Details
Panthera pardus
The leopard is a spotted big cat that blends into forest and savanna. Solitary and powerful, it can haul prey into trees.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It occurs in the Afrotropical, Palearctic, and Indomalayan regions, using savanna, forest, mountains, and desert edges. Cover and prey allow it to persist near people in some areas.
Length 90-190 cm; weight 17-90 kg. A tawny coat is covered with black rosettes, paler below. The muscular body and long tail are well suited to climbing.
Nocturnal and solitary, it marks a territory with scent. By day it often rests in thickets, rocky cover, or trees.
A carnivore, it takes antelopes, monkeys, pigs, small mammals, birds, and many other prey. It stalks from cover and may carry kills into trees.
Breeding can occur year-round. Females raise cubs in hidden dens, and young follow the mother and learn to hunt before dispersing.
It is listed as Vulnerable. Habitat loss, poaching, and conflict with people have reduced its range in many regions.
