2016-03-25 Fri

Did you know that Kazakhstan has snow leopard depicted on banknotes?

The 10,000 Tenge banknotes issued in Kazakhstan in 2003 features a snow leopard against a background of mountains.

The obverse of the note honours Abu Nasr al-Farabi (870–950 CE) a Turkish philosopher and scientist and one of the greatest scientists and philosophers of his time and the reverse depict a mountain scenery with an advancing Snow leopard.

These notes depicting an endangered species are also the first banknote of 10000 Tenge denominations. The snow leopard is a large cat native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The snow leopard is the National Heritage Animal of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Kazakhstan along with 11 other countries encompasses the snow leopard's range which consists of the alpine and subalpine zones at elevations from 3,000 to 4,500 m (9,800 to 14,800 ft). The depiction of snow leopards on the banknote was an initiative and an attempt to conserve and protect these snow cats.