Majestic

There are nine recognized subspecies of leopards, which include African, Indian, Javan, Arabian, Amur, North Chinese, Caucasian, Indochinese and Sri Lankan. Interestingly, snow leopards do not belong to any of these categories. Snow leopards live in harsh locations such as on the higher altitude of mountains or in extremely cold environments. For thousands of years, their body has developed to adapt to those conditions. On one sunny day in the Himalayas, this majestic creature was captured walking in the snow, showing off his beautiful body and fur for all the world to see.

While I enjoy all wildlife creatures, cats are by far my most favorite animals. I have been forever fascinated by the snow leopards ability to dominate in places that are very inhospitable. In the Himalayas, snow leopards live in the elevated ranges between 3000 to 5000 meters where the temperature could plunge to subzero in a moments notice. As a result, the snow leopards body has evolved to tolerate these harsh conditions. Its thick fur helps to insulate them from these extreme temperatures. Its large paws allow them to navigate the steep snowy mountains and its long think tail preserves heat and works as a shield from bitter cold winds. The most striking thing to me is despite these severe living conditions, the snow leopard has evolved into a beautiful animal. Nature provided an amazing gift to the world and I wanted to take this opportunity to show some respect to its accomplishment.

In this painting, I set out to present a young snow leopard who is confident and ready to rule his world.