Research overview: snow leopard habitat selection in alpine terrain

Snow leopards inhabit the high mountains of Central and South Asia, selecting steep, broken terrain that aids stalking and escape. This overview synthesizes telemetry and survey studies showing that snow leopards favor cliffs, ridgelines, and rugged slopes near the upper limit of vegetation, where they ambush wild sheep and goats and move along travel routes that follow ridges and valley edges. It reviews how elevation, slope, ruggedness, and prey distribution shape habitat use, and how snow leopards range across some of the most extreme landscapes occupied by any cat. The synthesis frames the species as a specialist of high, rocky country. For enthusiasts it explains why snow leopards are so hard to see, why they cling to cliffs and ridgelines, and how their preference for rugged terrain reflects both their hunting style and their need to navigate a vertical alpine world.