Snow leopard habitats do not need to be ‘high up in mountains’
Considering current icy temperatures, it might come as little surprise that the fossil of a snow leopard has been discovered in Portugal. But it was a huge surprise to researchers, who had no idea that snow leopards lived outside the mountains of Central Asia.
The fossil, discovered many years ago but only more recently analysed, shows that “in the Pleistocene of Portugal” (meaning, during the Ice Age), snow leopards very certainly lived here. And this has “significant implications for the conservation” of these elusive felines, with ‘secretive habits’, which have been an endangered species since the early 70s.
A study undertaken by researchers, which in Portugal are represented by the Faculty of Science and Technology of the New University of Lisbon, has been able to conclude that while snow leopards “prioritise steep, rocky terrain and cold climates”, they do not necessarily need high altitudes.
The fossil, for example, was found in Porto do Mós (central Portugal), within the district of Leiria.
A lot more research will now be undertaken, to map the anatomical development of snow leopards over time, but for now, it is simply another signpost to their little-known history.
“It was really a great surprise to find a member of this felid lineage in the Pleistocene of Portugal”, Darío Estraviz-López, a NOVA FCT PhD student in Geology who is part of the research team, admits, adding that the discovery was only possible thanks to a great deal of contextualisation with other materials from China.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
Source material: SIC Notícias
