Snow Leopards
Snow Leopards
June 2008
By Douglas H. Chadwick
Photograph by Steve Winter
National Geographic Magazine
Out of the Shadows
The elusive Central Asian snow leopard steps into a risk-filled future.
When a snow leopard stalks prey among the mountain walls, it moves on broad paws with extra fur between the toes, softly, slowly, "like snow slipping off a ledge as it melts," Raghu says.
"You almost have to turn away for a minute to tell the animal is going anywhere. If it knocks a stone loose, it will reach out a foot to stop it from falling and making noise." One might be moving right now, perfectly silent and perfectly tensed, maybe close by. But where? That's always the question. That, and how many are left to see?
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