Leopard is the most beautiful and graceful animal in Asia and Africa, a wild big cat of the panther genus. Some subspecies have relatively high numbers, five of them are on the verge of complete 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, and Siberia.
The leopard mainly lives in savannas, mixed forests, bush areas, and mountainous regions. The animal is able to adapt to any landscape, except very dry areas. 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 quite large, slender, muscular, squat. Length without 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. Tail length is from 60 to 120 cm.
- The weight of the predator depends on the region of its 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 and there are no tufts.
- The mane is missing.
- The coat is rough and lies close to the body.
- The color of the leopard is distinguished by the presence of dark spots (solid, ring-shaped) on a main red or yellow background. All spotted leopards have different spot patterns. Asian subspecies have larger spots, African individuals have small dark markings. The fur background of young leopards is somewhat lighter. On the face, spots are located in the area of the mustache and forehead. The color of the animal is unique and inimitable.
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 its hanging tail. Hunts at night. Controls an area 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.
It marks hunting grounds with claws, feces, and urine. He conducts an inspection of the territory regularly, using the factor of surprise, and rarely chooses the same routes. He communicates with his neighbors through a roar, and arranges a heated 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 approaches the victim slowly, camouflaging itself, clinging to the ground. At dusk, excellent vision and hearing help out. The animal 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. The speed of a leopard is less than the speed of a cheetah, but still very high - up to 60 km per hour. The predator jumps on the prey when there are less than 10 meters left, 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 from the prey is covered with earth, dry leaves, or dragged up a tall tree. The main prey is ungulates.
In a hungry year, the leopard makes up for the lack of its favorite food with monkeys, rodents of various sizes, reptiles, and birds. It can also attack domestic animals.
Reproduction and care of offspring
A male and female leopard often live nearby and treat each other tenderly and very respectfully. They play and frolic together (and not only during the mating period). The wild cat 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. Females attract males by smell, and predators mate repeatedly. Mating games continue for several days.
Pregnancy lasts 3 months. The leopard cat sets up a den in a secluded place secretly from its father. The shelter is a depression under the roots of trees or a small cave. The litter contains from one to three cubs.
A newly born leopard kitten weighs no more than a kilogram. It opens its eyes in the second week, feeds on its mother’s milk for up to three months, and slowly begins to eat meat at six weeks. The cubs are pugnacious, playful and very voracious. The mother has to leave them alone for a long time in order to get enough food.
A leopard kitten grows and gains weight quickly, reaching sexual maturity at 2 – 2.5 years. From this moment his adult life begins.
In the wild, the life expectancy of a predator is from 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 leopard subspecies known to exist today:
- one of the rarest subspecies of leopard and the smallest of its brothers. It lives in the mountainous regions of the Arabian Peninsula and tolerates hot, arid climates well. There are no more than 200 copies in the world. The population, despite environmental measures, tends to decline.
The golden-yellow coat color, usual for most leopards, is found only in the back area. The sides, belly and paws are grayish-white or beige. Black, small spots are evenly distributed throughout the body. The male weighs about 30 kg, the female’s weight does not exceed 20 kg, the body length with tail is within 1.4 m. The main diet includes hyraxes, gazelles, and mountain goats.
Lives in African jungles, semi-deserts and savannas. 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 humans - intensive extermination, the advance of civilization on the natural habitat. Within the boundaries of its range, the subspecies is distributed unevenly.
Individuals, depending on the region where they live, have different coat colors and sizes. The inhabitants of dense tropical forests are endowed with richer and brighter tones in color. The leopard from the northern provinces is several times larger than its southern relative. The diet includes baby zebras, antelopes, monkeys, reptiles, and birds. The remains of food are hidden in a tree.
