Leopard

INIA Collaboration

Meet the Leopard!

The leopard is an iconic animal; beautiful, elegant and strong. It camouflages itself with the spots on its skin, is an excellent jumper, swimmer and climber (in fact, it even takes the prey it hunts to the branches of trees).

However, it is precisely its great beauty that has brought it to the brink of extinction, especially outside Africa. For hunters, its striking coat attracts too much attention.

It can still be found in Central Asia, Africa, India and China. The black leopard is also known as the panther.

What are its habits?

The Leopard is a solitary animal and spends little time in pairs: only during reproduction and the first part of breeding. The female, which can have cubs at any time of the year, is the one that later takes care of the young (until they are about a year or two old).

As it is not a good long-distance runner, it will often lie in wait to ambush its victims . It feeds on antelopes, deer, pigs and sometimes even dogs.

Conservation

Extinct

Extinct in the wild

Critically endangered

Endangered

Vulnerable

Near threatened

Least concern

Insufficient data

Not evaluated

DID YOU KNOW ...

It shares the genus (Panthera) of mammals of the Felidae family, to which five species well known to all belong, the lion, the tiger, the leopard and the jaguar.