Snow Leopard

Uncia uncia. Also ounce. Schönbrunn Zoo. 1943.

Snow leopards are the most threatened big cats on Earth. Thanks to a breeding program, they can now frequently be seen at zoos, but are seldom displayed at museums.

NOTHING BUT A ZOO ANIMAL?
The snow leopard inhabits the high mountain regions of Central Asia and is ideally adapted to the cold. It grows a long winter coat with a thick undercoat. Their extremely long tails, thickly covered with fur, help them maintain their balance when jumping; when they rest, the tip of the tail is laid over the nose to protect it from the cold. Large sinus cavities warm the cold air they breathe. Fur on the undersides of their wide paws stops the snow leopard from sinking very far into the snow.
The female on display came from Schönbrunn Zoo, where she died at on 16 January 1943. Initially only her pelt was kept at the NHM. It was not until 15 years later that the skin was mounted on an artificial form and reworked to a mannequin mount for the exhibition area.
Until the 1950s, snow leopards in zoos were regarded as a something unusual and were almost exclusively animals caught in the wild that did not survive long behind bars. Only in the 1970s was breeding successful; today more than 600 snow leopards are kept in captivity, amongst others at Salzburg Zoo.
This does not compensate for their threatened status in the wild. In their entire natural habitat, there is no transnational cooperation to protect these loners; not least for this reason, attempts to reintroduce animals to the wild have had little success. The snow leopard is also still illegally hunted for its fur. Furthermore, previously sparsely populated areas are increasingly being used to keep cattle, further restricting the snow leopard’s habitat. Zoos are not an adequate substitute.