Occasionally found in oak and mixed forests of the Far East. The subspecies' habitat occupies 10–15 thousand km2. The population is in critical danger and is difficult to replenish. Leopards reproduce 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 a male can reach 53 - 60 kg, a female - 42.5 kg. Body length 107 – 136 cm, tail – 82 – 90 cm. The fur fits tightly 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, ring-shaped), forming a continuous pattern along the ridge. The tail has solid and large ring-shaped spots. It feeds on everything it can catch (deer, roe deer, wild boar, 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 to 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 areas of Pakistan, and Bhutan.
Natural habitat - forests (dry deciduous, tropical, northern coniferous and temperate). 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, the spots are large, round in shape, look contrasting in the photo.
- lives in southern China, southern and eastern regions of Asia. The subspecies is in danger of complete extinction. Animal bones and other body parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine, and the skin is used to make well-selling products. Illegal markets, despite the ban, are located in Myanmar, Thailand, and China.
The leopard chooses hunting grounds in mixed deciduous, dry evergreen forests, where there are gentle slopes and access to a reservoir. Climbs to heights of up to 600 meters. It feeds mainly on venison and wild pork, which competes with humans and is highly dependent on its activities.
- 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 of animals is in Iran - 850 individuals; in Turkey and Georgia there are practically no such predators left - up to 5 individuals in each state. The total population size is 1300 animals.
The body length of an adult is from 130 to 183 cm, the tail length is about 1 meter. Average weight - 70 kg, height at withers - 76 cm. Coat color is grayish-ocher or grayish-white. The intensity of the background color depends on the time of year - in winter it is very light, in summer it is darker. The spots are mostly solid, in places they are grouped into ring-shaped shadows, and there are transverse dark markings on the tail.
- a typical representative of the fauna of northern China. The living space is occupied by forests and mountains of the region. The population size reaches 2.5 thousand individuals. Comparable in size to the Far Eastern subspecies.
The coat color 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 fur of this animal is the longest of all known subspecies.
– a single hunter from the island of Sri Lanka. The habitat covers the entire island. It has no competitors on its territory among other predators. It is endangered as an endangered subspecies. The number in the wild is up to 250 individuals. 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, but can sometimes switch to small mammals, reptiles and birds. It 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, a female is 29 kg.
He chose the Indonesian island of Java with its tropical climate, mountains and forests as his habitat. Human encroachment on the natural habitat, a decrease in the amount of food familiar to the predator, and uncontrolled extermination have led to a sharp decline in the population. In the wild, the number of Javan leopards does not exceed 250 individuals.
Zoos in Indonesia and Europe contain several dozen animals. The animals are completely black or have 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, a limit for the shooting of leopards is set annually. The cost of the right to shoot is $4 – 12 thousand.
- Hunting of females is prohibited in Tanzania.
- In Asian countries, hunting these animals is prohibited by law.
- The European leopard is a predatory representative of the animal world 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 estimated age of the find is 600 thousand years BC.
- The Chung Chi leopard from China is one of the most prolific captive predators (died 1993). He managed to father fifteen cubs from different females. The total number of descendants is equal to 40.
- The Rudraprayag district in India became notorious due to the fault of a leopard. A 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 unsuccessful attempts, the killer leopard was killed on May 2, 1926 by hunter Jim Corbett.
- The leopard does not like dogs and strangles them at the first opportunity.
Leopard is one of the big cats belonging to the genus Panthera. Its closest relatives are the tiger, lion and snow leopard, with which the leopard has many similarities.
Leopard (Panthera pardus).
The beauty of the leopard can compete with the tiger, but it is inferior in size: the leopard’s body length is 1-1.8 m, weight 35-70 kg. Otherwise, the leopard is a typical cat with a flexible body, a long tail and strong clawed paws. The leopard's skin has an unrivaled spotted coloration. The main color of the coat is yellow or red with a transition to white on the underside of the body.
A leopard looks out for prey.
But among leopards there are often animals with a high content of pigment in their fur; in this case, the animal’s skin becomes black or black-brown with barely visible spots. Such leopards are usually called panthers. The fur of this animal is short but thick and is valued as an excellent finishing material.
