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Body length: 91 - 190cms
Tail length: 58-110cms
Shoulder height: 70-80cm
Weight: Males from 43kg up to 80kgs Females 35kg - 65kg
NB: the weight depends on the environment which is fairly diverse as leopards live from mountain slopes, rocky outcrops to even the very fringe of the desert. The females are usually a good 9 - 14kgs lighter than the males.
The leopard is a medium sized animal with a strong muscular long body and tail with a smallish head.
Their territory usually spans approximately 25sqkms and they defend their boundaries all the year round by marking them by means of urinating and defacating.
Color varies from straw to chestnut with underbelly and inner legs a creamy white, as is the underside of their tails making it easy for cubs to follow their mother in poor light and through the long grass. The upper parts are patterned with rosettes (spots in groups of 3 or 5) and they have black spots on head, neck and underside. They have two white spots on the back of their ears which grow bigger and gain color as they age.
They like most cats have retractable claws. Generally solitary creatures, except in the mating season. Their breeding cycle is not seasonal they have a 100 day gestation period and 1 - 3 cubs but as a rule only one or two survive..
The cubs are generally placed out of sight and well hidden from other predators, among rocks, thickets, perhaps even a hollow tree. They start to follow their mother around at about 3 months and sometimes as they are such quick learners make their first kill at the somewhat tender age of 5 months, under the guidance and watchful eyes of their mother. They stay with her until they are 18 months to 2 years old or until they are 2/3rds her size. They reach sexual maturity at two and half to three years of age.
Their call sounds like the sawing of wood, but it is not often heard. Until quite recently not much was known about these beautiful creatures as they are silent and secretive by nature. However in recent years they're has been a number of full length documentaries on their 'secret' lives. With the advent of so many private game reserves catering for people wanting to see the BIG 5, these beautiful cats although primarily nocturnal have become used to vehicles and tourists and now also hunt in daylight and have become easier to observe and chart than ever before.
Although it is often thought these animals are on the endangered list, this is not so. They are listed on CITES Appendix 1 as protected species. However, one should note here that this treaty covers trade and does not necessarily protect a species where it is not endangered in a particular country, for instance in South Africa, the leopard is protected in the national game parks, but landowners may shoot "game" on their own property and there are many private reserves where leopards can be hunted on a limited scale provided the appropriate permit has been obtained.
It is probably the leopards adapatablity as a hunter which has been his saving grace and enabled him to move away from his traditional hunting grounds now being eroded by the gradual creeping of the population and agriculture and where he has reamined close to man his secretative nature has protected him to a certain degree.
Their prey includes small antelope, rodents, monkeys and birds, generally smaller prey than say that of the lion. This is a general rule but there are cases of them killing antelope twice their weight, and even giraffe, they just take what is available. As an example of their adaptability leopards in the Kariba district of Zimbabwe have become excellent fishermen and are, contrary to popular belief that cats dont like water, very competent swimmers.
Their 'camoflage', combined with excellent eyesight and hearing,- they can spot their prey over a few hundred metres away - make them the most efficient killing machines . They are accomplished stalkers and pouncers and do not as myth would have kill their prey by dropping out of a treeonto the hapless victim, although that mthod should not be ruled out entirely. They can also terrorise a tree dweller from its perch and hound it to the ground where they will make quick work of dispatching it. With larger prey they employ the stalk and pounce method holding the prey in a 'slamming embrace' (like a rugby tackle) and then administer a lethal bite to the back of the head, neck or throat.
If they cannot finish their prey they will often drag it to a place of safety their neck muscles are amazingly strong, as these animals are excellent climbers this is usually a cleft in a tree, high enough for them to leave the prey in safety away from other predators and scavengers. They are careful eaters and try not to drop tasty morsels which attract the other predators to their 'place of safety'.
They are also one of the most dangerous of predators if wounded or cornered.
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