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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 are the tiger, lion and jaguar. Once distributed across southern Asia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa, the leopard's range of distribution has decreased radically over time due to hunting and loss of habitat, and the leopard now chiefly occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in India, Indochina, Malaysia, and China.
The leopard is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four big cats of the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion and jaguar. Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa, the leopard's range of distribution has decreased radically over time because of a variety of factors, including human influence, and the leopard now chiefly occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in India, Indochina, Malaysia, and China. Despite the loss of range and continual declines in population, the cat remains a "Least Concern" species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The leopard has relatively short legs and a long body, with a large skull. Physically, it most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is usually smaller and of slighter build. Its fur is marked with rosettes which lack internal spots, unlike those of the jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either completely black or very dark in coloration, are one of the big cats known colloquially as black panthers.
The species' success in the wild owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour, its adaptability to a variety of habitats and its ability to move at up to approximately 60 kilometres (37 miles) an hour. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can hunt down and catch. Its preferred habitat ranges from rainforest to desert terrains. Its ecological role and status resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas.
A picture from all three snow leopards at Zoo Zurich together.
From left to right:
Villy, Mohan, Dshamilja
On the wall in the background you also can see a snail.
Twycross Zoo
Fewer than 35 Amur leopards remain in the wild, and their habitats are under threat from logging, forest fires and land clearance for farming. We need to increase their numbers, and protect their forest home.
Bioparc (Valencia, September 2013)
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The Amur leopard once ranged across northern China and southern areas of the Russian Far East, but is now found only in a small part of southwest Primorskii Krai in Russia. Because it is adapted to the snowy winters there, it has a thicker, paler coat than leopards in Africa or India do.
Until zoos took up its cause in the mid90s, almost nobody had even heard of the Amur leopard; but now it has featured in several documentaries, and the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA) has a conservation programme in place to protect it.
South Africa.
Western Cape
Tenikwa Awareness Centre www.tenikwa.com/
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of the five "big cats" in the genus Panthera. It is a member of the Felidae family with a wide range in regions of sub-Saharan Africa, West Asia, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia to Siberia
Snow leopards inhabit the mountainous regious of Central Asia. In the summer, they live above the tree line at an altitude of 8,900 to 20,000 feet. As winter approaches, they retreat to the forests at an altitude of 3,900 to 6,600 feet. They have an amazing leaping ability of over 40 feet. They are considered an endangered species.
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