The spots on the skin of this panther are clearly visible. This proves that the panther is actually just a color form of the leopard.
The leopard's range is very extensive. This cat is found everywhere in the vastness of Africa and Asia, reaching in the north to the Caucasus Mountains and the Amur taiga. This animal very easily adapts to different habitats and inhabits different landscapes: the leopard can be found in savannas, semi-deserts, mountains and dense forests.
Leopard climbs over rocks.
Like any cat, the leopard leads a solitary lifestyle. Usually it moves silently on soft paws, its spotted skin perfectly camouflages it among the leaves and grass. As a rule, the leopard waits out the heat of the day in a secluded place and goes hunting at dusk. But in the presence of abundant prey, he easily changes his regime and hunts during the day.
Leopard sleeps on a tree.
The leopard feeds mainly on ungulates - small antelopes, gazelles, deer, wild pigs, and roe deer. In some areas, leopards often hunt monkeys. On occasion, they can eat smaller animals - birds, rodents and even reptiles. Leopards disdain carrion and eat it only in cases of extreme hunger. Leopards lie in wait for their prey and stealthily approach it for a short distance, after which they overtake it with a huge leap and strangle it by the throat.
In the trees, leopards chase monkeys by deftly jumping from branch to branch.
In general, the leopard climbs trees better than all other cats and constantly drags its killed prey onto branches, making it inaccessible to other predators. But the leopard itself will not miss the opportunity to take prey from a weaker hunter, for example, a cheetah.
Leopards do not have a specific breeding season, with the exception of animals living in the north (Amur leopards have a mating season in winter). Pregnancy lasts 3 months, after which the female gives birth to 1-3 cubs. For offspring, she chooses a den in a cave or dense thickets. Leopard kittens are born blind, but grow quickly and soon begin to leave the den. Young animals stay with their mother for up to 1-1.5 years, during which time the female brings them wounded animals and teaches them the art of hunting.
Leopard cubs.
An adult healthy leopard, due to its stealth, strength and agility, has practically no enemies. The main competitors of leopards are lions and hyenas in Africa, tigers and wolves in Asia. These animals can take leopards' prey and attack young animals, but since leopards usually hide their prey in trees, this rarely happens. Leopards can sometimes be injured while hunting by warthogs or buffalos. More often this happens with young, inexperienced animals. Weak and old animals can approach human habitation and hunt more defenseless prey - goats, sheep, dogs, poultry. In extremely rare cases, a leopard can become a man-eater.
But usually people pose the biggest threat to leopards. These animals have been hunted for centuries. Although short leopard fur is not suitable for making warm clothing, due to its beauty it is used for decoration and simply as home decoration. Among all nations, leopard hunting was a hunt of nobility and prestige. This beast itself has become a symbol of power and is often found as an element of heraldry. In captivity, leopards get along well and can reproduce. The number of some leopard subspecies has reached a critical level and requires special measures for breeding in captivity.
A young leopard plays in the zoo.
on the unique behavior of the leopard.
The leopard is a typical large representative of the vast cat family. The beast is unusually beautiful, although this beauty is somehow unkind and alarming. Large black spots and rings are randomly scattered across the sparkling golden background. On the sides and outer side of the legs the general background color is lighter than on the back. It is white on the belly and inside of the legs. The winter fur of the leopard that lives in the Amur-Ussuri region is soft and quite lush. In summer it is shorter, sparser and rougher, but the pattern remains the same - beautiful and bright. In warm regions, of course, the leopard does not need winter fur.
Black leopards are occasionally seen. They are most often called a black panther. However, they are melanistic: the same leopards, but dressed in a skin of a different color. In very bright light and on a black panther, spotting can be seen, although with difficulty.
Scientists at zoos have found that when spotted leopards are crossed with black ones, kittens of both color types are born in approximately equal proportions, and black parents produce mostly black offspring.
