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Today, eight subspecies are recognised in its wide range in Africa and Asia. It initially evolved in Africa during the Early Pleistocene, before migrating into Eurasia around the Early–Middle Pleistocene transition. Leopards were formerly present across Europe, but became extinct in the region at around the end of the Late Pleistocene-early ...
- Overview
- Distribution
- Natural history
- Conservation status
leopard, (Panthera pardus), large cat closely related to the lion, tiger, and jaguar. The name leopard was originally given to the cat now called cheetah—the so-called hunting leopard—which was once thought to be a cross between the lion and the pard. The term pard was eventually replaced by the name leopard.
In 1750 the leopard’s geographic range spanned nearly the whole of Africa south of the Sahara, occupied parts of north and northeast Africa, and extended from Asia Minor through Central Asia and India to China and Manchuria. By 2019 the species had lost up to 75 percent of its former range. Several large pockets, however, remained throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Iran, and the Himalayas, with smaller pockets scattered throughout Central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, eastern China and Manchuria, and the Korean peninsula. In addition, one tiny pocket of leopards persists in the Atlas Mountains.
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The leopard varies greatly in size and markings. The average size is 50 to 90 kg (110 to 200 pounds) in weight, 210 cm (84 inches), excluding the 90-cm tail, in length, and 60 to 70 cm in shoulder height. The leopard can, however, grow much larger. The ground colour is typically yellowish above and white below. Dark spots are generally arranged in rosettes over much of the body and are without the central spot characteristic of the coat of the jaguar; the ground colour within the rosettes is sometimes a darker yellow, and the size and spacing of the spots vary greatly. As a result of these differences in pattern, several races of leopard have been named.
The leopard is a solitary animal of the bush and forest and is mainly nocturnal in habit, although it sometimes basks in the sun. It is an agile climber and frequently stores the remains of its kills in the branches of a tree. It feeds upon any animals it can overpower, from small rodents to waterbuck, but generally preys on the smaller and medium-sized antelopes and deer; it appears to have a special liking for dogs as food and, in Africa, for baboons. It sometimes takes livestock and may attack human beings.
There is no definite breeding season; the female produces two to four, usually three, cubs after a gestation period of about three months. The calls of the leopard vary and include a series of harsh coughs, throaty growls, and deep purring sounds. The animal takes to water readily and is a good swimmer.
A black form, in which the ground colour as well as the spots is black, is widely known as the black panther; it is more common in Asia than in other parts of the range of the leopard. The races known as the Barbary, South Arabian, Anatolian, Amur, and Sinai leopards are listed as endangered.
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified P. pardus as a vulnerable species, with the number of leopards worldwide estimated at several hundred thousand individuals. The fortunes of each of the nine recognized leopard subspecies, however, vary greatly. Heavily qualified estimates place the population of African leopar...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Decreasing. 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.
- Size and Weight: Leopards are the smallest of the large cats, which includes lions, tigers, and jaguars. Female leopards weigh 46 to 132 pounds and males weigh 80 to 165 pounds.
- Appearance: Depending on the subspecies, a leopard’s coat can range from tawny or light yellow in warm, dry habitats to a darker, reddish-orange in dense forests.
- Diet: Leopards are carnivores. Their diets include giant eland, kudu, springbok, bushbuck, impalas, Thomson’s gazelles, duiker, primates, warthogs, guinea fowl, hares, rodents, fish, and dung beetles.
- Habitat: Leopard habitats include forests, subtropical and tropical regions, savannas, grasslands, deserts, and rocky and mountainous regions. They can live in both warm and cold climates.
Sep 1, 2020 · The leopard, known scientifically as Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family. In other words, it belongs to the family of cats. Compared with its cousins, the tiger, the jaguar and the lion, the leopard is the smallest of all big cats. There are 9 recognized leopard subspecies. They are the following: African leopard; Indian leopard
Mar 29, 2024 · Genetic studies show that the common ancestor of snow leopards and tigers diverged from the lineage of big cats about 3.9 million years ago and that snow leopards branched from tigers about 3.2 million years ago.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Oct 23, 2018 · Fossil evidence supports an African origin, and suggests that leopards were already present in Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene. Analysis of DNA sequences however, suggests a more recent, Middle Pleistocene shared ancestry of Asian and African leopards.
