Leopard

Leopard (Panthera pardus) Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Felidae Genus: Panthera Species: P. pardus Distribution Map Conservation Status: Lower risk

The solitary leopard is an elusive and cautious animal, difficult to see in the wild despite its important Serengeti population (about 1,000 according to a 1990 estimate) and being one of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera. Anyway, it's in the central Serengeti region, the Seronera valley, where chances to spot one are greatest. A nocturnal and arboreal predator -and an accomplished climber-, leopards are highly successful hunters, so silent they can reach for their prey's throat without being noticed. During the day it's possible to see them resting in a tree or on a large rock.

Leopards range in size from one to almost two metres long, and weigh between 60 and 70 kg. The leopard is a sexually dimorphic species, with females being typically around two-thirds the size of males. Most leopards are light tan or fawn with black spots, but their coat color is highly variable. The spots tend to be smaller on the head, and larger with pale centres on the body.

Originally, it was thought that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, and the leopard's common name derives from this belief; leo is the Latin for lion, and pard is an old term meaning panther. In fact, a "panther" can be any of several species of large felid. In North America panther means puma and in South America a panther is a jaguar. Elsewhere in the world a panther is a leopard. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by color (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail - panthers having longer tails than pards (leopards).

Leopards are highly successful predators that hunt a wider variety of African prey than do other big cats from Africa, often feeding on insects, rodents, and fish, as well as such larger game as antelope. Like domestic cats, but unlike the other great cats, they are known to jump from perches onto prey animals. Large size with the efficiency of the smaller cats makes them extremely dangerous to humans and dogs. In much of its range in Africa leopards compete with animals such as the Spotted Hyena, wild dogs and the lion for prey, and it is not uncommon for them to be chased away from their own kills by other top predators.

Like domestic cats, leopards usually hunt at night or at dawn or dusk. They will stalk their prey before making a short run to catch it. They kill mostly by suffocation, by holding onto the animal's throat, though with smaller animals they may break the neck. Some leopards will carry their prey up a tree to avoid losing it to lions and hyenas. They have been observed carrying prey up to three times their own body weight into trees, demonstrating their great strength and power. Opportunistic hunters, leopards will hunt at any time of day or night if they come across suitable prey. Quite often they can make more than one kill in a day, in which case they cache the first kill while stalking their next victim.

Prior to the human-induced changes of the last few hundred years, Leopards were the most widely distributed of all felids other than the domestic cat: they were found through most of Africa (with the exception of the Sahara Desert), as well as parts of Asia Minor and the Middle East, India, Pakistan, China, Siberia, much of mainland South-East Asia, and the islands of Java, Zanzibar, and Sri Lanka. The leopard is doing surprisingly well for a large predator. It is estimated that there are as many as 500,000 leopards in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. But like many other big cats, leopards are increasingly under threat of habitat loss and are facing increased hunting pressure.

With excerpts from Wikipedia's Leopard page. Photo by Gerry Cole, displayed under a Creative Commons licence.

Back to African Animals