Black panthers live throughout the vast range of the leopard, but are rare in the Amur-Ussuri region. They are most often found in Southeast Asia, especially Java.
The leopard has a graceful, light and flexible figure, a rounded head, a long tail, and slender legs. And he is all graceful - when he stands or lies, and when he walks, and when he attacks. His gait is quiet, light, completely inaudible - majestic.
This beast is superbly armed. Its fangs and retractable claws are as sharp as needles and deadly as daggers. With a load in his teeth that exceeds his own weight, he rushes through the forest quickly and easily. It seems that the animal has a bag of tow in its mouth, and not a roe deer, sika deer or gilt. And it’s almost incredible: with a roe deer in its teeth, a large leopard can jump to a height of two or three meters. Let's add: his running speed is 16 - 18 meters per second, and eight to ten-meter long jumps and four-meter high jumps are common for him, as is artistic climbing of trees, even straight and smooth ones.
The lion and the tiger are relatives of the leopard, but the closest of them in origin, appearance and lifestyle is the jaguar, which lives in South and Central America. He is almost the same color, with dark spots on a yellow background, only a little larger and a little stockier in build. And the habits are the same. In a word, a brother to the leopard and a supercat of the New World.
Lion, tiger, leopard and jaguar are all in the same genus panther. They are so close that they produce hybrid crosses between themselves. And if the cat family deservedly bears the laurels of the most specialized predatory animals, then the four representatives of the panther genus are nothing less than the elite of the cat family.
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The Amur, or Far Eastern, leopard is the rarest endangered subspecies. The Far Eastern leopard lives in mountain forest areas, where it has a clear preference for black fir-cedar-broad-leaved forests in the middle and upper reaches of rivers. It is less willing to colonize broad-leaved forests and especially pyrogenic oak forests, the area of which increases as a result of annual fires. Its range, which previously covered Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula and the south of the Ussuri Territory, has now shrunk to a critically small size. The current range of the Far Eastern leopard covers only a limited mountain forest area with an area of about 10-15 thousand square meters. km at the junction of the three states of Russia, China, and North Korea. The size of individual areas of the Far Eastern leopard is small, approximately 5-8 thousand hectares, and the animals themselves are strictly territorial predators: each adult animal has its own area, which does not overlap with the areas of individuals of the same sex.
The harsh conditions of the region with cold snowy winters and a limited food supply have previously prevented the Amur leopard from having a more or less significant population, and in recent decades, active human economic activity has been steadily pushing it out of its original habitats and has brought it to a very dangerous brink...
The remaining habitats of this elegant, graceful cat are annually subjected to the destructive effects of forest fires, the breed dies and the food supply is undermined. Poaching of not only the main food items of leopards - roe deer, sika deer, raccoon dog, badger, hare, but also the leopard itself has not been stopped. And it’s not difficult to get it: almost any pack of dogs can drive not only a young, but also an adult animal up a tree, and when hungry, it will follow any bait and end up in traps. This is what poachers take advantage of.
The only reserve where the Far Eastern leopard breeds is Kedrovaya Pad, but it is so small - about 18 thousand hectares - that it does not play a significant role in the conservation of this wonderful cat - only one male lives here permanently, and breeds, as a rule, no more two females. Almost every year the reserve “releases” from two to four young leopards beyond its boundaries, but the surroundings of the reserve are so developed by humans and unsuitable for the animals to live that they are doomed to death from a poacher’s bullet or from starvation.
The last refuge of the leopard in the Ussuri Territory was a small area of southwestern Primorye with a length of about 200 kilometers from the Razdolnaya River to Posyet Bay. But even here it remains only in a narrow, poorly developed mountainous strip of coniferous-deciduous and deciduous forests along the border with China.
