Leopards are the third largest cat in the world. The leopard, or Panthera pardus, is known as the most elusive of all the big cats (AWF Leopard, 2020). The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species Red List labels leopards as vulnerable with a decreasing population, however their population size is unknown (IUCN Leopard, 2020). The IUCN Red List first listed leopards as vulnerable in 1986 (AWF Leopard, 2020). Leopards have had a 30% global decline over three generations (Dhungana et. al, 2019). One study claims that leopards have vanished from 65% of their historic range in Africa and 84% of their historic range in Eurasia (Panthera Leopard Panthera pardus, 2020). The map below shows the leopard's historic and current range (Panthera Leopard Panthera pardus, 2020).
There are nine subspecies of leopards and they all have different estimations of their populations (Sen Nag, 2017). It is believed that there are 70 Amur leopards, 50 Arabian leopards and 250 Javan leopards, with them all being classified as critically endangered (Sen Nag, 2017). The Persian leopard has between 871 and 1,290 individuals with a status of endangered (Sen Nag, 2017). The Indian leopard is estimated to have between 12,000 and 14,000 individuals with a status of vulnerable (Sen Nag, 2017). The Indochinese leopard has between 400 and 1,000 individuals but their status is unknown (Sen Nag, 2017). The African, North Chinese, and Sri Lankan leopards have no population estimates or known status (Sen Nag, 2017). The above statistics come from one source with some studies being conducted as long as six years ago, this needs to be taken into account when discussing leopard populations and statuses especially when overall their population is unknown. Overall all leopards throughout their range have a lot of unknowns.
Leopards are the strongest climbers of all the big cats, and it is believed they are such strong climbers because they have to hide their prey from larger carnivores like lions and tigers (AWF Leopard, 2020). Their spotted coat pattern is called rosettes. Rosettes are considered a flecked pattern and that the most transformation of coat patterns originate from the flecked pattern which is considered primitive for the Felidae as a whole (Werdelin, 1997). Leopards grow between 37 and 143 pounds and 5 to 7.5 feet long (AWF Leopard, 2020).
Leopard mothers usually give birth to two to three cubs per litter (AWF Leopard, 2020). Cubs stay with their mom for 9 to 35 months, but new studies are showing cubs are staying with their mother longer to help increase the fitness of the litter (Blame et al., 2017). Prolonging the care can help more cubs survive but it also reduces the number of litters the mother can have throughout her lifetime (Blame et al., 2017).
The biggest threats facing leopards are anthropogenic, meaning human caused. The biggest threat caused by humans is habitat loss, followed by poaching and prey loss (BCA, 2020; CLT, 2020; IUCN Leopard, 2020; LCP, 2020).
Literature Cited
African Wildlife Foundation. (2020). Leopard.
Balme, G. A., Robinson, H. S., Pitman, R. T., & Hunter, L. T. B. (2017). Flexibility in the
duration of parental care: female leopards prioritise cub survival over reproductive output. Journal of Animal Ecology, 1224–1234. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12713
Big Cat Allies. (2020). Threats to leopards.
Cape Leopard Trust. (2020). Human-wildlife conflict.
Dhungana, R., Lamichhane, B. R., Savini, T., Dhakal, M., Poudel, B. S., & Karki, J. B. (2019).
Livestock depredation by leopards around Chitwan national park, Nepal. Elsevier: Mammalian Biology, 96, 7–13. doi: 10.1016/j.mambio.2019.03.006
International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. (2020). Leopard: Pathera pardus.
Leopard Conservation Project (2016). About Us.
Panhera. (2020). Leopard: Panthera pardus.
file:///C:/Users/reedt/Downloads/Leopard%20Fact%20Sheet%20(2).pdf
Sen Nag, O. (2017, April 25). How many types of leopards live in the world today?. WorldAtlas.
Werdelin, L. (1997). How the leopard got its spots: a phylogenetic view of the evolution of felid
coat patterns. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 62, 383–400.
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