The leopard is a large and serious predator of the cat family, the females of the animal weigh about 50 kg, the weight of males is 70 kg or more.

The graceful beauty of a wild cat is very deceptive. An elegant predator, stretched out in bliss on the grass, in a split second turns into a merciless and fast hunter, who swiftly attacks his prey. The word leopard is translated from Greek as leon (lion) and pardus (panther). The habitat of representatives of the cat family of the tropics and subtropics, they are widespread in Asia and Africa.

The color of the leopard is very bright and beautiful: the golden skin is decorated with an intricate pattern in the form of black rings and spots. In addition to the traditional spotted coloring, the skin of a leopard can be black, such animals are called black leopards or panthers. In bright sunlight, you can see that a spotted pattern is visible under the anthracite-colored skin. When two colors are crossed, kittens are born in captivity, of which half the litter is black, half is golden. The color of the coat and its density depend on the habitat of the animal: the inhabitants of the savannas have a sandy color, the inhabitants of the desert wear lighter fur. If felines live in an area with severe climatic conditions, then their fur is thick and dense, in more comfortable conditions the undercoat of animals is thin.

Leopard females weigh about 50 kg, males weigh 70 kg or more.

The light and plastic figure of a leopard has a pronounced rounded head, a long tail and slender, lean paws. The tail of the animal has a length equal to half the length of the body of a wild cat. It is not only a decoration, but also an indicator of the predator's mood. The cat does not change its royal posture either during rest or at the moment when it is preparing for an attack. The leopard is well armed - in its arsenal are sharp claws, which are retracted into special scabbards at rest, the blow of the claws of the beast is dagger-like, it pierces the victim with claws similar to sharp, honed blades. The powerful teeth of a predator easily hold a prey that exceeds its own weight and, when moving around the area with prey in its teeth, it develops speed up to 16-18 meters per second.

The tree climbing skills of the leopard surpass those of any world champion in acrobatic disciplines: the height of the jump up is four or more meters, it jumps up to eight to nine meters in length.

The predator is able to climb up any trees, including those with an absolutely smooth trunk. Leopards often descend from a tree trunk head first. Each adult has its own hunting grounds, which are marked with claws and urine. The animal stops the intrusion of an opponent with a warning roar.

Leopard, lion, tiger and jaguar are the four most prominent representatives of the panther genus. But the snow leopard and clouded leopard, with resemblance with a leopard, they have nothing to do with this genus. Biologists call the leopard a supercat, he feels equally confident both on the ground and much higher, easily moving in the branches of trees.

In the family of leopards there are hybrids: leopon and jagopard.

  • Leopon is a hybrid obtained by crossing a male leopard with a female lion. The leopon was first officially registered in India at the beginning of the 20th century. Over time, they began to breed in captivity. Leopard hybrids are not able to bear offspring. Outwardly, the leopon looks peculiar: its head looks like a lion's, the rest of the body looks like a leopard. Male hybrids can grow a mane similar to a lion's mane, more than 20 centimeters long. The color of the animal contains black and brown spots, and there is a tassel on the tail.
  • Jagopards are obtained by crossing a leopard and a jaguar.

How much does a leopard's "lunch" weigh?

The average weight of a leopard's prey is 25 - 50 kg. But this does not mean that the predator is ready to be content with small prey. The animal is able to cope with a zebra, a deer or a horse. But, if a cat is hungry, then it does not disdain frogs, mice and fish. The leopard is a thunderstorm for all kinds of monkeys, they avoid meeting with him, and even the sight of the animal's skin inspires panic in the monkeys. A smart and cautious predator, even if there is an abundance of food, climbs into livestock farms, where livestock becomes its prey. This behavior of a leopard can only be explained by self-confidence: avoiding a meeting with a person, he still goes for “easy” prey, hoping for his speed and power.

The perfect hunting skills of a leopard allow it to perfectly disguise, remaining unnoticed on a thick fork of a tree, when the skin merges with the color of the bark, or to sneak in the grass 30-40 cm high, snuggling tightly to the ground. Only the tail can betray the animal: when the animal is worried, its tail hangs down, and the tip twitches a little. The leopard hides the obtained trophy in a place inaccessible to jackals and wolves: on rocks or in the forks of trees. The advantage of climbing trees allows the predator to store a certain supply of food. He can eat up the remnants of the “second freshness” dinner on the fourth or fifth day, but if another predator has touched his reserves, the cat will not touch the prey even if it is hungry.

