Snow leopards live in extreme environments and are notoriously difficult to spot and photograph because of their fur that helps them blend in. Photographer Ismail Shariff was fortunate to have the opportunity to take a series of photos that show how difficult it is to spot a snow leopard in the wild.
Shariff, a 41-year-old professional wildlife and nature photographer living in India, is extremely passionate about photographing snow leopards and has been pursuing this passion for the past decade, and after many years. After years of trying, he finally caught one in 2014 in Hemis National Park in Ladakh, India, which is famous for its snow leopard population.
Since then, Shariff has been fortunate to take many pictures of the snow leopard, both up close and from a distance. To show how well camouflaged snow leopards help them blend in with their surroundings, Shariff shared five photos to challenge viewers to find the leopards in them. Every picture has at least one snow leopard, can you find them? If not, see the answer at the end of the post.
In this picture there are 3 snow leopards
In this picture there are 4 snow leopards
This photo has 1 child
There is 1 snow leopard in this photo
The last photo has one
In addition to being a master of camouflage, the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is classified as endangered. It is estimated that there are less than 10,000 individuals living in the wild in the world, found at altitudes of more than 3,000m across South Asia.
This number is expected to continue to decline in the coming years as snow leopards continue to face threats from habitat loss as well as from poachers, so seeing one for a photo can will be more and more difficult in the future.
Answer:
Reference: Petapixel
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