Among all cats, the leopard is perhaps the most beautiful, the most graceful, very strong and courageous, but at the same time very strong and courageous, but at the same time a very cautious animal. The bright variegated color not only decorates, but also makes it invisible in the play of sunbeams in the forest jungle, in the variegation of tall grass and among the mosaic of fallen leaves. The leopard has a keen eye and keen hearing, and an excellent sense of smell. He is smart and unhurried in a calm state, but is lightning fast in a jump when not hunting, and can climb a tree with prey that exceeds his weight. Compared to a tiger, he is small. The female weighs up to 50, and the male - up to 70 kg.
The life of the Far Eastern leopard, living in the north of its range, passes in extreme conditions. A land with cold and snowy winters, with frosts up to 30 degrees, it would seem, is not a place for tropical animals... And yet the leopard lives here... But lives at a density tens of times lower than in the tropics: different nature, different prey, different behavior. In the summer, when the climate in the leopard’s domain approaches tropical (abundant fog, drizzle, downpours, impassable thickets intertwined with vines, the green fragrance of nature - then its food is more varied and there is no need for warm clothing), the fur barely reaches 2.5 cm. But in the fall, with the onset of cold weather, the leopard dresses in a lush coat with thick and long (from 5 cm on the back to 7 cm on the belly) fur. Especially fluffy are young kittens, which in nature are very reminiscent of a snow leopard. Perhaps that is why the locals call the leopard exactly that: “leopard”.
What is known about the Far Eastern leopard? The material on measurements of cats is small - scientists were lucky enough to take measurements of about a dozen spotted panthers. Their upper limits show that the length of males reaches 136 cm, females - 112, tails up to 90 and 73 cm, respectively, weight up to 53 or, possibly, up to 60 kilograms.
And further... The eyes are yellow, the pupil is vertically oval, becoming round in the dark, the claws are dark chocolate with white ends, very mobile and retractable into a special “sheath” so as not to dull them when walking. The fur coat is changed twice a year, in the fall - for a warm winter one and in the spring - for a cool summer one. Polygamous, that is, one male can court several females. Mating games (rut), and therefore the appearance of cubs, can occur at any time of the year (in this the leopard remained faithful to the heritage of tropical origin), but usually the wedding takes place in January. After this, after 92-95 days, the female gives birth to up to four kittens weighing 400-600 grams, blind and measuring only 15-17 cm. But more often there are only two kittens. They begin to see the light on the 7-9th day. The babies begin to leave the den at the age of just over a month, and at two months they begin to partake of game - the mother feeds them with regurgitation of semi-digested meat. Three-month-old kittens acquire the coloration of adults: black spots on their fluffy coat turn into rosettes. At the age of about a year they separate from their mother and become independent, and in the second or third year they start a “family” themselves. In the zoo they live up to 20 years, in the wild - much less. These are the main data published in reference books on the Far Eastern leopard, which present observations made mainly in zoos. For more than 10 years, V. Korkishko and D. Pikunov studied the life of the leopard; they prepared a monograph on the ecology of this cat, which, of course, will reveal many little-known aspects of the animal’s life. In particular, they identified about 20 different animals that serve as food for the leopard, including the not mentioned above boar, musk deer, fox, weasel, squirrel, hedgehog, hazel grouse, pheasant and others.
Most of the animals that the leopard feeds on are objects of commercial and recreational hunting and, naturally, are hunted by poachers. In addition, after the installation of barrier structures on the border with China in the autumn-winter period, the influx of roe deer migrating from the Black Mountains, which previously regularly filled empty niches in coastal areas, almost stopped. Over the past 10 years, the number of roe deer, even in the Kedrovaya Pad nature reserve, has fallen by more than 10 times. If previously passing herds of 20-30 and up to 70 animals were observed, now there are none at all.
It became difficult for the leopard to obtain food, especially in winter, when badgers and raccoon dogs go into holes for a long time, and young ungulates are few in number, and, in addition, they grow up and become more cautious. Other small prey do not have large numbers to be sufficient to feed the leopard. Sika deer are a good prey for panthers, but they live in herds and are distributed sporadically and are therefore accessible only to some leopards. In addition, a certain competition when hunting deer arises between the leopard and the tiger, especially in places with a small number of deer.
