decline about 10% by 2040. It is mainly threatened by poaching and habitat destruction following infrastructural developments. It inhabits alpine and subalpine zones at elevations of 3,000–4,500 m (9,800–14,800 ft), ranging from eastern Afghanistan ,

3627-526: The 170 protected areas in their range countries are smaller than the home range of a single male snow leopard. Snow leopards leave scent marks to indicate their territories and common travel routes. They scrape the ground with the hind feet before depositing urine or feces , but also spray urine onto rocks. Their urine contains many characteristic low molecular weight compounds with diverse functional groups including pentanol , hexanol , heptanol , 3-octanone , nonanal and indole , which possibly play

3720-557: The 1950s. In India, the snow leopard is granted the highest level of protection under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 , and hunting is sentenced with imprisonment of 3–7 years. In Nepal, they have been legally protected since 1973, with penalties of 5–15 years in prison and a fine for poaching and trading them. Since 1978, they have been listed in the Soviet Union ’s Red Book and is still inscribed today in

3813-535: The Ghashiun-Gobi and the Kuruk-tagh is determined by the aforementioned arrangements of the latitudinal valleys. Most of the principal streams, instead of flowing straight down these valleys, cross them diagonally and only turn west after they have cut their way through one or more of the transverse barrier ranges. To the highest range on the great swelling Grigory Grum-Grshimailo gives the name of Tuge-tau , its altitude being 2,700 m (8,858 ft) above

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3906-710: The Gobi (known also as the Xitao or the "Little Gobi") encompasses the distance between the great northern loop of the Yellow River to the east, the Ejin River to the west, and the Qilian Mountains and narrow rocky chain of Longshou, 3,200 to 3,500 m (10,500 to 11,500 ft) in altitude, to the southwest. The Ordos Desert , which covers the northeastern portion of the Ordos Plateau (also near

3999-492: The Gobi Desert have variable plant growth due to this monsoon activity. The more northern areas of the Gobi are very cold and dry, making it unable to support much plant growth; this cold and dry weather is attributed to Siberian-Mongolian high pressure cells. Hence, the icy dust and snowstorms of spring and early summer plus early January (winter). The Gobi Desert is the source of many important fossil finds, including

4092-449: The Gobi desert is shrubs adapted to drought. These shrubs included gray sparrow's saltwort ( Salsola passerina ), gray sagebrush , and low grasses such as needle grass and bridlegrass . Due to livestock grazing, the amount of shrubs in the desert has decreased. Several large nature reserves have been established in the Gobi, including Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park , Great Gobi A and Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area . The area

4185-733: The Gobi in winter as snow is blown by the wind from the Siberian Steppes. These winds may cause the Gobi to reach −40 °C (−40 °F) in winter to 45 °C (113 °F) in summer. However, the climate of the Gobi is one of great extremes, with rapid changes of temperature of as much as 35 °C (63 °F) in 24-hour spans. In southern Mongolia, the temperature has been recorded as low as −32.8 °C (−27.0 °F). In contrast, in Alxa , Inner Mongolia, it rises as high as 37 °C (99 °F) in July. Average winter minimums are

4278-445: The Gobi is not sandy, instead resembling exposed bare rock. The Gobi is overall a cold desert, with frost and occasionally snow occurring on its dunes . Besides being quite far north, it is also located on a plateau roughly 910–1,520 m (2,990–4,990 ft) above sea level, which contributes to its low temperatures. An average of about 194 mm (7.6 in) of rain falls annually in the Gobi. Additional moisture reaches parts of

4371-532: The Han-gai ( Obruchev 's Gobi formation) which are characteristic of the southern parts of eastern Mongolia, are absent here or occur only in one locality, near the Shara-muren river. They are greatly intersected by gullies or dry watercourses. Water is scarce, with no streams, no lakes, no wells, and precipitation falls seldom. The prevailing winds blow from the west and northwest, and the pall of dust overhangs

