Video: Snow Leopard jumps off a cliff in Himachal’s Kibber Sanctuary

A snow leopard was seen defying gravity by launching itself off a cliff, moving across the air to leap to the snow-covered surface of the next mountain, in the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh.

In a video posted by travel wildlife content creator Ismail Shariff, the wild beast was seen leaping a long distance, risking its own life while showing its prowess.

Calling it a lifetime shot, Ismail Shariff said that what he witnessed was ‘nature’s parkour at its finest’.

Known as the ‘ghosts of the mountains’, snow leopards live in various snow-capped mountain ranges in Asia including the Himalayas of the Indian subcontinent, the Kunlun Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau, the Sayan Mountains of Siberia, etc.

Short, lightweight, and covered with extremely camouflaged skins, the snow leopards can launch themselves to up to six times the length of their body.

Spotting these alpine predators is a rare sight, and their first photograph was reportedly taken only in 1970. Often shy, the snow leopards are known to leave their prey behind, so as not to be seen by other animals, including humans.

They prefer to live in rocky alpine terrains that complement their whitish-to-grey fur, with black spots on the head and neck and larger rosettes on the back. With a white underbelly and bushy tails, these wildcats can live in extremely cold weather of the mountains.

According to the Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) programme, 718 snow leopards live in India, with 477 in Ladakh, 124 in Uttarakhand, 51 in Himachal Pradesh, 36 in Arunachal Pradesh, 21 in Sikkim, and nine living in Jammu and Kashmir.