And yet, despite the difficulties encountered in obtaining food, the Far Eastern leopard has not recorded any unprovoked attacks on humans. He is not afraid of people, but he is very careful towards them, and sometimes quite curious. Sometimes, like a tiger, he follows on the heels of a person, watches all his actions, undoubtedly hoping to profit from the remains of his hunt, but at the same time remains unnoticed. Very often uses paths and roads made by humans: they are easier to walk on and produce less noise when walking. It almost never attacks livestock, with the exception of deer in deer parks, and rarely specifically hunts dogs.
If in the tropics, in places where leopards are common, you can easily observe them almost point-blank from a car, then the Far Eastern leopard lives so secretly and in inaccessible places that it is very difficult to see it even from a distance. And this is where for more than six months the forest, which has shed its leaves, remains completely transparent and the grass sticks to the ground, where for almost 4 months, at least in shady places, there is snow... In winter, their tracks left in the snow tell the life of leopards in great detail, but in summer the leopard gets lost in the tall grass and bushes and its life is revealed in separate fragments: footprints left on the dirt of the paths, scratches - marks along the paths, on terraces and ridges and paw prints on sand spits near the river. It is rare for a leopard to give itself away by roaring.
The leopard can eat frozen meat and animal carcasses. Reindeer herding farms play a special role in the life of leopards. On the one hand, they provide leopards with unlimited and easily accessible prey, on the other hand, farm owners do everything to destroy the predator. Leopards are very conservative. For many years they live in the same areas, using permanent paths, passages and brood lairs. At the same time, they absolutely cannot tolerate the prolonged presence of humans in such places, much less any economic activity (construction of hunting huts, roads, etc.) and when it appears they always leave them. The disturbance factor for this hidden beast is very significant. The leopard poses no direct danger to humans. Over the past 50 years, not a single case of an unprovoked leopard attack on a person has been recorded. Having excellent hearing and vision, the leopard is the first to detect people and carefully moves away (even from prey), remaining unnoticed. Only some young leopards, out of curiosity, can follow the scent of a person, but they never show signs of aggression.
Taxonomic position:
Class Mammals - Mammalia, Order Carnivores - Carnivora, Family Cats - Felidae, Species - Pantera pardus, Subspecies - Pantera pardus orientalis Schlegel.
States in which the Far Eastern leopard is found:
The size of the entire world population of the Far Eastern leopard is not about 40 individuals, with the majority living in Russia in the Primorsky Territory - 30 individuals, and less than 10 individuals in the Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in China. In South Korea, the last sighting of a leopard was recorded in 1969.
Central Asian leopard – Panthera pardus tulliana. An extremely rare, endangered subspecies in Russia, possibly an already extinct subspecies. Listed in the IUCN Red List. Body length 90 – 170 cm. Tail up to 100 cm. Body weight – 2 – 80 kg. An excellent tree climber and rock climber, but does not like water. Distributed in the Greater Caucasus and Transcaucasia, those areas that are involved in military operations. The main sources that were used in compiling this story about LEOPARDS:
Young naturalist 1992 - 2
Young naturalist 1980 - 4
Newspaper "Bird Market" 1996
WWF Russia website -
Leopard- one of the representatives of large cats. There are 9 subspecies in total, including black and white leopards. Several species, like the Zanzibar (last seen in 1980) and the European (lived on our planet more than 10,000 years ago) are considered officially extinct. But today we will talk about Far Eastern leopard, about where it lives, what it looks like, what it eats.
Description of the Far Eastern leopard
Body length Far Eastern (Amur, East Siberian) leopard 107-136 cm with a body weight of 32-48 kg (in rare cases, the weight reaches 75 kg), and the tail grows in length 82-90 cm, shoulder height up to 78 cm. The leopard’s skull is compressed in the interorbital region quite strongly. And the life expectancy of such a predator is on average 20 years.