How long does a leopard live?

The record lifespan of a leopard in captivity is 24 years. IN vivo the age of an animal's life is much shorter. Predators live both in families and alone. In winter, when the rut (mating period) begins, they keep in pairs, but sometimes rivalry begins because of the female. Showdown rarely ends with the death of males: for all their aggressiveness, leopards are quite reasonable and not conceited.

Male leopards are exemplary spouses; they do not directly participate in the upbringing of offspring, but live close to children and sometimes visit them. The mother at this time takes care of the babies and zealously raises them, at the age of one and a half years, the cubs begin an independent life and the leopard family breaks up.

Up to three kittens are born in the family, they grow up under the care of their mother and reach sexual maturity at the age of 30 months, leaving the parental nest. Predators start their own family at the age of 2-3 years, the age of 6-8 years is the peak of the animal's physical activity, by the age of 12-15 leopards reach old age.

Leopards can roar, but are a little quieter than lions. In addition, they can purr like domestic cats. Leopards have acute hearing, they hear five times better than humans. Leopards have one feature: they do not need to drink a lot of water, they have enough of the moisture that enters the body with food.

Leopards are poached for decorative skins and whiskers and bones that are used in the manufacture of medicines. Although the population of predators is quite large - about 500 thousand individuals, more than 10 times the number of lions, tigers and cheetahs combined, they belong to the category of protected animals close to critical. The weight of leopards taken by man was: males - from 36 to 38 kilograms, females - from 28 to 45 kilograms. Hunting for these beautiful and dangerous animals is not prohibited in a number of their habitats. But environmentalists are already sounding the alarm and insisting on limiting and completely banning the shooting of felines. Endangered include such subspecies as: South Arabian, Far Eastern, Ceylon, Javanese and Persian leopards.

Leopard (lat. Panthera pardus) - a representative of the species predatory mammals from the cat family. The animal is one of the four well-studied representatives of the genus Panthera from the subfamily of big cats.

Description of the leopard

All leopards are rather large cats in appearance, however, in size they are significantly smaller than. According to experts, the average sexually mature male leopard is always about one-third larger than an adult female.

Appearance, dimensions

Leopards have an elongated, muscular, somewhat laterally compressed, light and slender, very flexible body. The length of the tail is more than half of the total length of the body. The paws of the leopard are short, but well developed and strong, very powerful. The nails are light, waxy in color, laterally compressed and strongly curved. The head of the animal is relatively small, rounded. The frontal region is convex, and the front part of the head has a moderate elongation. The ears are small, rounded, with a wide set. The eyes are small, with a rounded pupil. Vibrissae look like elastic hairs of black, white and black-and-white color, no more than 11 cm long.

The size of the animal and its mass vary markedly and directly depend on geographical features in the area of ​​habitation. Individuals inhabiting forest areas tend to be smaller and lighter in weight compared to leopards living in open areas. The average body length of an adult without a tail is 0.9-1.9 m, and the tail length is within 0.6-1.1 m. The weight of an adult female is 32-65 kg, and that of a male is 60-75 kg. The height of the male at the withers is 50-78 cm, and the female is 45-48 cm. There are no signs of sexual dimorphism as such, therefore sex differences can only be expressed by the size of the individual and the lightness in the structure of the skull.

The tightly fitting and relatively short fur of the animal is uniform in length throughout the body, and does not acquire splendor even in winter frosts. The coat is coarse, thick and short. Appearance summer and winter fur in different subspecies differ slightly. However, the background color of winter fur is paler and duller than that of summer. The general tone of the fur color in different subspecies can vary from pale straw and grayish to rusty-brown tones. The Central Asian subspecies are predominantly sandy-gray in color, while the Far Eastern subspecies are reddish-yellow. The youngest leopards have a lighter coloration.

Variable in geographical and individual characteristics, the color of the fur also changes depending on the season. It should be noted that the front part of the muzzle of the leopard has no spots, and there are small marks around the vibrissae. On the cheeks, in the forehead, between the eyes and ears, on the upper part and sides of the neck, there are solid, relatively small black spots.