4464-795: The Himalayas, it preys mostly on Himalayan blue sheep, Siberian ibex ( C. sibirica ), white-bellied musk deer ( Moschus leucogaster ) and wild boar ( Sus scrofa ). In the Karakoram , Tian Shan , Altai and Mongolia's Tost Mountains, its main prey consists of Siberian ibex, Thorold's deer ( Cervus albirostris ), Siberian roe deer ( Capreolus pygargus ) and argali. Snow leopard feces collected in northern Pakistan also contained remains of rhesus macaque ( Macaca mulatta ), masked palm civet ( Paguma larvata ), Cape hare ( Lepus capensis ), house mouse ( Mus musculus ), Kashmir field mouse ( Apodemus rusiges ), grey dwarf hamster ( Cricetulus migratorius ) and Turkestan rat ( Rattus pyctoris ). In 2017,

4557-521: The Lake Bosten, though parted from it by the drift-sand desert of Ak-bel-kum (White Pass Sands), has at first a west-northwest to east-southeast strike, but it gradually curves round like a scimitar towards the east-northeast and at the same time gradually decreases in elevation. At 91° east, where the principal range of the Kuruk-tagh system wheels to the east-northeast, four of its subsidiary ranges terminate, or rather die away somewhat suddenly, on

4650-895: The Mongolian and Gobi Altai Mountains and the Khangai Mountains . In Tibet , they occur up to the Altyn-Tagh in the north. They inhabit alpine and subalpine zones at elevations of 3,000 to 4,500 m (9,800 to 14,800 ft), but also lives at lower elevations in the northern part of their range. Potential snow leopard habitat in the Indian Himalayas is estimated at less than 90,000 km (35,000 sq mi) in Jammu and Kashmir , Ladakh , Uttarakhand , Himachal Pradesh , Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh , of which about 34,000 km (13,000 sq mi)

4743-601: The Qingshui River ( 清水河 ), and Wulasite River ( 烏拉司特河 ). An active fishery exists on the lake. Until the early 1970s, two cyprinid species, Schizothorax biddulphi and Aspiorhynchus laticeps , the latter of which is endemic to Bosten Lake and the Yarkand River , were responsible for 80 percent of the annual catch. During the years 1962 to 1965, various carp species ( bighead , black , silver , grass , common , and crucian carp ) were introduced into

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4836-618: The State Agency on Environmental Protection and Forestry under the government of Kyrgyzstan. The meeting was held in Bishkek , and all countries agreed that the snow leopard and the high mountain habitat need trans-boundary support to ensure a viable future for snow leopard populations, and to safeguard its fragile environment. The event brought together many partners, including NGOs like the Snow Leopard Conservancy ,

4929-569: The Trans-Ili Alatau mountains since the cameras were installed. In 2013, government leaders and officials from all 12 countries encompassing the snow leopard's range (Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) came together at the Global Snow Leopard Forum (GSLF) initiated by the then-President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev , and

5022-526: The age of about 22 months, but stayed in her vicinity for a month and moved out of his natal range at 23 months of age. The snow leopard has a generation length of eight years. Major threats to the population include poaching and illegal trade of its skins and body parts. Between 1999 and 2002, three live snow leopard cubs and 16 skins were confiscated , 330 traps were destroyed and 110 poachers were arrested in Kyrgyzstan. Undercover operations in

5115-500: The brink of a long narrow depression (in which Sven Hedin sees a northeast bay of the former great Central Asian lake of Lop-nor), having over against them the écheloned terminals of similar subordinate ranges of the Pe-shan (Boy-san) system (see below). The Kuruk-tagh is throughout a relatively low, but almost completely barren range, being entirely destitute of animal life, save for hares, antelopes and wild camels, which frequent its few small, widely scattered oases. The vegetation, which

