Facts About Leopards

[Edge Guerrero]

by Alina Bradford, Live Science Contributor | November 26, 2014 11:44pm ET




Leopards are big cats known for their golden, spotted bodies and graceful, yet ferocious hunting techniques. They are often thought of as an African animal, but leopards live all over the world. Though their reach is vast, their numbers are declining.


Size

Leopards are larger than a house cat, but leopards are the smallest members of the large cat category. They grow to only 3 to 6.2 feet (92 to 190 centimeters) long. Their tail adds another 25 to 39 inches (64 to 99 cm) to their length. Males and females vary in weight. Females typically weigh 46 to 132 pounds (21 to 60 kilograms) and males usually weigh around 80 to 165 lbs. (36 to 75 kg), according to the San Diego Zoo.

Habitat

The leopard is very adaptable and can live in many different places across the globe. Leopards are found in sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, southwestern and eastern Turkey, in the Sinai/Judean Desert of Southwest Asia, the Himalayan foothills, India, Russia, China and the islands of Java and Sri Lanka, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). These large cats can live in almost any type of habitat, including rainforests, deserts, woodlands, grassland savannas, forests, mountain habitats, coastal scrubs, shrub lands and swampy areas. In fact, leopards live in more places than any other large cat.


Amur Leopard, a very rare cat

Habits


Leopards are solitary creatures that only spend time with others when they are mating or raising young. They are also nocturnal and spend their nights hunting instead of sleeping.

Leopards spend a lot of their time in trees. Their spotted coat camouflages them, making them blend in with the leaves of the tree. They will often drag their prey into trees to keep it from being taken by other animals, according to National Geographic.

Diet
Leopards are carnivores, but they aren't picky eaters. They will prey on any animal that comes across their path, such as Thomson's gazelles, cheetah cubs, baboons, rodents, monkeys, snakes, large birds, amphibians, fish, antelopes, warthogs and porcupines.

Leopards are ambush predators; they crouch low to sneak up to their prey and pounce before it has a chance to react, according to the Animal Diversity Web, a database maintained by the Museum of Zoology at the University of Michigan. A leopard will kill its prey with one swift bite to the neck, breaking it.

Offspring

Leopards have a gestation period of approximately three months and typically give birth to a litter of two to three cubs in a den, according to PBS Nature. Each cub weighs just 17 to 21 ounces (500 to 600 grams) at birth, is blind and almost hairless. They depend on their mother for food and do not leave the den until they are 3 months old. At 12 to18 months, the cubs are ready to live on their own and at 2 or 3 years old will create their own offspring. Leopards live 12 to 15 years in the wild and up to 23 years in zoos.

Classification/taxonomy

Leopard characteristics are recognized in their classification as catlike carnivores (suborder Feliformia) and as roaring cats (genusPanthera). Their complete taxonomy, according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), is:

Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Bilateria
Infrakingdom: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Class: Mammalia
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus & species: Panthera pardus
Subspecies:

Panthera pardus delacouri (Indochinese leopard)
Panthera pardus fusca (Indian leopard)
Panthera pardus japonensis (North China leopard)
Panthera pardus kotiya (Sri Lankan leopard)
Panthera pardus melas (Javan leopard)
Panthera pardus nimr (Arabian leopard)
Panthera pardus orientalis (Amur leopard)
Panthera pardus pardus (African leopard)
Panthera pardus saxicolor (Caucasian leopard, Central Asian leopard, Persian leopard)

[Edge Guerrero]

Conservation status


A Formosan cloud leopard, now extinct in Taiwan.
Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan

Leopards are classified as near threatened by the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. This listing is due to their declining population, which is caused by habitat loss and hunting. According to PBS Nature, one of the rarest leopards is the Amur leopard, which is found in far-east Russia, Korea and northeast China. It is estimated that there are only 30 currently living in the wild.

Other facts

he name "leopard" comes from the Greek word leopardus, which is a combination of leon (lion) and pardus (panther), according to PBS Nature.

Leopards don't need much water. They survive from the moisture they get from eating their prey.

It is no wonder that leopards are such great hunters. They can run up to 36 mph (58 kph), jump forward 20 feet (6 meters) and leap 10 feet (3 m) straight up, according to the San Diego Zoo.

Though classified as a roaring cat, leopards usually bark when they have something to say.

Leopards' ears can hear five times more sounds that the human ear.

The leopard's spots are called rosettes because they look like roses.

The genus Leopardus does not include leopards. Members of that genus include cats of Central and South America, such as ocelots, oncillas, margays, Pampas cats, Geoffrey's cat, guiñas and Andean cats.

Source:http://www.livescience.com/27403-leopards.html



Do You Know Me?

