{"id":250800,"date":"2026-01-18T07:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T07:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/250800\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T07:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T07:35:13","slug":"astonishing-snow-leopard-hunt-filmed-in-pakistans-remote-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/250800\/","title":{"rendered":"Astonishing snow leopard hunt filmed in Pakistan&#8217;s remote mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The snow leopard is well adapted to the high, cold and desolate mountains of Central Asia.<\/p>\n<p>Muscular legs and a tail almost as long as its body allow this elusive cat to negotiate steep, slippery terrain, while its smoky-grey fur offers excellent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/camouflage-animals-cryptic-coloration\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">camouflage<\/a> against a backdrop of rock and snow.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/facts-about-snow-leopards\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">snow leopard<\/a> is crepuscular, meaning it is most active at dawn and dusk, when it hunts a range of large prey, including blue sheep, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/snow-leopard-hunt-ibex-tost-mountains-mongolia\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ibex<\/a> and markhor \u2013 a type of horned goat that can weigh up to 110 kg \u2013 as well as small animals, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/alpine-marmot-facts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">marmots<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/wildlife\/whats-the-difference-between-rabbits-and-hares\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hares<\/a> and birds.<\/p>\n<p>In this incredible footage, a snow leopard can be seen stalking a markhor in Pakistan&#8217;s precipitous mountains. When it makes a final lunge for the animal, something unexpected happens.<\/p>\n<p>A snow leopard chases a markhor down a steep mountainside in Pakistan. Credit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/snowleopard.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Snow Leopard Trust<\/a>, there are between 3,500 and 7,000 snow leopards left in the wild. An estimated 200 to 420 of these live in the Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountains in Pakistan\u2019s northern provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.<\/p>\n<p>Top image: Snow leopard chase. Credit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The snow leopard is well adapted to the high, cold and desolate mountains of Central Asia. Muscular legs&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-250800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}