Snow leopards have symbolic meaning for Turkic peoples of Central Asia, where the animal is known as irbis or bars, so it is widely used in heraldry and as an emblem. The snow leopard in heraldry is sometimes known in English as the ounce. The cat has long been used as a political symbol, the Aq Bars ('White Leopard'), by Tatars, Kazakhs, and Bulgars, among others. A snow leopard is found on the official seal of the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the former 10,000 Kazakhstani tenge banknote also featured one on the reverse. A mythical winged Aq Bars is found in the national coat of arms of Tatarstan, the seal of the city of Samarqand, Uzbekistan, and (also with a crown) the old coat of arms of the Kazakh capital, Astana. 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, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The Snow Leopard award, given to Soviet mountaineers who scaled all five of the Soviet Union's 7,000-meter peaks, is named after the animal, but does not depict one.[citation needed] The cat is the state animal of Himachal Pradesh, a north Indian state in the western Himalayas. The animal has also been declared the "National Predator" of Pakistan (Wikipedia).
3 Comments
mark farrell 13 Jul 2018
This is fantastic looking!! Beautiful use of colours!!Mark Peterson 07 Jul 2018
Beautiful work Barbara!Joanie Holliday 07 Jul 2018
FANTASTIC WORK BARB. I KNOW I CAN'T BUT WOULD LOVE TO RUN MY FINGERS THROUGH THAT FUR A GIVE HIM A HUG. THE REAL THING THAT IS, NOT YOUR CANVAS. :) :) :)