5208-425: The cat to balance in rocky terrain. The tail is very thick due to fat storage, and is covered in a thick layer of fur, which allows the cat to use it like a blanket to protect its face when asleep. The snow leopard differs from the other Panthera species by a shorter muzzle, an elevated forehead , a vertical chin and a less developed posterior process of the lower jaw . Despite its partly ossified hyoid bone ,

5301-428: The central parts, until the bordering mountains are reached, trees and shrubs are utterly absent. Clay and sand are the predominant formations; the watercourses, especially in the north, being frequently excavated 2 to 3 m (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) deep. In many places in the flat, dry valleys or depressions farther south, beds of loess , 5 to 6 m (16 to 20 ft) thick, are exposed. West of

5394-482: The country as in the Taklamakan and the desert of Lop . Characteristic of the flora are wild garlic, Kalidium gracile , wormwood , saxaul , Nitraria schoberi , Caragana , Ephedra , saltwort and the grass Lasiagrostis splendens . The taana wild onion Allium polyrrhizum is the main browse eaten by many herd animals, and Mongolians claim that this is essential in producing the proper, hazelnut-like notes of camel airag (fermented milk). The vast desert

5487-815: The country revealed an illegal trade network with links to Russia and China via Kazakhstan. The major skin trade center in the region is the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang . In Tibet and Mongolia, skins are used for traditional dresses, and meat in traditional Tibetan medicine to cure kidney problems; bones are used in traditional Chinese and Mongolian medicine for treating rheumatism , injuries and pain of human bones and tendons . Between 1996 and 2002, 37 skins were found in wildlife markets and tourist shops in Mongolia. Between 2003 and 2016, 710 skins were traded, of which 288 skins were confiscated. In China, an estimated 103 to 236 animals are poached every year, in Mongolia between 34 and 53, in Pakistan between 23 and 53, in India from 21 to 45, and in Tajikistan 20 to 25. In 2016,

5580-451: The cubs can walk at five weeks and are fully weaned by 10 weeks. The cubs leave the den when they are around two to four months of age. Three radio-collared snow leopards in Mongolia's Tost Mountains gave birth between late April and late June. Two female cubs started to part from their mothers at the age of 20 to 21 months, but reunited with them several times for a few days over a period of 4–7 months. One male cub separated from his mother at

5673-437: The depressions lie mostly between 900 and 1,000 m (3,000 and 3,300 ft) above sea-level. Further south, between Iren-dutiasu-nor and the Yellow River , comes a region of broad tablelands alternating with flat plains, the latter ranging at altitudes of 1000–1100 m and the former at 1,070 to 1,200 m (3,510 to 3,940 ft). The slopes of the plateaus are more or less steep and are sometimes penetrated by "bays" of

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5766-413: The first dinosaur eggs , twenty-six of which, averaging 23 centimetres (9 in) in length, were uncovered in 1923. Archeologists and paleontologists have done excavations in the Nemegt Basin in the northwestern part of the Gobi Desert (in Mongolia), which is noted for its fossil treasures, including early mammals , dinosaur eggs , and prehistoric stone implements , some 100,000 years old. Despite

5859-829: The foot of the mountains, with barren shingle. Although on the whole a level country with a general altitude of 1,000 to 1,500 m (3,300 to 4,900 ft), this section, like most other parts of the Gobi, is crowned by a network of hills and broken ranges of at least 300 m in elevation. The vegetation is confined to a few varieties of bushes and a dozen kinds of grasses and herbs, the most conspicuous being saxaul ( Haloxylon ammondendron ) and Agriophyllum gobicum . The others include prickly convolvulus , field wormwood ( Artemisia campestris ), acacia , Inula ammophila , Sophora flavescens , Convolvulus ammanii , Peganum and Astragalus species, but all dwarfed, deformed and starved. The fauna consists of little but antelope, wolf, fox, hare, hedgehog, marten, numerous lizards and

