(Panthera pardus)
Class Mammalia
phylum Chordata
subphylum Vertebrata
order Carnivora
family Felidae.

Shoulder height - .6 - .7 m(male) .5 - .6 m(female)
Adult weight -35 - 65 kg (male) 28 - 58 kg(female)
Age at sexual maturity - 5 years (male) 2years (female)
Diet -almost any creature from beetles to giraffe - it may kill more than it needs and will store the rest up a tree
Preditors- Lions, Wild Dog and Hyena - a leaopard will keep away from these.
Hearing - Excellent
Sight - Good
Smell - Good
Sounds - Like sawing wood!
Mating season - All year round
Gestation period -90 - 100 days
No of young - 1- 3

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A large carnivore of the cat family, Panthera pardus, widely distributed in Africa. It is commonly yellow, buff, or gray, patterned with black spots and rings. The rings, unlike those of the New never have spots inside them.

Leopards are somewhat smaller than lions

Leopards are solitary, largely nocturnal, and good climbers; they hunt both on the ground and in trees. They prey mostly on small animals such as monkeys, rodents, and birds.

The leopard is a versatile hunter and generally nocturnal in its pursuit of prey - however the increased frequency of hunting found in the female raising young often leads to more opportunist hunting during daylight hours. The type of prey taken by the leopard is again dependant largely upon its locale - in the open grasslands of Africa where roaming herds of large to medium sized herbivores are common the leopard will take young eland and wildebeest, impala and gazelle. However in the same areas the leopard will also take small mammals such as hares and rock hyrax, reptiles and insects. In contrast, in the west and central forested regions of Africa the leopards prey consists mainly of the smaller antelope such as duiker, small monkeys and various rodents such as rats, squirrels and porcupines.

Although a strong and competent hunter the leopard is not without threat from other carnivores - because of this the leopard commonly caches its prey high in the boughs of trees away from packs of scavenging hyenas and opportunist lions. It is here that the leopard demonstrates its huge strength - its powerful limb and neck muscles enabling it to carry a fully grown male antelope or even young giraffe, often weighing up to three times its own body weight, high into the tree tops. Direct competition from other large cats such as the lion is common although this is largely overcome by the leopards ability to hunt on a wider prey base.

In some areas where its habitat is close to that of humans the leopard has been known to hunt close to houses, preying on domestic animals, livestock and rodents. Although no other wild cat has such a wide spread range and diverse prey base as the leopard, it is still under threat in many regions. Once common in all parts of Africa apart from the deserts of the Sahara, it has now gone from most parts of northern Africa, apart from a few widespread areas of the Atlas mountains and is scarce in the extreme west of the continent.

Watch the leopard
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