On the back of the ears there is a black color. Ring spots are located in the back and sides of the animal, as well as above the shoulder blades and on the thighs. The limbs and abdomen of the leopard are covered with solid spots, and the upper and lower parts of the tail are decorated with large ring or solid spots. The nature and degree of spotting is highly variable and unique to each individual mammalian predator.

Found in the territory South-East Asia melanistic leopards are often referred to as "black panthers". The skin of such an animal is not completely black, but such dark fur serves as an excellent disguise for the animal in dense forest thickets. The recessive gene responsible for melanism is most often found in leopards that live in mountainous and forested areas.

This is interesting! Individuals with black color can be born in the same brood with cubs that have normal coloration, but it is panthers that, as a rule, are more aggressive and behavioral.

On the territory of the Malay Peninsula, the presence of a black color is typical for almost half of all leopards. Incomplete or pseudo-melanism is also not uncommon in leopards, and the dark spots present in this case become very wide, almost merging with each other.

Character and lifestyle

Leopards are mammals that lead a secretive and solitary lifestyle.. Such animals are able to settle not only in fairly remote places, but also near human habitation. Leopard males are alone for a significant part of their lives, and females are accompanied by cubs for half of their lives. The size of an individual territory can be very different. The female most often occupies an area of ​​​​10-290 km 2, and the territory of the male can be 18-1140 km 2. Quite often, adjacent areas of heterosexual individuals overlap.

To indicate its presence in the territory, a predatory mammal uses various marks in the form of peeling the bark on trees and “scraping” on the surface of the earth or on a snow crust. With urine or excrement, leopards mark places reserved for rest or special permanent shelters. Many predators lead predominantly sedentary life, and some, especially the youngest males, often wander. Leopards move along permanent routes. In mountainous areas, predators move along the ridges and along the stream bed, and water barriers are overcome along the fallen vegetation.

Important! The ability of a leopard to climb trees not only helps the animal to get food, but also allows it to rest on the branches on hot days, as well as hide from larger land-based predators.

The leopard's lair is usually located on the slopes, which provides the predatory animal with a very good review neighborhoods . For shelter, mammals use caves, as well as root hollows in trees, placers of stones and windbreaks, and rather large rocky canopies. A calm step with a light and graceful step can be replaced by a predator's gallop, and maximum speed when running is 60 km / h. Leopards are capable of simply huge jumps up to six to seven meters long and up to three meters high. Among other things, such predators are good at swimming, and if necessary, easily overcome difficult water obstacles.

How long does a leopard live

The average lifespan of a leopard wild nature reaches ten years, and in captivity such a representative of predatory mammals from the cat family is able to live even a couple of decades.

Range, habitats

Currently, about nine subspecies of leopards are considered to be quite isolated, which differ in their range and habitats. African leopards (Panthera pardus pardus) inhabit Africa, where they live not only in the territory wet jungle central regions, but also in mountains, semi-deserts and savannahs from the Cape of Good Hope to Morocco. Predators avoid dry areas and big deserts, therefore not found in the Sahara.

Subspecies Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) inhabits Nepal and Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, southern China and northern India. Found in tropical and deciduous forests, in coniferous northern forest zones. Ceylon leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya) live only in the island territory of Sri Lanka, and the North Chinese subspecies (Panthera pardus jaronensis) inhabits northern China.

Distribution area of ​​the Far East or amur leopard(Panthera pardus orientalis) is represented by the territory of Russia, China and the Korean Peninsula, and the population of the endangered Persian leopard (Panthera pardus siscaucasica) is found in Iran and Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, Abkhazia and Armenia, Georgia and Turkey, Pakistan, as well as in the territory of the North Caucasus. South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) settles on the territory of the Arabian Peninsula.

So leopard...

He is a leopard, he is a panther - he belongs to the cat family. Most often it can live in the Middle East, Southeast, South and West Asia, South Africa and Siberia.

Most often, black leopards can be found in savannas, grasslands and meso forests. And also the favorite places of the so-called African cats are mountainous, bushy and desert areas.

