View allAll Photos Tagged leopard
The Persian leopard is one of the new animals at Nordens Ark and he's so beautiful. He is far
from shy and has been sitting pretty near the fence so that everyone can see him. It was kind of a challenge for me to get some good shots of him, because I didn't want the fence to be visible in the shot. I got a bit happy when he decided to go in to his little tree house - which is a bit away from the fence.
Magnificent Amur leopard taken at Twycross zoo earlier today. I've lost count of the number of visits I have made in order to see this leopard up and about....finally today it paid off.
Canon 1D Mk3 with Sigma 150-500mm APO HSM.
Relaxing in the shadows in his home @ Assiniboine Park Zoo, he leaned out towards the noonday sun as I zoomed in through the fence. (please check out my folder with big cats)
The leopard , Panthera pardus, 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.
Leopards may sometimes be confused with two other large spotted cats, the cheetah, with which it may co-exist in Africa, and the jaguar, a neotropical species that it does not naturally co-exist with. However, the patterns of spots in each are different: the cheetah has simple black spots, evenly spread; the jaguar has small spots inside the polygonal rosettes; while the leopard normally has rounder, smaller rosettes than those of the jaguar. The cheetah has longer legs and a thinner build that makes it look more streamlined and taller but less powerfully built than the leopard. The jaguar is more similar in build to the leopard but is generally larger in size and has a more muscular, bulky appearance.
Panthera pardus kotiya
Wilpattu National Park - Sri Lanka
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Beautiful creature!! These leopards are endangered due to the region they're from. They are declining because of loss of their habitat, hunting, as well as the wars that have been ongoing for years within their homeland.
Leopards are graceful and powerful big cats closely related to lions, tigers, and jaguars. They live in sub-Saharan Africa, northeast Africa, Central Asia, India, and China. However, many of their populations are endangered, especially outside of Africa.
The leopard is so strong and comfortable in trees that it often hauls its kills into the branches. By dragging the bodies of large animals aloft it hopes to keep them safe from scavengers such as hyenas. Leopards can also hunt from trees, where their spotted coats allow them to blend with the leaves until they spring with a deadly pounce. These nocturnal predators also stalk antelope, deer, and pigs by stealthy movements in the tall grass. When human settlements are present, leopards often attack dogs and, occasionally, people.
Female leopards can give birth at any time of the year. They usually have two grayish cubs with barely visible spots. The mother hides her cubs and moves them from one safe location to the next until they are old enough to begin playing and learning to hunt. Cubs live with their mothers for about two years—otherwise, leopards are solitary animals.