|
Snow Leopard With Long Tail
|
The snow leopard is the National Heritage Animal of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Naming and etymology
Both the latinized genus name, Uncia, and the occasional English name ounce are derived from the Old French once, originally used for the European lynx. Once itself is believed to have arisen by back-formation from an earlier variant of lynx, lonce – the "l" of lonce was construed as an abbreviated la ('the'), leaving once to be perceived as the animal's name. This, like the English version ounce, came to be used for other lynx-sized cats, and eventually for the snow leopard.
|
|