Among the least known and elusive cats in the world, the snow leopard lives above the tree line, where it hunts. Solitary and nocturnal, the leopard's thick fur adapts it to the cold climate. That turns out to be incredibly beneficial. The snow leopard spends its time between 4,000 and 15,000 feet from winter to spring, respectively.The elusive snow leopard can melt away unseen and invariably spots the human intruder first. Its pelt is smoky gray with a tinge of yellow, its spots forming open rosettes. Best identified by its 3 foot long tail and its size -- about that of a large dog -- snow leopards rarely descend into the coniferous forest belt and are most frequently spotted north of the main Himalaya along the Tibetan border. Ibex and bharal are primary food items in large parts of their range, but with the depletion of native ungulates, snow leopards have turned to livestock for sustenance. Strong and solitary, they nevertheless communicate to each other through signs such as scrapes -- shallow depressions scuffed in the ground (atop rocky promontories, along river bluffs near stream confluences and along the edge of sharp ridge lines), usually with a pile of dirt at one end. Snow leopards rarely number more than half a dozen in a particular valley.
Red Panda
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The red or lesser panda of the eastern Himalaya is easily recognized by its white face, dark eye patches, rich chestnut back, dark limbs and faintly ringed tail. It is known to sunbathe in the early spring, having just come out of hibernation, and is supposed to live only on south-facing slopes. They live in temperate forests above 5,000 feet, where the animal spends its days sleeping in trees.Panda behaviour in the wild is predicted to be constrained principally by a need for efficient acquisition and conservation of energy. In the evening, it descends to the ground to hunt for food, climbing back to its roost in the morning. Bamboo is the panda's staple diet because its nutritional quality varies little seasonally; as a result, bamboo provides up to 100 percent of a panda's diet. (In summer, however, the panda may turn to fruit and mushrooms as a supplementary diet.) A pair will forage together, or there may be a family party of parents and young.Amazingly, a panda digests 12 to 23 percent dry matter, and ingests up to 45 percent of its own body weight daily. Sight, hearing and smell are not particularly developed. Its mating season is not known, but the usually two young are born in the spring and remain with the mother until they are about a year old.
They are threatened by extinction in the Himalayas.