Environment and range

There are 9 subspecies of the black leopard:

  • African ( panthera pardus pardus) - range of Africa.
  • Indian (panthera pardus fusca) - range of India.
  • North Chinese (panthera pardus japonensis) - range of northern China.
  • Ceylon (panthera pardus kotiya) - range of Sri Lanka.
  • Indochinese (panthera pardus delacourii) - the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe south of China and Southeast Asia.
  • Javanese (panthera pardus melas) - the range of the island of Java.
  • South Arabian (panthera pardus nimr) - range of Arabia.
  • Persian (panthera pardus saxicolor) - range of Central Asia.
  • Far East (panthera pardus orientalis) - the range of the Korean Peninsula, Northeast China and the Russian Far East.

Females occupy a territory equal to about 4 square kilometers, and males - 12. That is, there are approximately 3 males per female.

Description

Compared to the long body, the legs of the leopard are relatively short. They have a broad head and a massive skull with powerful jaw muscles. The head is crowned with small round ears. On the eyebrows of wild cats there are long whiskers that protect the eyes from dense vegetation, among which the predator is a big fan of moving. Color from light yellow can reach reddish-orange, depending on the range of the animal. The shape of leopard spots depends on their habitat - in East Africa it is round, in South Africa it is square.

Predators have solid black spots on the chest, legs and muzzle, ring spots on the tail. In babies, the color is solid - smoky gray, no spots are visible on it. The drawing of each individual is unique like a human fingerprint - never repeated. The black leopard or panther is an individual with recessive melanistic genes.

Male wild cats weigh between 30 and 65 kilograms, while females weigh between 16 and 57 kilograms. The length of the first is from one and a half to two and a half meters, the second - from one and a half to two meters.

Lifespan

Under natural conditions, i.e. in the wild, leopards live from 10 to 12 years. In captivity, the life span is much longer, averaging 21 to 23 years. As with all other living beings, there are long-livers here - 17 years is the record lifespan of a wild cat living in the wild and 27 years in captivity.

Unfortunately, African leopard cubs survive only 40-50% of the time.

diet

Mostly these predators prefer to eat ungulates: antelopes, gazelles, wild boars, deer and livestock- this is the main diet of the African leopard. And they can also eat birds, rodents, arthropods, reptiles, carrion. The weight of the prey ranges from 10-40 kilograms.

Wild cats hunt by setting up an ambush - they lie in wait and pounce on their prey - in most cases, the victim does not even have time to react, because this predator sneaks silently like a cat and attacks with lightning speed. The leopard immediately digs into the neck of the victim, which causes instant paralysis in the second, then strangles it and takes it to a quiet secluded place. The great strength of African cats allows them to hunt for prey that is 10 times their weight.

reproduction

Female leopards attract males with pheromones contained in their urine. Calling for mating, the female invitingly walks in front of the male, periodically flapping his tail. Mating lasts an average of 3 seconds, but the number of matings can reach 100 times per day, with an interval of about 6 minutes.

African cats are capable of breeding all year round. The female's estrus lasts 7 days, and the gestation period is 96 days. Usually, females lose the ability to reproduce at the age of 8–9 years.

Babies at birth weigh less than 1 kilogram. The eyes of small leopards open 1 week after birth, at 2 weeks the babies are already learning to walk. Leopards begin to regularly leave the den and eat the food familiar to leopards at the age of 6-8 weeks. Before this period, the mother can leave the cubs, going hunting, up to 36 hours, leaving the cubs in well-protected places. Ends at 3 months of age breast-feeding, and the cubs switch to solid food. At 20 weeks, the cubs usually leave the den, becoming completely independent.

Behavior

  • These wild cats are nocturnal predators. They communicate with their relatives with the help of a roar, growl, purr. Like all felines, they mark their territory with urine and claws.
  • These predators are able to reach speeds of up to 60 km / h, jump to a height of more than three meters, and make jumps 6 meters long. They have excellent hearing and vision. They feel great both on land and in water.

Leopards are relatively tolerant of humans, but may attack humans when wounded as easy prey.

A very big threat to these predators represents a person- People kill leopards for their valuable fur. Lions, tigers, hyenas and African wild dogs are very dangerous for wild cat cubs.

Leopard numbers are declining in many of their habitats due to fragmentation and habitat loss. Leopards have conservation status"close to vulnerable." Even despite the fact that leopards are the most common predators of all large cats, five of the nine subspecies are already listed in the Red Book and are endangered.

