The Top Theories on Why Snow Leopards Bite Their Own Tails

Snow leopards are one of the mystical and mysterious of Earth’s remaining huge wild predators. Rarely seen of their desolate alpine habitats, these majestic huge cats are nonetheless cats at coronary heart. Anyone who’s ever been fortunate sufficient to share a home with a rambunctious kitten is aware of the delight they discover in discovering their snaking tail. Just like the standard home cat, snow leopards are well-known for treating their tails like toys. The Internet is filled with photographs of snow leopards biting, holding, and carrying their tails of their mouths. While it makes for cute photoshoots, scientists need to perceive the motivation behind this habits. Let’s check out the highest theories on why snow leopards chew their very own tails.

What’s a Snow Leopard?

First, let’s get to know somewhat bit about our tail-biting pals so we are able to higher perceive their habits. The snow leopard’s scientific identify is Panthera uncia. Panthera is the genus of the true huge cats – leopards, lions, jaguars, and tigers. Unlike the opposite cats, huge and little, nonetheless, snow leopards are unable to purr.

Where Do Snow Leopards Live and Who Do They Live With?

They reside within the harsh, barren, snowy mountains of central and south Asia. Sometimes referred to as the “ghosts of the mountain” by the folks learning them, snow leopards are infamous loners. After about 18 months with their mom, the elusive cats half endlessly to wander the huge alpine expanses alone. Breeding seasons are the one occasions snow leopards entertain any social inclinations.

Check out these photos from the Snow Leopard Trust of untamed snow leopards taken by digicam traps.

What Do Snow Leopards Eat?

These huge cats are recognized to hunt on ranges of as much as 385 sq. miles for his or her most popular prey of  ibex, argali, and blue sheep. Snow Leopards have unimaginable steadiness. They typically sneak up on their prey on the steep mountain slopes and sheer rocky outcrops that outline their habitat.

A snow leopard solely must take down a big prey animal each eight to 10 days on common. They are sluggish eaters, taking as much as three days to devour their meals.

What Do Snow Leopards Use Their Tails For?

Now that we’re with reference to steadiness, a snow leopard’s lengthy, hefty tail is essential to its capability to hunt prey on its vertical terrain and negotiate treacherous rocky outcrops with out falling. At greater than three ft lengthy, a snow leopard’s thick tail shops fats to assist them by way of occasions when looking is unsuccessful. That lengthy, fats tail additionally makes an ideal scarf within the frozen wastelands of their home. They will wrap their furry tail round their face and physique to assist them hold heat.

Top Theories on Why Snow Leopards Bite Their Own Tails

There are a number of good theories trying to elucidate why snow leopards chew their very own tails. If anybody’s bothered to ask the snow leopards, they aren’t speaking. We’ll in all probability by no means know for positive why these cats appear obsessive about their huge tails, however that’s not stopping us from guessing.

Snow Leopards Bite Their Tails to Keep Warm

The hottest idea explaining why snow leopards chew their very own tails is to maintain their uncovered noses and mouths heat of their bitterly chilly surroundings.

While a snow leopard’s physique is armored in opposition to the chilly by its insulated coat, the cat’s nostril and mouth doesn’t profit from the safety of the fur coat. This idea says that snow leopards maintain their tails of their mouths to behave like a furry little masks to insulate these uncovered areas.

Snow Leopards Bite Their Tails in Play

This idea takes the acquainted habits of our young home cats and extends them to their bigger cousins. A kitten in a home assaults its personal tail in an unmistakably cute act of play habits. A snow leopard’s lengthy, fluffy tail could be an irresistible play toy to a playful feline. Any cat lover will agree a cat’s shifting tail typically takes on a thoughts of its personal, inviting its proprietor to play.

Biting Their Tails Is a Learned Behavior

Although this idea is probably going true, it doesn’t clarify the origin of tail biting. Young snow leopards in captivity in all types of climates chew their tails after observing their older kin holding their tails of their mouths.

Snow Leopards Bite Their Tails Out of Stress

One key facet of tail biting is that nobody has ever noticed a snow leopard biting its tail within the wild. This habits has solely ever been documented amongst captive snow leopards. This doesn’t imply the massive cats don’t chew their tails of their pure environments, as they’re notoriously elusive, and troublesome to review within the wild. It does, nonetheless, lend credibility to the idea that the rationale we frequently see snow leopards in captivity biting their tails is as a type of stress aid.

It’s well-known that animals in captive environments have interaction in repetitive behaviors like pacing to deal with the stress of confinement. A snow leopard could chew its tail in a lot the identical method. Biting their tails could assist them really feel extra relaxed.

The Heart of a Cat

The distinction between the little lions in our dwelling rooms and snow leopards within the deepest reaches of the desolate Asian alpine mountains is of diploma, not sort. We enjoyment of watching a kitten uncover its wily tail as a lot as seeing a snow leopard pounce on a litter mate’s tail in play. Cats shall be cats, irrespective of how huge or small, whether or not they can purr or not, or whether or not they make it a behavior to pose for photographs with their tails of their mouths.

The photograph featured on the prime of this publish is © Andywak/Shutterstock.com