Snow Leopard
Snow Leopard
Mammal
An elusive big cat adapted to the freezing, steep mountains of Central Asia.
💡 Fun Facts
- They use their long, thick tails for balance on steep cliffs and wrap them around their bodies for warmth like a scarf.
- Their large paws act like natural snowshoes to prevent them from sinking into the deep snow.
- Unlike most big cats, they cannot roar.
Name Story
Panthera uncia
means “the panther called the ounce”
What does its name mean?
- Panthera — panther, big catLatin and Greek panthēr
- uncia — the old English name 'ounce' for this cat — which began as a mistakeLatinised from 'ounce'
- ounce — came from mishearing 'the lynx'French l'once ('the lynx'), with the 'l' wrongly dropped
The snow leopard's old name, 'ounce', has nothing to do with weight. Long ago people said l'once, meaning 'the lynx' in French — then mistook the 'l' for the little word 'the' and dropped it, leaving 'once', which became 'ounce'. A great grey cat with a name born from a slip of the tongue!