Leopard

Leopards (Panthera pardus) are one of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera. (The others are the lion, tiger, and jaguar.) They range in size from 1 to almost 2 metres long, and weigh between 30 and 70 kg. Females are typically around two-thirds the size of males.

Related Topics:
Big cat - Panthera - Lion - Tiger - Jaguar

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Most leopards are light tan or fawn with black spots, but their coat color is highly variable. The spots tend to be smaller on the head, larger and have pale centres on the body.

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Originally, it was thought that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, and the leopard's common name derives from this belief; leo is the Latin for lion, and pard is an old term meaning panther. In fact, a "panther" can be any of several species of large felid. In North America panther means puma. In South America a panther is a jaguar. Elsewhere in the world a panther is a leopard. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by color (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail - panthers supposedly having longer tails than pards (leopards).

Related Topics:
Hybrid - Latin - Felid - Puma - Jaguar

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A black panther is a melanistic leopard (or melanistic jaguar). These have mutations that cause them to produce more black pigment (eumelanin) than orange-tan pigment (pheomelanin), resuilting in a pure black coat as opposed to the usual spotted one. See black panther). The spots of a black panther can still be seen in certain light as the deposition of pigment in different in the pattern than in the background. There are also white panthers.

Related Topics:
Black panther - White panther

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Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia perhaps the best site is the Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. The recently reopened Wilpattu National Park(also in Sri Lanka), is another a good destination for leopard watching.

Related Topics:
Yala National Park - Sri Lanka

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