The leopard is the most beautiful and graceful animal of Asia and Africa, a wild big cat of the panther family.. Some subspecies have a relatively high abundance, five of them are on the verge of extinction. The living space occupies almost the entire African continent (except for the Sahara), the Arabian Peninsula, the territory of India, the eastern region of Tibet, the Himalayas, Asia, the foothills of the Caucasus, Siberia.

Mostly the leopard lives in the savannas, mixed forests, shrublands, mountainous regions. The animal is able to adapt to any landscape, except for a very dry area. A prerequisite for existence is a stream or river nearby.

Appearance

Outwardly, the leopard looks menacing, although it has a certain grace and charm:

  • The body is rather large, slender, muscular, squat. The length without a tail is from 90 to 190 cm. The smallest individuals have a height at the withers of 45 cm, in large specimens it reaches 78 cm. The length of the tail is from 60 to 120 cm.
  • The mass of the predator depends on the region of habitat and, as a rule, the weight of females does not exceed 65 kg, and males 75 kg.
  • The skull is massive with powerful jaws.
  • The fangs are huge, up to ten centimeters.
  • The ears are small, there are no brushes.
  • The mane is missing.
  • The coat is coarse, close to the body.
  • The color of the leopard is distinguished by the presence of dark spots (solid, ring-shaped) on the main red or yellow background. All spotted leopards have different spot patterns. Asian subspecies have larger spots, African individuals have small dark marks. The background of the fur of young leopards is somewhat lighter. On the muzzle, the spots are located in the area of ​​​​the mustache and forehead. The color of the animal is unique and unrepeatable.

The spotted leopard sometimes becomes the parent of a completely black individual - the well-known black panther.


Lifestyle and nutrition

The animal sleeps in the trees during the day, sometimes forgetting to remove the hanging tail. Hunts at night. Controls the territory from 8 to 400 km 2 (depending on the abundance of prey, habitat region and terrain). The range of several females often coincides with the range of one male.

Hunting grounds are marked with claws, feces, urine. The audit of the territory is carried out regularly, using the factor of surprise, rarely chooses the same routes. He communicates with neighbors through a roar, arranges a hot meeting for everyone who dares to invade his patrimony.

The leopard hunts prey weighing up to 900 kg. It does not make sudden movements, it slowly approaches the victim, disguising itself, clinging to the ground. At dusk, excellent vision and hearing help out. The beast is not endowed with a good sense of smell.

The animal jumps to a height of 3 meters, the maximum length of jumps is 6 meters. Leopard speed less speed cheetah, but still very high - up to 60 km per hour. The predator jumps on the prey when it is less than 10 meters away, bites into the throat and breaks the cervical spine. The strangled game is carried under the nearest tree, where the meal takes place. Everything that remains of the prey is sprinkled with earth, dry leaves, or dragged onto tall tree. The main prey are ungulates.

In a hungry year, the leopard replenishes the lack of favorite food with monkeys, rodents different size, reptiles, birds. It can also attack pets.

Reproduction and care of offspring

Male and female leopards often live nearby, treat each other gently and very respectfully.. Together they play, frolic (and not only during the mating period). wild cat a leopard living in the south can give birth at any time of the year (the peak period is the month of May). Northern animals breed in January-February. The female attracts males by smells, the mating of predators occurs repeatedly. mating games continue for several days.

Pregnancy lasts 3 months. The leopard cat builds a lair secretly from her father in a secluded place. A recess under the roots of trees or a small cave serve as a refuge. In the offspring from one to three cubs.

A newly born leopard kitten weighs no more than a kilogram. Opens eyes in the second week three months feeds on mother's milk, at six weeks slowly joins the meat. Cubs are pugnacious, playful and very gluttonous. The mother has to leave them alone for a long time to get enough food.

A leopard kitten grows and gains weight quickly, reaching sexual maturity at 2-2.5 years. From this moment begins his adult life.

In the wild, the lifespan of a predator is 10 to 11 years. Individuals in captivity live up to 21 years.


