LEOPARD Scientific name:Panthera pardus

LEOPARD

Scientific name:Panthera pardus

The leopard is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar.

Range and habitat

The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its range of distribution has decreased radically because of hunting and loss of habitat. It is now chiefly found in sub-Saharan Africa; there are also fragmented populations in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Malaysia, and China. Because of its declining range and population, it is listed as a "Near Threatened" species.Leopards live mainly in grasslands, woodlands, and riverine forests.

Physical characteristics

Most Leopards are orange or fawn with black spots, but their coats are very variable. The spots tend to be smaller on the head, larger and have pale centres on the body.They range in size from 1 to almost 2 metres long, and weigh between 30 and 70 kg. Females are typically around two-thirds the size of males.

Subspecies

The nine subspecies recognised by IUCN:

· African leopard:inhabits sub-Saharan Africa.

· Indian leopard:inhabits the Indian Subcontinent.

· Javan leopard:inhabits Java, Indonesia.

· Arabian leopard:inhabits the Arabian Peninsula.

· Amur leopard:inhabits the Russian Far East, Korean Peninsula and Northeast China.

· North Chinese leopard:inhabits northern China.

· Caucasian leopard:later described as Persian leopard :inhabits central Asia: the Caucasus, Turkmenistan and northern Iran.

· Indo-Chinese leopard:inhabits mainland Southeast Asia.

· Sri Lankan leopard:inhabits Sri Lanka.

A morphological analysis of characters of leopard skulls implies the validity of two more subspecies:

· Anatolian leopard:inhabits Western Turkey.

· Balochistan leopard:inhabits Pakistan, and possibly also parts of Afghanistan and Iran.

Hunting and diet

Leopards are versatile, opportunistic hunters, and have a very broad diet. They feed on a greater diversity of prey than other members of the Panthera species, and will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg (2,000 lb) male giant elands. Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but they also eat rodents, reptiles, amphibians, insects, birds (like the Vulturine Guineafowl), fish and sometimes smaller predators (bat-eared foxes, martens, jackals...). They stalk their prey silently, pounce on it at the last minute, and strangle its throat with a quick bite.In Asia, the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs, as well as various Asian antelopes and ibex. Prey preference estimates in southern India showed that the most favored prey of the leopard were chitals.

Reproduction

Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round. In Manchuria and Siberia, they mate during January and February. Gestation lasts for 90 to 105 days.Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2–4 cubs.But mortality of cubs is estimated at 41–50% during the first year.
Females give birth in a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to make a den. Cubs are born with closed eyes, which open four to nine days after birth.

Predatory

Leopards must compete for food and shelter with other large predators such as lions, tigers, spotted hyenas, and both African and Asiatic wild dogs. These animals may steal the leopard's kill or devour its young. Leopards live alongside these other predators by hunting for different types of prey and by avoiding areas frequented by them.Lions are occasionally successful in climbing trees and fetching leopard kills.In the Kalahari desert, leopards frequently lose kills to the brown hyena, if the leopard is unable to move the kill into a tree. Single brown hyenas have been observed charging at and displacing male leopards from kills.

Life expectancy

Leopards in the wild live for 15 to 20 yrs.