5952-408: The great northern loop of the Yellow River) is part of this ecoregion within the middle basin of three great depressions into which Potanin divides the Gobi. "Topographically," says Nikolai Przhevalsky , "it is a perfectly level plain, which in all probability once formed the bed of a huge lake or inland sea." He concludes this based on the level area of the region as a whole, the hard saline clay and

6045-494: The harsh conditions, these deserts and the surrounding regions sustain many animal species. Some are even unique, including black-tailed gazelles , marbled polecats , wild Bactrian camels , Mongolian wild ass and sandplovers . They are occasionally visited by snow leopards , Gobi bears , and wolves . Lizards are especially well-adapted to the climate of the Gobi Desert, with approximately 30 species distributed across its southern Mongolian border. The most common vegetation in

6138-406: The increasing aridity between 3500 cal BP and 3000 cal BP there was a decline in human habitation in the Gobi desert. Prehistoric petroglyphs have been found in Southern Mongolia in 1997. The Gobi had a long history of human habitation, mostly by nomadic peoples. The name of Gobi means desert in Mongolian. The region was inhabited mostly by Mongols , Uyghurs , and Kazakhs . The Gobi Desert as

6231-426: The kracenard pine rallies, running perpendicular and far from one another. As they proceed south, they transcend and transpose, sweeping back on east and west respectively, with Lake Bosten in between. These two ranges mark the northern and the southern edges respectively of a great swelling, which extends eastward for nearly twenty degrees of longitude. On its northern side, the Chol-tagh descends steeply, and its foot

6324-417: The lake. In the 1970s, these species become major targets of the fishing activities. Since 1978, the introduced European perch has been the dominating species in the catches from Bosten Lake. This Xinjiang location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Snow leopard The snow leopard ( Panthera uncia ) is a species of large cat in the genus Panthera of

6417-404: The level of the sea and some 1,200 m (3,937 ft) above the crown of the swelling itself. This range he considers to belong to the Choltagh system, whereas Sven Hedin would assign it to the Kuruk-tagh. This last, which is pretty certainly identical with the range of Kharateken-ula (also known as the Kyzyl-sanghir , Sinir , and Singher Mountains ), that overlooks the southern shore of

6510-416: The lowlands. As the border-range of the Hyangan is approached, the country steadily rises up to 1,370 m (4,490 ft) and then to 1,630 m (5,350 ft). Here small lakes frequently fill the depressions, though the water in them is generally salty or brackish. Both here and for 320 km (199 mi) south of Ulaanbaatar, streams are frequent and grass grows more or less abundantly. Through all

6603-468: The major drivers for the ever decreasing snow leopard population. Livestock also cause habitat degradation, which, alongside the increasing use of forests for fuel, reduces snow leopard habitat. The snow leopard is listed in CITES Appendix I . They have been listed as threatened with extinction in Schedule I of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals since 1985. Hunting snow leopards has been prohibited in Kyrgyzstan since

6696-592: The modern emblem of the capital Bishkek , and the same art has been integrated into the badge of the Kyrgyzstan Girl Scouts Association . It is also considered to be a sacred creature by the Kyrgyz people . A crowned snow leopard features in the arms of Shushensky District in Russia. It is the state animal of Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh in India. The 1978 book The Snow Leopard

6789-443: The momentum of its initial leap to chase animals for up to 300 m (980 ft). Then it drags the prey to a safe location and consumes all edible parts of the carcass. It can survive on a single Himalayan blue sheep for two weeks before hunting again, and one adult individual apparently needs 20–30 adult blue sheep per year. Snow leopards have been recorded to hunt successfully in pairs, especially mating pairs. The snow leopard

6882-439: The name of Ghashuun-Gobi or "Salt Desert". It is some 130 to 160 km (81 to 99 mi) across from north to south, and is traversed by a number of minor parallel ranges, ridges and chains of hills. Down its middle runs a broad stony valley, 40 to 80 km (25 to 50 mi) wide, at an elevation of 900 to 1,370 m (2,950 to 4,490 ft). The Chol-tagh, which reaches an average altitude of 1,800 m (5,900 ft),

