Leopard

The leopard is a graceful, spotted big cat with short legs, a long body, and a broad head. Its golden coat is covered in dark, flower-shaped marks called rosettes, and these help the leopard blend into the shadows of long grass and leafy trees. Leopards live across many parts of Africa and Asia, more widely than any other wild cat.

Leopards are famous for being wonderful climbers. They can pull themselves up a tree trunk with ease, rest along a branch with their legs dangling, and even come back down head-first. Leopards often carry their food up into a tree so they can enjoy it quietly, away from lions, hyenas, and other hungry animals.

Unlike lions, leopards like to live alone. Each adult has its own patch of land that it knows very well, and grown-ups usually only meet up at mating time. A mother leopard raises her cubs by herself, hiding them safely away while she goes off to find food.

Leopards mostly come out around dusk and during the night, when it is cooler and easier to move about without being seen. They are quiet, patient hunters that creep up slowly on plant-eaters such as antelope and deer, and they will also catch smaller animals like monkeys, hares, and birds.

Sometimes a leopard is born with a coat so dark it looks almost black. People call these leopards black panthers, but if you look closely in bright light you can still see the rosettes hidden underneath. Black or golden, they are all the same kind of cat.

There are fewer leopards in the wild than there once were. They have lost much of the wild land they need, there are fewer wild animals for them to eat, and they sometimes come into conflict with farmers. Many parks and reserves now protect leopards, and people are working to help them and their neighbours share the land.