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Leopard at Ngala Private Game Reserve, where we were blessed with eight great sightings in four days. © Andy Withers
"I'm going to pretend you are not there. Go away."
Think I like this one best of the snow leopard ones. It was a nice sunny day and I could have happily dozed in the sunshine too, so this picture reminds me of the day.
Taken @ Olmense Zoo, Olmen
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. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its range of distribution has decreased radically because of hunting and loss of habitat. It is now chiefly found in sub-Saharan Africa; there are also fragmented populations in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Malaysia, and China. Because of its declining range and population, it is listed as a "Near Threatened" species by the IUCN.
Compared to other members of the Felidae family, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, but is smaller and more slightly built. Its fur is marked with rosettes similar to those of the jaguar, but the leopard's rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and do not usually have central spots as the jaguars do. Both leopards and jaguars that are melanistic (completely black or very dark) are known as black panthers.
The species' success in the wild is in part due to its opportunistic hunting behavior, its adaptability to habitats, its ability to run at speeds approaching 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph), its unequaled ability to climb trees even when carrying a heavy carcass, and its notorious ability for stealth. The leopard consumes virtually any animal that it can hunt down and catch. Its habitat ranges from rainforest to desert
Female Amur Leopard at Yorkshire wildlife Park, in the nursery enclosure with her 2 cubs. Doncaster. UK. December 2015.
Leopard at Ngala Private Game Reserve, where we were blessed with eight great sightings in four days. We tracked this female for about 20 minutes in the dusk as she led her two cubs back to a kill, a young impala. Read my published travel article about Ngala Place of the Lion. © Andy Withers
Illustration from How The Leopard Got his Spots by Rudyard Kipling.
Download a free copy of the ebook here How The Leopard Got His Spots Ebook
Snow leopard taken at Marwell zoo on the canon 300D with Tamron 70-300mm. Taken through wire mesh of enclosure.
"Indian Leopard" is a leopard subspecies widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent. Classified as Near Threatened by IUCN since 2008 because populations have declined following habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching for the illegal trade of skins and body parts, and persecution due to conflict situations
Location: Jhalana Forest Reserve - Rajasthan, India