6975-481: The oldest known Panthera species and exhibits skull characteristics similar to the snow leopard, though its taxonomic placement has been disputed by other researchers who suggest that the species likely belongs to a different genus. The mitochondrial genomes of the snow leopard, the leopard and the lion ( P. leo ) are more similar to each other than their nuclear genomes , indicating that their ancestors hybridised at some point in their evolution . Fossils of

7068-521: The operation will be exempt from windfall tax ). The Gobi Desert is expanding through desertification , most rapidly on the southern edge into China, which is seeing 3,600 km (1,390 sq mi) of grassland overtaken every year. Dust storms increased in frequency between 1996 and 2016, causing further damage to China's agriculture economy. However, in some areas desertification has been slowed or reversed. The northern and eastern boundaries between desert and grassland are constantly changing. This

7161-401: The other Panthera species. The snow leopard shows several adaptations for living in cold, mountainous environments. Its small rounded ears help to minimize heat loss, and its broad paws effectively distribute the body weight for walking on snow. Fur on the undersides of the paws enhances its grip on steep and unstable surfaces, and helps to minimize heat loss. Its long and flexible tail helps

7254-656: The precipitous terrain, they actually moved up to 7 km (4.3 mi) in a single night. Up to 10 individuals inhabit an area of 100 km (39 sq mi); in habitats with sparse prey, an area of 1,000 km (390 sq mi) usually supports only five individuals. A study in the Gobi Desert from 2008 to 2014 revealed that adult males used a mean home range of 144–270 km (56–104 sq mi), while adult females ranged in areas of 83–165 km (32–64 sq mi). Their home ranges overlapped less than 20%. These results indicate that about 40% of

7347-409: The principal ranges, divide the region into a series of long; narrow valleys, mostly parallel to one another and to the enclosing mountain chains, which descend like terraced steps, on the one side towards the depression of Lukchun and on the other towards the desert of Lop. In many cases these latitudinal valleys are barred transversely by ridges or spurs, generally elevations en masse of the bottom of

7440-399: The ranges from 200 to 500 m (660 to 1,640 ft) higher, though in a few cases they reach altitudes of 2,400 m (7,900 ft). The elevations do not form continuous chains, but make up a congeries of short ridges and groups rising from a common base and intersected by a labyrinth of ravines, gullies, glens, and basins. But the tablelands , built up of the horizontal red deposits of

7533-431: The route from Ulaanbaatar to Kalgan , the country presents approximately the same general features, except that the mountains are not so irregularly scattered in groups but have more strongly defined strikes, mostly east to west, west-north-west to east-south-east, and west-south-west to east-north-east. The altitudes are higher, those of the lowlands ranging from 1,000 to 1,700 m (3,300 to 5,600 ft), and those of

7626-479: The sand-strewn surface and, lastly, the salt lakes which occupy its lowest parts. For hundreds of kilometers, nothing can be seen but bare sands; in some places, they continue so far without a break that the Mongols call them Tengger (i.e. sky). These vast expanses are absolutely waterless, nor do any oases relieve the unbroken stretches of yellow sand, which alternate with equally vast areas of saline clay or, nearer

7719-594: The snow and glaciers of the high mountains break through barren foothill ranges and flow out into an immense, hollow plain. Here the rivers begin to straggle and fan out, and form great marshes with dense reed-beds. Westerners call this terrain the Dzungarian desert. The Chinese also call it a desert, but the Mongols call it a 'gobi'—that is, a land of thin herbage, more suitable for camels than for cows, but capable also, if herds are kept small and moved frequently, of sustaining horses, sheep, and goats. The herbage comprises

