The snow leopard is an elusive feline with reserved habits and, until now, it was believed to be the only one that lives exclusively at altitude, in the mountains of Central Asia.
A snow leopard fossil discovered in Portugal, in Porto de Mós, was investigated by an international team of scientists, which includes Portuguese, with the aim of unraveling the mysteries of this endangered species and reinforcing conservation.
The discoveries about the evolution and adaptations of the snow leopard lineage during the last ice age, published in ‘Science Advances’, have significant implications for the conservation of this lineage, according to the researchers, represented in Portugal by the Faculty of Sciences and Technology at Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
But the study of the partial snow leopard skeleton discovered in 2000 in Porto de Mós, which includes a skull and is known as the ‘Leopardo do Algar da Manga Larga’, challenges long-held assumptions about this cat’s habitat preferences.
The study argues that snow leopards prioritize steep, rocky terrain and cold climates, without necessarily needing high altitudes.
While common leopards evolved to hunt fast, agile prey in partially forested habitats, snow leopards developed distinctive features for taking down robust prey like mountain goats, including larger molars, domed skulls, and stronger jaws and paws.
Their survival in rocky, barren terrain also depended on other fundamental adaptations: improved binocular vision, a large ectotympanic cranial structure for better hearing, powerful limbs to withstand the impact of jumping between rocks, and a long tail for balance.
These adaptations developed rapidly during the Quaternary, particularly from the middle Pleistocene onwards (82,800 to 355,000 years ago on the geological time scale).
Future investigations will explore the neuroanatomy and paleoecology of the Manga Larga leopard, according to NOVA FCT.
“It was really a great surprise to find a member of this lineage of felids in the Pleistocene of Portugal”, said Darío Estraviz-López, a PhD student in Geology at NOVA FCT who is part of the research team, adding that this discovery was only possible thanks to great contextualization with other materials from China.
The snow leopard was classified as a “vulnerable” species in 2017, after having been classified as an endangered species since 1972.
