The snow leopard prefers morning and evening activities, and has more nighttime activities than daytime activities, with early morning and dusk being the peak of predation and activities, especially dusk. It is agile and alert, flexible and good at jumping, and can jump from a high cliff of 3-4 meters; the farthest it can jump is 15 meters and the highest is 6 meters. It has a certain route up and down the mountain, preferring to walk along the ridges and valleys, and often along the trails it treads. The snow leopard changes its fur twice a year.
Snow leopards are capable of killing prey up to three times their own weight. They eat blue sheep, Argali wild sheep, ibex, marmots, pikas, deer and other small mammals. The animals which snow leopards typically hunt—such as the Argali sheep—are also hunted by local communities. As their natural prey becomes harder to find, snow leopards are often forced to kill livestock for survival, in many cases leading to retaliatory killings of snow leopards by local farmers or herders.
Hunting, habitat loss, retaliatory killings as a result of human-wildlife conflict, poaching and climate change are the biggest threats that snow leopards face. Snow leopard habitat range continues to decline from human settlement and increased use of grazing space. Climate change poses perhaps the greatest long-term threat to snow leopards. Impacts from climate change could result in a loss of up to 30% of the snow leopard habitat in the Himalayas alone.
The snow leopard is widely used in heraldry and as an emblem in Central Asia. It has long been used as a political symbol, the Aq Bars ('White Leopard'), by Tatars, Kazakhs, and Bulgars. A snow leopard is depicted on the official seal of Almaty and on the former 10,000 Kazakhstani tenge banknote. A mythical winged Aq Bars is depicted on the national coat of arms of Tatarstan, the seal of the city of Samarqand, Uzbekistan and the old coat of arms of Nur-Sultan. In Kyrgyzstan, it has been used in highly stylized form in the modern emblem of the capital Bishkek, and the same art has been integrated into the badge of the Kyrgyzstan Girl Scouts Association. A crowned snow leopard features in the arms of Shushensky District in Russia. It is the state animal of Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh in India.