As its name suggest, these snow leopards require habitats where the climate is mostly cold and dry limiting their habitat range between the end of the tree line and the beginning of the mountains. With their bodily features adapted to such climates, a change in temperatures can be a threat to their well-being and survival.

With the issue of global warming, global temperatures are steadily increasing leading to melting snow caps, hotter weathers and rising water levels. As we humans complain about scorching hot weathers, we cannot forget that these leopards are not spared from the effects of global warming. Rising temperatures has led to receding snow lines forcing these leopards to move higher up the mountain slopes where herbivore preys are harder to find due to scarce vegetation. This limits the food supply to these cats posing a threat to their survival.

With the impacts from climate change, it is estimated that this could result in the loss of up to 30 percent of the snow leopard population in the Himalayas alone. Changes in the natural environment can pose a greater threat to the livelihood of these endangered cats than we imagined.