Download Research Pack – Leopard

LEOPARD
Leopard Fast Facts
Size: Leopards are 1.5 to 2.6 feet tall at the shoulder. They are 3 to 6 feet long,
with a tail that is 2 to 3.5 feet long.
Weight: Males weigh between 82 and 200 pounds, females are slightly smaller.
Lifespan: Up to 20 years.
Diet
Leopards eat small hoofstock such as gazelle, impala, deer and wildebeast. On
occasion, they may also hunt monkeys, rodents and birds. They often bring their
prey up into the branches of a tree to eat it and protect it from other predators and
scavengers.
Range
Leopards are found throughout most of Africa and Asia from the Middle East to
the Soviet Union, Korea, China, India, and Malaysia. Leopards live in a variety
of habitats including forests, mountains, grassland and deserts.
Behaviour
Leopards are nocturnal animals, meaning they are active at night. During the day,
they rest in thick brush or in trees. Leopards are solitary, preferring to live alone.
They are very agile and good swimmers. They are able to leap more than 20 feet.
Reproduction
Following a 90 to 105 day gestation, one to six kittens are born. The average
litter size is two or three. Kittens weigh about one pound when they are born.
They will stay with their mother for 18 to 24 months.
Threats
Leopards are primarily threatened by the fur trade and human encroachment on
their habitat.
Protection
Leopards are listed as endangered in Asia and parts of Africa. They are listed as
threatened south of and including Gabon, Congo, Zaire, Uganda, Kenya in
Africa.
Amur Leopard
This beautiful leopard is ten times more endangered than its neighbour, the much better-known
Amur tiger; there are only about 30 left in the wild.
Common name:
Amur leopard
Scientific name:
Panthera pardus orientalis
Endangered Level: Critical
The Amur leopard once ranged across northern China and southern areas of the Russian Far
East, but is now found only in a small part of southwest Primorskii Krai in Russia. Because it is
adapted to the snowy winters there, it has a thicker, paler coat than leopards in Africa or India do.
Until zoos took up its cause in the mid90s, almost nobody had even heard of the Amur leopard;
but now it has featured in several documentaries, and the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance
(ALTA) has a conservation programme in place to protect it.
Leopard numbers are monitored using camera traps and pugmark counts, and the results from
both techniques tell us that there are about 30-35 leopards left. This tiny population is threatened
by forest loss through fires that are deliberately set each spring, by economic development – the
area is an important one for Russia, containing ports that ship to the Far East – and by people
hunting both the leopard and the deer and other species it needs for food. It is also vulnerable to
things like inbreeding depression, natural catastrophes and disease outbreaks, which can be
disastrous for such small numbers
Fast facts

A female leopard with cubs needs 50% more food than one on her own.

Leopards like to take their food up trees, perhaps because they share their range with
tigers.

Leopard bones are very hard to tell from tiger bones and are often sold into the illegal
Chinese medicine trade to go into products labelled “tiger”.

There are about 200 Amur leopards in zoos, mostly in Europe and America.