7812-548: The snow leopard found in the Pabbi Hills of Pakistan were dated to the Early Pleistocene . The snow leopard's fur is whitish to grey with black spots on the head and neck, with larger rosettes on the back, flanks and bushy tail. Its muzzle is short, its forehead domed, and its nasal cavities are large. The fur is thick with hairs measuring 5 to 12 cm (2.0 to 4.7 in) in length, and its underbelly

7905-640: The snow leopard usually lives above the tree line on alpine meadows and in rocky regions at elevations of 2,700 to 6,000 m (8,900 to 19,700 ft). In winter, they descend to elevations around 1,200 to 2,000 m (3,900 to 6,600 ft). They prefer rocky, broken terrain, and can move in 85 cm (33 in) deep snow, but prefers to use existing trails made by other animals. Snow leopards were recorded by camera traps at 16 locations in northeastern Afghanistan's isolated Wakhan Corridor . The snow leopard's vocalizations include meowing, grunting, prusten and moaning. They can purr when exhaling. It

7998-564: The two have not yet been confirmed. It is therefore regarded as a monotypic species . The species is widely depicted in Kyrgyz culture . The Old French word once , which was intended to be used for the Eurasian lynx ( Lynx lynx ), is where the Latin name uncia and the English word ounce both originate. Once is believed to have originated from a previous form of the word lynx through

8091-399: The valley. Where such elevations exist, there is generally found, on the east side of the transverse ridge, a cauldron-shaped depression, which some time or other has been the bottom of a former lake, but is now nearly a dry salt-basin. The surface configuration is in fact markedly similar to that which occurs in the inter-mount latitudinal valleys of the Kunlun Mountains . The hydrography of

8184-444: The wild. In captivity they can live for up to 25 years. Oestrus typically lasts five to eight days, and males tend not to seek out another partner after mating, probably because the short mating season does not allow sufficient time. Paired snow leopards mate in the usual felid posture , from 12 to 36 times a day. They are unusual among large cats in that they have a well-defined birth peak. They usually mate in late winter, marked by

8277-569: The world. The Bronx Zoo housed a live snow leopard in 1903; this was the first ever specimen exhibited in a North American zoo. The first captive bred snow leopard cubs were born in the 1990s in the Beijing Zoo . The Snow Leopard Species Survival Plan was initiated in 1984; by 1986, American zoos held 234 individuals. The snow leopard is widely used in heraldry and as an emblem in Central Asia. The Aq Bars ('White Leopard')

8370-780: Was a skin of a female snow leopard collected in the Altai Mountains . He also clarified that several leopard ( P. pardus ) skins were previously misidentified as snow leopard skins. Felis uncioides proposed by Thomas Horsfield in 1855 was a snow leopard skin from Nepal in the collection of the Museum of the East India Company . Uncia uncia was used by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1930 when he reviewed skins and skulls of Panthera species from Asia. He also described morphological differences between snow leopard and leopard skins. Panthera baikalensis-romanii proposed by

8463-493: Was meadow steppe vegetation around lakes. In Ulaan Nuur there may have been shrubby riparian woodlands. Oasis III is equivalent to the Bronze Age from 5000 cal BP to 3000 cal BP. It is characterized by: Bronze Age herder burials have been found in the Gobi desert, as well as Karasuk bronze knives, and Mongolian deer stones . Between 5000 cal BP and 4500 cal BP there was a period of desertification . Due to

8556-469: Was significant opposition in Mongolia's parliament to the terms under which the mine will proceed, and some are calling for the terms to be renegotiated. Specifically, the contention revolves primarily around the question of whether negotiations were fair (Rio Tinto is far better resourced) and whether Rio Tinto will pay adequate taxes on the revenues it derives from the mine (an agreement was reached whereby

8649-580: Was the scientific name used by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1777 who described a snow leopard based on an earlier description by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon , assuming that the cat occurred along the Barbary Coast , in Persia , East India and China . The genus name Uncia was proposed by John Edward Gray in 1854 for Asian cats with a long and thick tail. Felis irbis, proposed by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1830,

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