Habitat & Diet
The leopard is found in Africa, Asia Minor, Central Asia, and the Far East. but occurs most in sub-Saharan Africa. They are found in all habitats with annual rainfall above 50 mm. Out of all the African cats, the leopard is the only species which occupies both rainforest and arid desert habitats. A leopard’s home range averages between 30-78 km2 (males) and 15-16 km2 (females) in protected areas.
The leopard has learnt to adapt in order to survive, with other large predators around such as the lion and
hyena, food is hard to come by and to keep. In order to survive the leopard has adapted several successful behaviors. The first is that it eats a variety of foods, the leopard does not hunt for just one kind of prey. Secondly, leopards often hide their food in trees where most other predators can’t reach. Thirdly leopards can live without water for periods of time, obtaining their moisture from prey.
Despite its relatively small body size, the leopard is still capable of taking down prey twice its size. With its massive skull and powerful jaw muscles it makes for a formidable killer. The leopard preys on dung beetles, rodents, birds, small and large antelopes, hares, and arthropods. However, the leopard has a very broad diet due to changes in prey availability, from porcupines, to small primates, to ungulates (hoofed mammals).
Leopards are generally more active between sunset and sunrise, and kill more prey at this time. Studies have found that the average daily consumption for a leopard is 3.5 kg for adult males and 2.8 kg for females. And on average male leopards kill about every three days and females with cubs about every 1.5 days.
Physical Characteristics
The leopard has specialized teeth. The small front incisors are useful for tearing away fur and flesh from bones, while the large, pointed rear carnassials come together like scissors to shear off pieces of meat which the leopard swallows without chewing.
Equally as important as the specialized teeth, is the leopard's tongue. Like a common housecat, the leopard has a rough tongue covered with hook-shaped structures called papillae. However, whereas the housecat's tongue feels merely scratchy or rough, the big cat's tongue can literally peel off the fur and skin of its prey.
The paws of a leopard are soft and padded like most cats, and have retractable claws. The soft pads allow the leopard to approach prey unnoticed, and then the claws help bring down the prey in the final rush. Like all cats the leopards are digitigrades, which means that they walk on the their toes.
Other specialization’s of the leopard are it’s incredible jumping ability. It can leap up to 22 feet long and 10 feet high without much difficulty. Its whiskers are particularly long and they have several extra long hairs in the eyebrows, to help protect the eyes and assist in moving through vegetation in darkness.
Social Behavior
The leopard has no mating season, but seems to produce young when food is ample. Leopards are very solitary animals only coming together to mate. The gestation period for a leopard is about 96 (90-105) days. The cubs are weaned at about 3 months of age and will stay with their mothers for around 13-18 months, and then leave to find territories of their own. Female leopards reach sexual maturity at about 2 years, and males at around 2-3 years.
The leopard’s life span in captivity is over 20 years, and but much shorter in the wild. More than 100,000 leopards survive today, but their numbers are decreasing. Leopards appear to be least numerous in West Africa, possibly due to the high levels of hunting for their skins, and the lack of food. Some consider the leopard to be more rare than the lion in the savanna regions.
The leopard is one of the "Big Five" (the other four being the lion, buffalo, elephant and rhinoceros) they are the most sought-after for sport hunting. Poaching for the fur trade, and farmers protecting their livestock have substantially decreased the leopard population. In South Africa, the leopard has been eradicated from many areas.
Flickr Tags: Leopard