Leopards in general are very adaptable cats; they are found in deserts and in deep snow,
and they even scavenge in human suburbs in Africa, rather like foxes do in Europe.
Main Characteristics
The Leopard is the fifth largest feline in the world behind the tiger, lion, jaguar and mountain lion.
They have a body length between 0.9 and 1.9 m (3 - 6.25 ft), a tail length between 60 and 110
cms (24 - 43 inches) and they weigh between 82 and 200 lbs).
There can be considerable variations in the size of Leopards due to their distribution and available
resources, for example Leopards that live in mountainous regions are smaller than those that live
on savannahs due to their prey being smaller. Also typically female Leopards are 20 - 40 %
smaller than males.
Leopards are strongly built and have a large head with extremely strong jaw muscles. They are
graceful, stealthy animals and they are well known for their ability to go undetected. They are very
agile climbers, good swimmers and probably the most accomplished stalker of all the big cats.
Leopards have a light tan base coloured coat with a black rosette pattern and a lighter coloured
underside. The shade of their base coat depends on their location.
Black Leopards are far less common than the spotted form. They are known as Panthers. They
appear to be entirely black, but their markings can be seen if examined closely. Darker coloured
individuals tend to be found in the dense forest areas of India and South East Asia as this helps
them to stay hidden, and lighter coloured, larger animals tend to be found in the open plains.
Habitat
Leopards are the most widespread feline and they can be found in Africa, India, China, Korea and
Siberia. They are very adaptable and live in open savannah, forests, jungles and mountainous
areas. They are solitary animals and males have territories between 5 and 40 sq. Kms (3 - 25 sq.
miles). They mark the boundaries with urine and are very defensive of them. Their territory will
overlap those of several females.
Diet
Leopards are opportunistic hunters and feed on a wide variety of prey. Their diet consists of
monkeys, antelopes, gazelles, duiker, eland, impala, wildebeest, jackals, rodents, hyraxes,
insects, hares, snakes, birds, sheep and goats. Leopards stalk up to their prey and launch an
ambush, killing with a quick bite to the neck. They are extremely strong and can drag prey up to 3
times their own body weight up into a tree to consume it. They can live without water for long
periods of time, getting all the moisture they need from their prey.
Breeding
After 90 - 105 days, 2 - 4 cubs are born in a den. They are born blind but have their eyes open
within 10 days. At 3 months old they begin to follow their mother when she goes out to hunt. The
cubs stay with their mother for 13 - 18 months then they leave to find their own territories. Males
take no part in the rearing of cubs and 40 - 50 % of cubs do not reach adulthood. Breeding takes
place all year round in the tropical areas but it is seasonal in the savannahs and Leopards have a
birthing interval of approximately 2 - 3 years.
Predators
Humans are the main predators of Leopards.
“UK zoos assist endangered leopards”
UK Press Association – 2 days ago
Endangered Amur leopards from UK zoos could soon be heading to Russia as part of a
captive breeding and release programme to save the big cat.
There are estimated to be just 25 to 35 Amur leopards left in the wild in the Russian Far
East, with numbers driven down by poaching of both the cat and its prey and damage to its
habitat from activities such as logging and forest fires.
But experts are hoping to reverse the fortunes of the rarest big cat in the world with a
reintroduction programme using animals bred from captive Amur leopards.
A multi-national scheme to reintroduce the species, which would run alongside efforts to
protect the existing wild population, has so far failed to secure the necessary funding, but the
Russian government has backed a Moscow-based programme.
So experts from organisations including the UK's Wildlife Vets International are working
with the Russian scheme, which has established a captive breeding centre on the edge of the
territory where it is planned leopards will be released.
Under the scheme, leopards will be mated and rear cubs at the centre, with the young fed live
prey to allow them to learn how to hunt before they are released into the wild at around 12 to
18 months old - the time they would normally leave their mothers.
Dr John Lewis, veterinary director of Wildlife Vets International and veterinary adviser to
the Amur leopard European captive breeding programme, said that the centre could start
receiving leopards in a few months' time.
Dr Lewis said UK wildlife parks and zoos could contribute animals to the scheme, once the
European breeding programme was confident that the centre in Russia was suitable for the
project. Some improvements, such as better security, were needed first, he said.
The plan is to rotate different animals through the Russian breeding programme so that the
released young will be genetically diverse. To begin with, the reintroduced population will
be separate from the existing wild population to avoid conflict between cats and the risk of
spreading disease.
It may be many years before the scheme can be judged to have been successful, but Dr Lewis
believes the programme could help with conservation management of other cat species.
TO BE PRINTED:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/12/endangered-snow-leopard
http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/leopard.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-16204615
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/02/leopards-british-zoos-boost-wild
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/22/leopard-death-tragedy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/apr/09/oman-wildlifeholidays