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Snow Leopard - Panthera uncia
Topic Started: Jan 7 2012, 08:40 PM (20,451 Views)
maker
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Genetics>head and neck morphology in modern taxonomy, otherwise thylacine is a canid.
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Irbis
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Genetic all cats very close together, that is mean puma, house cat, lynx also can be put in genus panthera. I think morphology and genetics both should be take into account. Snow leopard is not true panthera. That is why snow leopard is in subfamily pantherinae, in pantherinae there are genuses panthera, uncia and neofelis.
Snow leopard skull
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Snow leopard skeleton
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Flying snow leopard
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Edited by Irbis, Mar 20 2015, 02:44 AM.
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hawkkeye
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If snow leopard is in Uncia genus, tiger scientific name is uncia tigris. Cat, lynx and others are small cats, they belong to different subfamily (felinae). They are genetically distinct from pantherinae. Snow leopard skull morfology is sligthtly different from other panthera, but this is sign of convergent evolution with small cats, not a result of phylogenesis.
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Irbis
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In felinae there are also many genuses, what is the problem? For example Puma, Acinonyx, Prionailurus, Otocolobus,Lynx. For example neofelis genetics also very close to snow leopard, it is mean that we can call clouded leopard panthera or uncia nebulosa, but because of his morphology scientists put clouded leopard into own genus neofelis. Snow leopard also have different morphology from the members of panthera. This classifications every few years changes, because of scientists find something new. Why it can not be in its own genus uncia? What is the measure?
The scientists find the most old fossil of big cats in Tibet. The closest living relative is snow leopard. http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-panthera-blytheae-fossil-tibet-01544.html
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Edited by Irbis, Mar 20 2015, 01:46 PM.
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hawkkeye
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Irbs, do you even understand the basics of taxonomy and phylogenetics? Please, just look at basic tree of phylogenetic relationship between felidae and you got it. Clouded leopards are far more genetically distinct from panthera uncia than panthera tigris, or panthera leo. And different small (and big) cats genuses are defferent genetic lineages. Yes, panthera blythae is a true panthera genus and closest relative to snow leopard (and second closest relative to tiger). They are part of panthera lineage. Neofelis is defferent lineage, they split from panthera in miocene. As you see in this picture ( http://s53.photobucket.com/user/TigerQuoll/media/Extinct%20felines/F2large_zps42b14d3d.jpg.html ) snow leopard is inthe middle of the panthera phylogenetic tree. Which means it is a true panthera species. If you don´t get it now, I ask you a question: are lion and tiger true panthera species according to you?
Edited by hawkkeye, Mar 20 2015, 03:36 PM.
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Irbis
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Lion, leopard and jaguar more close to each other, snow leopard and tiger closer to each other, all species in subfamily pantherinae, may be tiger should be separated in another genus, because tiger anatomy is very close to lion anatomy, but genetics is more close to snow leopard. Why you think that snow leopard should be put into genus panthera? Because it genetics is close to tiger?
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hawkkeye
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Yes, because of it. Tigers and lions can produce offspring (with fertile females) and are genetically closer than many another animals which are in the same genus (species of varanus or tragelaphus for example). If we split snow leopard and tiger in separate genus, we must split a lot of species in another genuses. But yes, form uncia genus with irbis and tiger is a one of correct taxonomical ways to resolve this situation (form uncia only with irbis is not). Another is panthera genus where two lineages (jaguar, leopard, lion species complex and irbis and tiger) form two different subgenuses.
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Irbis
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I think tiger should be put in genus uncia, snow leopard form is more close to the most ancient fossils of big cats, which is found in Tibet and I think snow leopard form should be nominal. It will be correct. Do you know that puma and leopard also can have offspring, but there are in different subfamilies?
Edited by Irbis, Mar 20 2015, 06:16 PM.
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hawkkeye
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Most ancient species of big cats is probably panthera paleosinensis, which is in the same phylogenetic distance from the lion and the tiger... Panthera blythae is a sister taxon or ancestor of panthera uncia. Not a ancestor or sister taxon of any of other panthera species.
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Irbis
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May be, but the latest fossils records says that, scientists in Tibet found panthera blythae which is more old than other big cats fossils record. http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-panthera-blytheae-fossil-tibet-01544.html
Would you like to say that panthera blythae is not true panthera? If yes, that is mean that snow leopard also not true panthera, because the ancestors of snow leopard and other panthers are different. And snow leopard should be seperated in another genus - Uncia.
Edited by Irbis, Mar 20 2015, 06:54 PM.
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hawkkeye
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No... Just read what I wrote. Panthera Blythea isn´t a most ancient panthera species - this is panthera paleosinensis and some others. I repeat - Blythae is not ancient panthera form, is a SISTER taxon to panthera uncia. Or ancestor. Which means p. blythae is his CLOSEST known relative. But p. blythea IS NOT ancestor of tiger, lion, leopard, etc. P. paleosinensis and some others, not so well known and disputed species are. Panthera uncia and p. blythae are in the very simular morphologenetical relationship as panthera (leo) spelea and p. (leo) atrox are. Get it?
Edited by hawkkeye, Mar 21 2015, 07:47 PM.
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Irbis
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Snow leopards can chuff like tigers. Only tiger and snow leopard from felids can chuff.



