Two wild snow leopards are snapped in a rare photograph – but can you see them?
Wildlife photographer David Jenkins photographed the snow leopards in the remote wilderness of the Indian Himalayas Photo: David Jenkins/Caters
Pictured casually strolling across the face of a mountain in the Indian
Himalayas, the endangered snow leopards are barely visible against a
background of rock and shale. Taken by experienced wildlife photographer, David Jenkins, 41, the Irishman
braved temperatures of -20 degrees in an effort to get a glimpse of the
legendary creature. But after two weeks enduring the harsh climates of the Indian Himalayas,
Jenkins finally got a break in the form of a boy from a local village who
had noticed blood on the coats of nearby sheep, a strong sign of snow
leopard activity.
(Caters)
After scurrying to gather their equipment, Jenkins and his team then tracked
the leopards to a nearby location and even managed to snap the normally
skittish animals looking incredibly relaxed.
(Caters)
Jenkins said: "The snow leopard was incredibly hard to spot, it the most difficult animal I have ever tried to photograph. It has perfect camouflage and lives in such difficult terrain that simply walking around and staying warm is challenging for humans. They are also rare, endangered and are often extremely shy of people. We only came across the leopard because a local boy was walking through the valley and noticed some sheep running away. One of the sheep had blood on it and it turned out the herd were being chased by a snow leopard. The boy ran down to the camp and told us what he'd seen, immediately we all jumped up, cameras at the ready. It is extremely rare to get an opportunity like this with a leopard at close range, especially if you are not using a remote camera trap or if there is not a kill nearby. This snow leopard was incredibly relaxed, I was so lucky. They are similar in size to other leopards and perfectly adapted to their environment, they have small ears to minimize heat loss and a tail that grow up to 1 meter that they use to wrap around themselves to keep warm. I have been photographing and working with big cats, polar bears, great white sharks and other large predators for around 20 years but this was easily my greatest and most difficult challenge to date."
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