Why do you look at me in that forlorn way?
Are you cold and hungry in this winter's day?
Why do you gaze with tears in your clear green eyes,
They are so translucent under the matching skies.

You look so familiar, like someone I know,
But sadly, last year, he had to go.
He burrowed deep into my heart,
Made me cry when we had to part.

He invaded my home, when he had no right,
Yet I had to give in to those eyes so bright.
They were like yours, a pearly green,
With the deepest aura that I've seen.

He did things wrong but I didn't mind,
The will to throw him out, I couldn't find,
He wasn't perfect, and I liked him for that,
And I tried to correct him as we sat.

But he was so stubborn, so determined and willed,
I dearly missed his encouragement when he was killed.
Are you his spirit, here to haunt me again?
And die once more and cause me pain?

Well, if him you cannot be,
Why do you look as if you know me?
And the night we met, he too, was ragged and thin,
Miserable and abused near the garbage bin.

If you think I would adopt and care for you,
And then rear you up faithful and true,
Then only to lose another life once again,
You're right, so don't just stand there, come on in!

Author Unknown

[Edge Guerrero]

- A cat may look at a king. - English Proverb

The world’s rarest cat: The Amur leopard
by danicakrenski

In the Russian Far East, a rare subspecies of leopard, the Amur leopard, has adapted to life in the temperate forests and mountains. It is also known as the Far East leopard or the Korean leopard. The Amur leopard is teetering on the brink of extinction. The species is threatened by poaching, encroaching civilisation and habitat loss due to forest exploitation.


Photo courtesy of WWF

The Amur leopard is the rarest cat in the world. According to WWF, there are only about 30 individuals in the world today. As there is such a small population remaining, the loss of each leopard placing the species at a greater risk of extinction.

Amur leopards are critically endangered largely due to the illegal wildlife trade. They are poached mainly for their remarkable spotted fur. In 1999, an undercover investigation team found a female and male Amur leopard skin that were being sold for $500 and $1000 respectively in the village of Barabash, which was close to the Kedrovaya Pad Reserve in Russia. Villages and agriculture surround the leopards’ natural habitat of forests. Consequently, these forests are relatively accessible. Amur leopards are most often killed by local Russians who live in small villages in and around the leopard habitat. Most of the villagers hunt entirely illegally. Poaching is therefore not only a problem for the leopards themselves, but also for important prey species, such as sika deer, roe deer and hare, as these are hunted by the villagers for cash and food.



The prey base in the forest of the Amur Leopards’ habitat is insufficient for the leopards’ survival. Prey populations could only recover if the use of their forests by local people is controlled and regulated. Measures must also be taken to limit the poaching and hunting of hoofed prey species. There are still large territories of suitable habitat for the Amur leopard both in Russia and China. However, in China particularly, this significant shortage of prey cannot support large populations of leopards and tigers. Efforts must be made to limit the poaching of prey species, and the logging of forests must be managed more sustainably, in order to make these large traits adequately habitable for the leopards.

Another acute concern for the Amur leopards is the problem of inbreeding. This problem is further exasperated by the leopards having such a tiny population, as there are only about 20-25 leopards left in the wild today. This remaining population could disappear as a result of genetic degeneration. The levels of diversity are remarkably low, which indicates a history of inbreeding over several generations. These levels of genetic reduction could impede health, survival and reproduction of some, but not all, genetically diminished small populations.



The Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA) is an initiative, made up of Russian and western conservation organisations, that works toward the conservation and protection of Amur leopards and tigers. It works towards securing a future for these species in the Russian Far East and Northeast China. ALTA collaborates with local, regional and federal government, and non-government organisations to protect the area’s biological wealth through sustainable development, conservation and local community involvement. In this way, the extraordinary Amur leopard can hopefully be brought back from the brink of extinction, and onto the road of recovery.



These men form part of the anti-poaching brigade of the Lazovsky State Nature Reserve. The work towards protecting the Amur leopard from poachers. Photo courtesy of WWF



Source:http://theendangeredspace.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/the-worlds-rarest-cat-the-amur-leopard/

[Canuckster]

Edge has my vote for poster of the year, 2014 here. Your stuff is always top. Notch

[Som-Pong]

I once fucked a leopard up the anus.

[Professor Diet Butcher]

[Winnson]

Cool stuff, love the big cats.

[Masato]

So beautiful, all of them. Coming from BC I always dug cougars

Tigers, etc - majestic creatures.

[Luigi]

Leopards were depicted in the ancient neolithic village of Catal Hoyuk.

[Masato]

^ what/where is Catal Hoyuk? Tell us why that is interesting to you!