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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