The solitary leopard (Panthera pardus)

The leopard’s senses are almost perfectly attuned to each other. His orientation skills are excellent. A panther taken from its biotope and dropped hundreds of miles away will be amazingly fast ?? often within weeks ?? be back in his own habitat, if he chooses to. It hears almost twice as clearly as humans and detects frequencies higher than 100 kHz. Are elliptical eyes see six times sharper at dusk, making it a phenomenal night fighter as well. No prey can feel safe in the darkness with a panther nearby. His sense of smell is also excellent: many felines, including the tiger and the lynx, cannot match that.

Coat

The beautiful coat of the leopard has always captured the imagination. This animal has been intensively hunted over the centuries, especially in the middle of the last century. In many areas where it was previously common, it has since practically disappeared. The coat guarantees perfect camouflage and is characterized by a mixture of black and brownish spots on a ground color that is white-yellowish to light brown. The integrated brown spots ensure a beautiful rosette pattern. The ground color can be completely white, or completely black, as with the black panther that occurs in Indonesia, among other places. For a long time it was thought that the black Panther was a separate species and not a subspecies. Sometimes black and spotted fry even appear in the same litter. The belly, chin and throat are whitish. It is also characteristic that the ears are black on the back.

Lifestyle of the leopard

The leopard is a solitary hunter with a territory that is fairly well-defined. In short, he does not hunt in groups, like wolves do. He is only with the female during the mating season. When the young are born, he is long gone. Like all felines, the leopard marks its hunting grounds with urine and feces. Not to mention with scratch marks in tree trunks.

Leopard with prey in the Ngala Game Reserve, Limpopo Reserve, South Africa / Source: Raphael Melnick, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA-2.0)

Territory

Often the territories of the different leopards overlap. These are areas of males and females, not leopards of the same sex. In general, the less prey, the larger the territory. When too small hunting area A shortage of food quickly arises due to increasing pressure on the prey stocks and the expulsion of the various prey animals.

Hunt

Little escapes this hunter pur sang, also thanks to its fantastic camouflage colors, which means that the prey often only sees it at the last moment, when it is too late. He remains ?? invisible ?? until the prey stands, sits or lies close to him. The surprise effect is therefore dramatic in most cases. Thanks to their camouflage colors, leopards are even more difficult to spot than, for example, the lion. In rocky areas, or on a large one branch, he often sits completely unnoticed and very quiet, keeping a close eye on his surroundings. Sneaking across the grassy plain it approaches its unsuspecting prey silently until it is practically within jumping distance and then strikes mercilessly.

Stealth ability

For most prey there is then no escape. Often the leopard takes the killed animal up the tree. Prey that is sometimes as heavy as the leopard itself. He is primarily a morning and evening hunter, as in the twilight but also at night. Its stealth and attacking techniques are unsurpassed. The sublime suppleness is fascinating to observe, as is the case with most felines. Also in the ordinary house cat. Anyone who ever observes a domesticated cat in the garden, while playfully indulging her hunting instinct, can easily imagine this.

Utmost concentration

Sometimes the leopard chooses to ambush, then again it approaches the prey stealthily, extremely focused, yet admirably calm. After the neck bite, or a whack of the clawed front leg, the prey animal is over. It remains to keep it safe, somewhere in a place where he can eat quietly without being disturbed by, for example, hungry jackals, hyenas or lions.

Prey

Many animals are on his menu, from boars to antelopes, ostriches, monkeys, hares, but also snakes and birds are not safe from him. After the binge, the leopard almost always moves to a nearby pool to drink. He can be found there almost every day. During observations in the wild however, it has also been established that he can go without drinking for weeks.

Reproduction

The male leopard is attracted to the female during the mating season thanks to a fragrance in her urine. In the mating time they are together for about a week. Then the male returns to his own territory. The female is pregnant for about 100 days, after which she ensures that the young are born in a sheltered and well-camouflaged place.

Throw

The litter consists of an average of three to four young who weigh about 500 grams at birth. Sometimes a black youngster is seen in the same throw. A female often relocates with her brood to prevent the little ones from becoming prey of, for example, hyenas and lions. The young stay with their mother for about two years. During that period they learned all possible hunting techniques. After that, they go out alone and acquire their own hunting ground.

Black Panther / Source: Izmaelt, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Spread

Thanks to the leopard’s fantastic adaptability, it can be found in almost all habitats, from the dense jungles to the dry savannahs. In mountainous regions it is even just below the snow line spotted, up to an altitude of 5000 meters. The leopard and its subspecies are found throughout most of Africa ?? except the western parts of the Sahara ?? deep into southern Asia. It can also be found in the dry Middle East. As far as Egypt, Turkey, Iran and the easternmost regions of Russia, China, the Koreas and Malaysia.

Important characteristics of the leopard (Panthera pardus)

The leopard is also called panther, but especially when it concerns Asian subspecies. The leopard belongs to the order of the Carnivora (predators), the family of the Felidae (felines), the sex Panthera and the species Panthera pardus, with numerous subspecies.

• Length: 100-200 cm (head-body length), tail 60-110 cm.
• Weight: 40-90 kilos.
• Shoulder height: 50-60 cm.
• Mating season: spring, except in tropical areas (any season).
• Sexual maturity: approx. 2.5 years.
• Gestation: approx. 100 days.
• Throw: average 3-4 young.
• Food: Large and small mammals, ranging from antelopes to wild boars. Hares, birds and even insects are also on his menu.
• Life expectancy: 10-20 years.
• Behaviour: solitary.

The leopard is an endangered species

It is estimated that in East Africa alone, a total of more than 50,000 leopards have been killed for their beautiful fur. It is still hunted by poachers, but also by shepherds because the leopards attack their livestock. On the other hand, the ranchers have also come to see the usefulness of the leopard. The fewer leopards there are, the more baboons and boars see their chance and wreak havoc on the harvesting fields, simply because they are not hunted enough by the leopard, among others. The leopard is an endangered species and has a status of ?? vulnerable ?? (2018). The numbers have diminished sharply over the decades.

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