Classification

Domain:	Eukaryote	Has membrane-bound nucleus
Kingdom:	Animalia	Multicellular , heterotrophic
Phylum:	Chordata	It has a spinal chord
Class:	Mammalia	It has hair all over it’s body, warm blooded, feeds it’s offspring with milk from it’s body
Order:	Carnivora	Meat eater
Family:	Felidae	It’s a cat
Genus:	Panthera	Molecular studies show similarities
Species:	Uncia	Panthera uncia is the scientific name for the snow leopard

The phylogenetic tree depicted below is based on nuclear genes (nDNA) specifically base pairs bp. There has been and still is much controversy over the genus of the snow leopard. Some scientists believe it should be placed in it's own genus Uncia making it's scientific name Uncia uncia; while others maintain that it holds strong similarities to the genus panthera. The scientists that believe the snow leopards should be placed in their own genus think this because they categorize the snow leopard as an intermediate cat linking the big cats and small cats. Characteristics that make them believe the snow leopard is not a big cat include their inability to roar like a big cat can and  eating position, typically eats in a crouched position whereas big cats eat laying down. However, recent molecular studies have confirmed the snow leopard as being closer related to the big cats placing it in the genus Panthera. Click here to view websites of the snow leopards relative made biology students from spring 2007 the Jaguar, the lion and a more distantly related cat the Cheetah.