Snow leopard and north-chinese leopard (this subspecies is very close to amur leopard) cubs together you can see the difference between them.


Snow leopard and black javan leopard cubs together you can see the difference between them. Snow leopard one day older.

Edited by Taipan, Aug 8 2016, 05:03 PM.
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Irbis
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Snow leopard climbing a tree.

Snow leopard acrobatics
Edited by Irbis, Mar 21 2015, 02:49 PM.
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Irbis
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Snow leopard prey species in Mongolian Tost mountains http://snowleopardnetwork.org/bibliography/Johansson_et_al_2015.pdf
Snow leopard even kills adult males of horse and adult males of camels))
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Edited by Irbis, Mar 25 2015, 02:41 AM.
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Taipan
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Why Do High-Altitude Snow Leopards Breathe Like Pussycats?
How these big cats thrive in low-oxygen mountain habitats is still a mystery, study says.


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Despite living at high elevation, the snow leopard breathes in a similar way to cat species at sea level, a new study says.

By Carrie Arnold, National Geographic
PUBLISHED AUGUST 05, 2015

The snow leopard might rule the high reaches of the Himalaya, but they share some unexpected similarities with the humble house cat, a new study says.

Despite living at elevations of more than 16,400 feet (5,000 meters), these spotted big cats breathe in the same way as other feline species that live at sea level—notably your pet kitty.

Anyone who has ever tried to run even a short distance on a mountain has felt the effects of high elevation. The difficulties people and other animals have breathing isn’t due to lower oxygen, but rather low air pressure at high altitudes. Each breath takes in less oxygen and fewer air molecules overall.

Without adequate oxygen, mammals can't stay warm, run to chase prey, or escape predators. To get around this, other high-dwelling animals have evolved coping strategies—in particular, many of them have more efficient hemoglobin, an oxygen-carrying protein in the blood.

Scientists wondered if snow leopards had the same adaptation. But the new research, published August 5 in the Journal of Experimental Biology, reveals they don't.

In fact, the predators take in about half as much oxygen with each breath as they would at sea level.

"We were very surprised," said study leader Jan Janecka, an evolutionary biologist at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. "Changing hemoglobin is one of the simplest ways to adapt to high altitudes."

Mountain High

Scientists already knew that low-altitude feline species generally have hemoglobin that's not good at binding with oxygen.

Even so, Janecka and colleagues suspected that they would find differences in the hemoglobin properties of snow leopards compared with other cats.

The team obtained blood samples from big cats living in various U.S. zoos, including the African lion, tiger, leopard, panther, and of course snow leopard. They also took blood from domestic housecats.

When the scientists looked at the genes that make hemoglobin, as well as the protein itself, they found no differences between snow leopards and the other cat species.

"We still don’t know how snow leopards adapted [to life at altitude]. Our study raised more questions than it answered," Janecka said.

"There Must Be Other Things Going On"

Graham Scott, an evolutionary physiologist at McMaster University who was not involved in the study, says it was "technically very well done and used state-of-the art analyses."

"What’s unique about this study is that it shows us there must be other things going on" in the leopards' ability to live at altitude, he notes.

For instance, Janecka and others believe that snow leopards might simply breathe harder to bring more oxygen into their bloodstream, and have begun studying that theory.

"As long as the animal is getting enough oxygen, natural selection isn't picky," Scott says.

“It shows," he quipped, "that there’s more than one way to skin a cat."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150805-snow-leopards-cats-animals-science-pets/




Genetically based low oxygen affinities of felid hemoglobins: lack of biochemical adaptation to high-altitude hypoxia in the snow leopard

Jan E. Janecka, Simone S. E. Nielsen, Sidsel D. Andersen, Federico G. Hoffmann, Roy E. Weber, Trevor Anderson, Jay F. Storz and Angela Fago
Received May 15, 2015.
Accepted May 18, 2015.

ABSTRACT
Genetically based modifications of hemoglobin (Hb) function that increase blood–O2 affinity are hallmarks of hypoxia adaptation in vertebrates. Among mammals, felid Hbs are unusual in that they have low intrinsic O2 affinities and reduced sensitivities to the allosteric cofactor 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (DPG). This combination of features compromises the acclimatization capacity of blood–O2 affinity and has led to the hypothesis that felids have a restricted physiological niche breadth relative to other mammals. In seeming defiance of this conjecture, the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) has an extraordinarily broad elevational distribution and occurs at elevations above 6000 m in the Himalayas. Here, we characterized structural and functional variation of big cat Hbs and investigated molecular mechanisms of Hb adaptation and allosteric regulation that may contribute to the extreme hypoxia tolerance of the snow leopard. Experiments revealed that purified Hbs from snow leopard and African lion exhibited equally low O2 affinities and DPG sensitivities. Both properties are primarily attributable to a single amino acid substitution, β2His→Phe, which occurred in the common ancestor of Felidae. Given the low O2 affinity and reduced regulatory capacity of feline Hbs, the extreme hypoxia tolerance of snow leopards must be attributable to compensatory modifications of other steps in the O2-transport pathway.

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/218/15/2402
Edited by Taipan, Sep 15 2017, 09:05 PM.
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