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Leopard skeleton
First Off: General Facts
* Belongs to the Felidae Family
* Genus Panthera
* Rosette patterned coat, extremely long dark tail
* Sometimes confused as the jaguar
* Weight: 80-175 lbs.
* Length: 4-50 in. excluding tail
* Sexual maturity: 2-3 yrs.
* Mating: Year-round in tropics, seasonal in other areas.
* Gestation: 90-112 days
* Number of young: 2-3 cubs, occasionally up to 6
* Range of distribution before: Asia, Africa, Korea and South Africa
* Not considered as threatened, but human activities caused a great decrease
* Now chiefly occurs in sub-Saharan Africa
* Fragmented populations in India, Indochina, Malaysia, and China
* Relatively short legs, long body, large skull
* Can move up to 60 kilometers(37 miles)per hour
* 27 leopard subspecies once suggested
* Largest grow up to 5 ft with 3 ft tail length
* Males between 20-40% larger than females
* Melanistic leopards also called "Black Panthers"
* Black Panthers born in same litter as rosette-marked
* Melantistic leopards most generally found in dense, wet forested areas of India and south east Asia
* Hunt about 90 different species of animals
* Mostly feeds on monkeys, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish, wild pigs, and ungulates (hoofed mammals)
* Infamous for ability to go undetected, graceful and stealthy, tough to spot
* Among the big cats: most accomplished stalker
* Solitary, 3 or 4 sometimes spotted together
* In regions hunted, nocturnal behavior more common
Subspecies of leopards
Poor Poached Cats T-T
In the past leopards were shot and killed because they targeted cattle. Human activities caused the leopards to turn to livestock
because their habitats were destroyed for their farming, habitat for their cattle and other human activities. This caused
a great decrease in their number.
And to add to that sad fact they were illegally poached for their valuable skin and body parts as well. Demand for their
skin increased in the 1980's and 1990's. Earlier on, in the 1960's leopard poaching killed an all time high killing an estimated
50, 000 leopards.
Now it is a protected species though it is hunted by herdsmen, sheperds and poachers.But it is recognized by farmers as
having a useful function: it controls such animals as baboons and bush pigs that damage crops.
A Leopard resting on a tree
A Snow Leopard(Uncia uncia)
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