Leopard fur is 30-50 mm long on the back and up to 70 mm on the belly. In summer, the color is darker (varies from golden to cream), while in winter it is lighter on the sides, the belly and limbs are white. And, of course, there are peculiar black spots all over the body, which is typical for all leopards.
HABITAT, INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT FAR EASTERN LEOPARDS
Habitat of the Far Eastern leopard
Such cats live in a small area of the territory of three countries - China, North Korea and Russia. According to data for 2014, there are about 50-60 leopards, although a century ago they occupied the entire Korean Peninsula, Primorye and even areas in northern China, and now they are one of the rare individuals. Of course, active measures are being taken to preserve Far Eastern leopards.
These predators choose their homes in subtropical, tropical steppes, savannas, deserts, to the borders of various populated areas. But the most important thing for leopards is shelter and a sufficient number of animals from which to profit.
What does a leopard eat?
As you know, the leopard is a predator, so it feeds on animals. And since these creatures live almost alone, hunting for ungulates is much more difficult. Leopard in the forests and mountains eats roe deer, deer, elk, mountain goats, wild boars, mouflons, tahrs, kabergs, jainars. In the deserts eats antelopes, giraffes (their babies), camels (babies), zebras, impalas. But the predator is not limited to large animals; the diet also includes small game - hares, porcupines, foxes, badgers, martens, mice, other rodents, monkeys. And also birds, like pheasant, snowcock, chukar, black grouse, and reptiles, like lizards and snakes, including insects.
Of course, from hunger leopard may attack another predator, cubs, and eat crabs and fish. Well, leopards living close to people hunt livestock - goats, sheep, horses, cows, pigs, donkeys, poultry, among others, and can easily attack a person. He needs about 20 kg of meat per day, and he eats his large prey in 3-4 days, and after that he goes hunting again. Leopards They drink a lot of water, so they try to stay close to bodies of water, even though they drink at night. And they eat grass when it is necessary to cleanse the intestines, but many animals do this.
Interesting facts about the Far Eastern leopard
· Female leopards keep their babies with them for a long time, especially male ones, in order to give birth less
· Males do not touch mothers who are busy raising cubs
· The leopard's tail reaches a length of 110 cm
· The Far Eastern leopard is called the Manchurian and Korean leopard
· The Far Eastern leopard is not the largest species among its kind
· Difference from other individuals in softer and longer fur
Leopard fur is lighter in winter than in summer
The peak distribution of the Far Eastern leopard occurred in the 20th century
VIDEO: DELNE-EASTERN LEOPARD
IN THIS VIDEO, YOU CAN LEARN A LOT OF INTERESTING ABOUT THE FAR EASTERN LEOPARD IN THE DOCUMENTARY
Tigers and jaguars belong to the peculiar “elite” of the cat family - the genus panther. These small, but graceful and strong cats are easy to recognize by their beautiful spotted skin, but it cannot be called the main distinguishing feature. It turns out that a black panther is still the same leopard, but with slight mutations in color. In addition, cheetahs can also boast of a spotted coat. Leopards also have the habit of dragging their prey into trees and do this with extraordinary ease.
Among leopards, there are 9 subspecies, which differ from each other in the color of the main background and the location of the spots.
The habitat of leopards is so vast that its area is second only to that of the domestic cat. Previously, these animals could be found on a vast territory, including almost the entire African continent, except for the Sahara Desert (African leopard), Western Asia and Transcaucasia (Persian and Arabian leopards), India (Indochinese and Indian leopards), China (Northern Chinese and Far Eastern leopards) , Indonesia, Pakistan (Indian leopard), Java islands (Javanese leopard), Zanzibar and Sri Lanka (Ceylon leopard). Now these numerous areas have decreased by almost 2 times.
Leopard habitat Depending on the species and continent, these cats prefer different habitats. Thus, the African leopard is found both in wild jungles and in semi-deserts and savannas. It avoids dry areas. The Asian and Far Eastern subspecies prefer various forests in mountainous areas and on plains.
