View allAll Photos Tagged leopard
Panthera pardus kotiya
Yala National Park - Sri Lanka
Thelabu kema - Jamburagala - Big male
'Press "L" to view in better quality and full screen mode
Text taken from Linton Zoo website: Since the turn of the century leopards have disappeared from much of their former range and several subspecies are under threat. This is due to the encroachment of people who starve them by destroying their habitat and killing their prey. This makes them turn to domestic livestock which of course makes them unpopular and so they are poisoned or shot. The fur trade has also taken its toll and in the 1960-70s 60, 000 skins were sold every year.
Leopards are very adaptable and eat a variety of prey, which include warthog, gazelle, porcupine, wildebeest, impala, ostriches and baboons. They ambush their prey, attacking with a short charge and grabbing it by the throat to suffocate it. They then carry it up the nearest tree to eat in safety. They are able to climb carrying (250lbs) twice their own weight.
After a gestation period of 3.5 months 2-4 cubs are usually born. Cubs are weaned at the age of 3 months. They become independent at 2 years old, but won’t be sexually mature till they are 3 years old. They can live up to 20 years old.
Leopards are born with spots or are black. A black panther is a leopard which is melanistic, this means it has as excess of pigment, as opposed to albino which is a lack of pigment. You can still see the leopard spots if you look closely. Black leopards are rarer than spotted leopards.
Because the snow leopard lives in such inaccessible places the size of the wild population is very difficult to estimate, but could be as low as 600. These are distributed over a vast area including parts of Mongolia, USSR, China, Bhutan, N. India, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan. Numbers are few and are restricted to the higher colder regions above the forests, where permanent snow is found.
Seasonal migrations occur, descending from altitudes of over 4000m to around 2000m, where they spend the winter months. Snow leopards prey on mountain goats, ibex, gazelle, boar and smaller mammals and birds which they hunt at night and in the early morning. They retreat to rocky lairs during the day. Snow leopards are usually solitary but have been seen to hunt in pairs (This is usually a mother and cub). Unless they have cubs they do not stay long in an area. The cubs are born in May - June. They receive milk up to 4 months but will also take meat brought to the den after 1.5 - 2 months. The nest is abandoned after about 3 to 4 months, the young staying with the mother through the following winter. They reach their full size at 1½ years.
As demand for more land has increased, domestic stock have been brought into the remote mountain areas, once the sole domain of the snow leopard. Inevitably occasional stock are killed, with the result that the snow leopard is persecuted by farmers. Hunting for the fur trade has also taken its toll, as has the reduction in the populations of its main prey species due to habitat destruction.
Photographed at Marwell Zoo, Thompsons Lane, Colden Common, Winchester, Hampshire, SO21 1JH
Licking her nose to make it more sensitive to odors, young female Leopard (Panthera pardus) checks out her surroundings. There was a herd of impala nearby - along with several safari vehicles. She went underneath one of the vehicles, and used it as a blind as she stalked the impala. Almost silent and very low to the ground, this female leopard came within striking distance of the impala herd. Unfortunately, one of the "look-out" impala spotted her and sounded the alarm. The herd got away. Masai Mara, Kenya.
This still remains as one of my favorite photos i took with my D700 since i got it, just love the combo of D700 plus the 80-200 2.8D.