You’ll be looking for a while trying to find this snow leopard in its natural habitat
The animal kingdom is full of wonders that never cease to amaze us. Whilst us humans may have mastered standing on two legs and opposable thumbs, we never really decided to put our minds to camouflage.
Animals like the chameleon are probably the first ones that come to mind when you think of camouflage masters. And for bigger animals it can sometimes be difficult at first glance to appreciate just how their fur or skin patterns help keep them disguised.
That’s until you actually see them in their natural habitat though.
In this picture below, there is a snow leopard. Honestly, we’re not having you on.
As you can probably now understand from the above picture, snow leopards are one of the masters of camouflage.
Their natural habitat spreads across the mountainous regions of 12 Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Having evolved in some of the harshest environments on the planet, the snow leopard’s thick white-gray coat and large black spots are the perfect camouflage to blend into the rugged mountainside.
So good is their camouflage that they are often referred to as the ‘ghost of the mountains,’ according to WWF.
And pictures like the one above have been shared online as a challenge to see if people can spot the animal.
One person wrote: “Where ever he is, he sure blends in well”
Another joked: “I would definitely be eaten by the snow leopard.”
And a third commented: “There’s no snow and he still blends in!”
Ready for the big reveal then? Here you go…
The snow leopard is one of the rarest big cats in the world. There are estimated to be only between 4,000 and 6,500 left in the wild, and they are classed as a vulnerable species by the WWF, meaning that they face a high risk of extinction in the wild.
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