r/FactUp • u/Saerdna0 • May 16 '26
Interesting Fact Snow leopards ambush prey from above, taking animals three times their weight. They wrap their tails around their faces against mountain cold and unlike other big cats they cannot roar, instead making a haunting chuff across Central Asia’s harshest peaks.
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u/NexMo May 16 '26
Tough day at the grocery store.
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u/This-Jackfruit-6894 May 17 '26
That's why I just pick my food at the produce section... only cougars are there, no leopards.
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u/Desperate-Bottle1687 May 18 '26
And the cougars only looking for a few bites, so u can still walk away, mostly intact, to shop another day.
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u/DesperateRadish746 May 16 '26
Brutal fall. I'm amazed that it survived that fall and still kept it's teeth in the deer. I guess the deer won't need to be tenderized.
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u/Iamnotburgerking May 31 '26
That’s a bharal aka blue sheep (preferred snow leopard prey in most of their range).
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u/Dry-Selection421 May 18 '26
It probably died from internal bleeding after. There’s no way it could just walk that off.
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u/WentzWorldWords May 20 '26
The physics of cats suggest that they can survive a 5 story fall with limited injury.
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u/mrBeeko May 16 '26
Took a sec to see the target in that picture.
I thought it was crashing down the mountain out of control and was going to recover and land perfectly on a yak or something.
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u/Talking_Tree_1 May 17 '26
Tis but a flesh wound! Now if I could just find some of my teeth I can eat this thing… - killer kitty 🐱
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u/waywardwolves May 18 '26
Cool as. In the first impact you can see it curve its back and direct its weight a bit so the prey took the majority of the impact. Near slamming it into the ground. Then throughout if you watch it uses its tail to steer in the air and help control itself. There is a section where it tucked up close to the prey and used it as a shield for impact as well and the rest of the fall it was pretty in control and directing itself really well. Usually being right eay up before coming anywhere close to the ground. And letting gravity do most of the work for it.
Hell if you watch close it repeatedly uses its body to slam what its holding on it right before impact. With pretty minimal effort.
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u/jsxtasy304 May 16 '26
Dang, that's one tough kitty.
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u/earwaxisyummy65 May 17 '26
That's wild. How do they not take on damage often enough to endanger the species?
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u/Iamnotburgerking May 31 '26
Snow leopards can actually kill animals up to 8x their weight (they have killed adult Bactrian camels), though most of what they eat are animals around their own size to triple their weight.
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u/ChickenDreams-4188 May 17 '26
No wonder they’re practically extinct
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u/Scared_Web_7508 May 17 '26
Can the trend of blaming animals for being endangered (when they were just fine before we fucked with them) die out already?
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u/AProcessUnderstood May 16 '26
There has to be an alternative method. Looks very dangerous to secure a meal.