Leopards are smaller in size than lions and tigers. The body length without a tail ranges from 90 to 190 cm, with a tail - all 150 - 300 cm. The height of males at the withers reaches 50-78 cm. The weight of males does not exceed 75 kg.
These large cats have a more elongated and slender body, making their gait seem light and even a little airy. Females are distinguished from males only by their smaller body size and skull structure.
Leopards have become famous throughout the world for their spotted color. Thus, against a general light yellow or red background, hundreds of dark spots of various shapes and sizes are scattered throughout almost the entire body. The location of the spots can be solid or in the form of ring shapes. The basic background of each subspecies is slightly different. This coloring serves as an excellent camouflage for the predator during the hunt.
The thick coat may vary slightly depending on the time of year. In the Far Eastern leopard in winter it becomes slightly longer - up to 5 cm and paler, and in summer it becomes shorter, about 2-2.5 cm and brighter. The largest number of spots are located on the back and sides. Each cat's pattern is individual. It's like a person's fingerprints.
Probably, each of us has heard about black panthers, but not everyone knows that a black panther is a melanistic leopard (dark-colored individual). Color changes are the result of mutations. But even in black panthers, if you look closely, you can see darker spots in places. This natural mutation is more common in individuals living in forested areas of Southeast Asia.
Black leopard or black panther 
Black kittens can be born not only to black leopards, but even to ordinary spotted leopards.
They are most active at night. It is during this period that these graceful predators go hunting. Leopards feed on various medium-sized ungulates: deer, antelope, roe deer and other animals. During the “lean period” they will not disdain rodents and carrion. They often attack livestock (most often while grazing on pastures), but they prefer not to get too close to human settlements.
With booty 
These cats are solitary by nature, but can also live in pairs. They climb trees with incredible ease and often rest there for the day or for ambush. But for the most part they prefer to hunt on the ground. To do this, they use one of two main techniques: quietly sneaking up or attacking from an ambush.
Day rest 
To ensure that their prey remains safe and sound, leopards prefer to drag it into trees. This procedure is carried out with incredible ease, as if they were lifting not 50-60 kg, but a bag filled with straw.
With prey on the tree 
The mating season in different habitat areas begins at different times, for example, in the southern regions it lasts almost all year round, and in the northern regions it begins in late autumn or early winter. At this time, males become quite aggressive and often start “wedding” fights over females, but without fatal outcomes.
Pregnancy lasts only 3 months. Before giving birth, the female goes in search of a suitable den for her future kittens. 1-2 cubs are born, which are raised exclusively by the mother. The male is not allowed near the kittens. He lives near the brood, but visits it infrequently. The cubs grow very quickly and become sexually mature after 2-2.5 years. They begin to have their own families at the age of 2-3 years.
Female with cubs 
In the wild, the lifespan of leopards is approximately 12-15 years, while in captivity it is 24.
Like all big cats, leopards can pose a deadly danger to humans. It's extremely rare, but it happens. The reasons for an attack on a person can be different:
1) injury to an animal during a hunt;
2) wounds from porcupine quills (the injection sites begin to fester and terribly hurt, as a result of which the animal loses its former mobility and cannot keep up with its fast prey);
3) old age (old individuals also no longer have the same strength as before).
Leopard sleeps in a tree crack The most famous man-eating leopard was the leopard from Rudraprayag (Northern India). The events took place in the 1920s. He killed 125 people. For eight years he kept the area at bay. At first, the leopard lay in wait for night walkers on forest roads, and then began to break into homes. In 1925 he was shot and killed.
Rudraprayag man-eating leopard Now the number of these beautiful animals is decreasing every year. As a result, 5 subspecies were included in the IUCN Red Book, and the Far Eastern leopard was also listed in the Russian Red Book. In Russia, since the 16th century, leopards living in the Caucasus region have also been called leopards.
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