Subspecies

Individuals from different subspecies differ in color, size and are adapted to a specific habitat.. Animals can interbreed with each other and produce fertile offspring. There are nine genetically confirmed subspecies of the leopard that exist in our time:

- one of the rarest subspecies of the leopard and the smallest of its counterparts. Dwells in mountainous areas Arabian Peninsula, tolerates dry hot climate. There are no more than 200 copies in the world. The population, despite conservation measures, tends to decrease.

Habitual for most leopards, the golden-yellow coat color is available only in the back area. The sides, belly and paws are painted grayish-white or beige. Black, small spots are evenly distributed throughout the body. The male weighs about 30 kg, the weight of the female does not exceed 20 kg, the body length with a tail is within 1.4 m. The main diet includes hyraxes, gazelles, and mountain goats.

Dwells in African jungle, semi-deserts and savannahs. It avoids dry places, so the leopard is never found in the Sahara. The population is the largest of all subspecies. The main threat comes from man - intensive extermination, the advance of civilization on natural environment a habitat. The subspecies is unevenly distributed within its range.

Individuals, depending on the region of habitat, have a different coat color and size. Inhabitants of the dense rainforest endowed with more juicy and bright tones in color. A leopard from the northern provinces is several times larger than its southern counterpart. The diet includes cubs of zebras, antelopes, monkeys, reptiles, birds. The rest of the food hides on the tree.

Occasionally found in oak and mixed forests Far East. The habitat of the subspecies occupies 10 - 15 thousand km 2. The population is in critical danger, it is difficult to replenish. The leopard breeds very slowly, there are practically no females capable of producing viable offspring, pregnancy occurs once every three years.

There are very few animals left in the wild - 12 individuals in areas adjacent to China, 57 individuals in the Primorsky Territory of Russia (data for 2015). The animal is quite large - the weight of the male can reach 53 - 60 kg, the female - 42.5 kg. The length of the body is 107 - 136 cm, the tail is 82 - 90 cm. The fur fits snugly to the body, the length of the pile is up to 5 cm.

The color palette includes yellow, red, golden and red shades. The spots are black (solid, annular), forming a continuous pattern along the ridge. The tail is in solid and large annular spots. It feeds on everything that it can get (deer, roe deer, wild boars, calves, smaller game). It feeds on large prey for several days.

It was first described by the German naturalist Friedrich Mayer in 1794. The habitat of the subspecies is limited by the borders of the Indian subcontinent - the Indus River, the Himalayas, the Ganges delta and the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra. This leopard is found in Bangladesh, Nepal, throughout India, some parts of Pakistan, Bhutan.

Natural habitat - forests (dry deciduous, tropical, northern coniferous and temperate zone). In the Himalayas, the leopard conquers heights from two and a half to five thousand meters. Females weigh 29 - 34 kg, grow in length from 104 to 120 cm, have a tail up to 88 cm long. Males are much larger - an adult grows up to 142 cm in length, weighs 55 - 77 kg, tail length is 90 cm. The color of the skin is dark - brown, spots are large, rounded, look contrasting in the photo.

- lives in southern China, southern and eastern regions of Asia. The subspecies is threatened with extinction. Animal bones and other body parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine, well-selling products are made from leather. Illegal sales markets, despite the ban, are in Myanmar, Thailand, China.

The leopard chooses hunting grounds in mixed deciduous, dry evergreen forests, where there are gentle slopes and access to a reservoir. It climbs to heights up to 600 meters. It feeds mainly on venison and wild pork, which competes with humans, strongly depends on its activities.

- an inhabitant of deciduous forests, subalpine meadows, deep rocky ravines. The subspecies occupies a fairly wide range, which includes northern Iran, the Caucasus mountains, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Afghanistan, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. The largest number animals in Iran - 850 individuals, in Turkey and Georgia, these predators are practically gone - up to 5 individuals in each of the states. The total population is 1300 animals.

The body length of an adult is from 130 to 183 cm, the tail length is about 1 meter. The average weight is 70 kg, the height at the withers is 76 cm. The coat color is grayish-buff or grayish-white. The intensity of the background color depends on the time of year - in winter time it is very light, darker in summer. The spots are mostly solid, sometimes grouped into ring-shaped shadows, transverse dark marks are located on the tail.

