linguistic:voice_change
Cultural significance

The snow leopard is widely used in heraldry and as an emblem in Central Asia. The Aq Bars ('White Leopard') is a political symbol of the Tatars, Kazakhs, and Bulgars. 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 Astana. A snow leopard is depicted on the official seal of Almaty and on the former 10,000 Kazakhstani tenge banknote. In Kyrgyzstan, it is 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. It is also considered to be a sacred creature by the Kyrgyz people. 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.

The 1978 book The Snow Leopard is an account by Peter Matthiessen about his two-month journey through the Dolpo region of the Nepal Himalayas in search of the snow leopard.