- a typical representative of the fauna of northern China. The living space is occupied by forests and mountain ranges of the region. The population reaches 2.5 thousand individuals. The size is comparable to the Far Eastern subspecies.

The color of the coat is dark orange, the pattern on the coat is in the form of ring-shaped shadows with dark spots located in the center (like a jaguar). The length of the coat of this animal is the largest of all known subspecies.

- a solo hunter from the island of Sri Lanka. The habitat covers the entire island. On its territory, among other predators, it has no competitors. It is in danger as an endangered subspecies. The number in the wild is up to 250 individuals. It is kept in captivity in zoos around the world (in 2011 there were 75 individuals). The French zoo is actively engaged in a breeding program for this subspecies.

This leopard feeds on large animals, sometimes it can switch to small mammals, reptiles and birds. Rarely drags prey up a tree.
It has a reddish or brownish-yellow base color with medium-sized black spots located close to each other. The average weight of a male is 56 kg, females - 29 kg.

He chose the Indonesian island of Java as his habitat with its tropical climate, mountain ranges and forests. Human encroachments on the natural habitat, a decrease in the amount of food habitual for a predator and uncontrolled extermination have led to a sharp reduction in the population. In the wild, the number of Javan leopards does not exceed 250 individuals.

The zoos of Indonesia and Europe contain several dozen animals. Animals are completely black or the usual spotted color. Main food: monkeys, ungulates, wild boars.

  • The last Arabian leopard in the Hajar Mountains (Northern Territory of the Sultanate of Oman) was killed by a shepherd protecting his livestock in 1976.
  • In Africa, the limit of shooting leopards is set annually. The cost of the right to shoot - $ 4 - 12 thousand.
  • In Tanzania, hunting for females is prohibited.
  • In Asian countries, hunting these animals is prohibited by law.
  • The European leopard is a predatory animal of the Pleistocene era. The subspecies became extinct during the last ice age(about 10 thousand years ago BC). The remains of the animal were discovered in Heidelberg (Germany). The approximate age of the find is 600 thousand years BC.
  • Leopard Chung Chi from China is one of the most prolific predators living in captivity (died in 1993). He managed to become the father of fifteen cubs from different females. Total descendants is equal to 40.
  • Notorious, through the fault of the leopard, received the Rudraprayag district in India. dangerous and seasoned predator terrorized the local population for eight years (from 1918 to 1926). The confirmed number of victims is 125 people. After numerous failed attempts The killer leopard was destroyed on May 2, 1926 by hunter Jim Corbett.
  • The leopard does not like dogs, strangling them at the first opportunity.

Leopards live in different corners Earth. Their area of ​​​​residence is wider than the range of any other member of the cat family, except for the domestic cat. They live in tropical, subtropical and mixed forests, on mountain slopes and plains, in savannahs, as well as in thickets along river banks. Very often leopards settle near settlements.

Leopard habitats

The habitat of leopards is located in Asia and Africa. On the African continent, these animals are found from the Cape of Good Hope to the semi-deserts of Morocco. They do not live in this territory only in the Sahara and Namib deserts, where there is no access to fresh water. In Asia, the leopard lives in the southern part of Western Asia and in the southern half of East Asia.

Anterior Asian subspecies leopards live in the territories following countries: Iran, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russian Federation (North Caucasus and Karabakh). The terrain in which they live is: subalpine meadows, leafy forests or bushes.

Lives in the Arabian Peninsula. Once this subspecies was quite prosperous and found throughout the Middle East, today this subspecies is on the verge of extinction. The number of subspecies ranges from 200 to 250 individuals.

Indian leopard lives in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, northern India and southern China. Lives in tropical, deciduous and in the north in coniferous forests, also lives in mountainous areas at an altitude of up to 2500 meters above sea level.

Far Eastern leopards found in mountainous and forest areas in Russia, North Korea and China. The area on which this subspecies lives is only 10,000-15,000 km². There are only about 50 of them in the wild.

north chinese leopard lives in northern China in forests and mountains.

ceylon leopard lives throughout the island of Sri Lanka, it is considered the most large predator on the island.

Javan leopard lives on the island of Java. But due to the overpopulation of the island, the food base of the animal is being reduced, as a result of which the subspecies of the Javan leopard disappears. In total, today there are about 250 individuals of the Javan leopard.