Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of the five extant cat species in the genus Panthera.It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes.Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of 92–183 cm (36–72 in) with a 66–102 cm (26–40 in) long tail and a shoulder height of 60–70 cm (24–28 in).
North America, 0.13 to 0.013 MYA, with dubious remains in South America. [ 63 ] Commonly known as the American lion , P. atrox is thought to have descended from a basal P. spelaea cave lion population isolated south of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet , and then established a mitochondrial sister clade circa 200,000 BP. [ 64 ]
In Kyrgyzstan, 420 live snow leopards were caught between 1936 and 1988 and exported to zoos around the world. The Bronx Zoo housed a live snow leopard in 1903; this was the first ever specimen exhibited in a North American zoo. [85] The first captive bred snow leopard cubs were born in the 1990s in the Beijing Zoo. [57]
Leopards inhabiting the mountains of the Cape Provinces appear smaller and less heavy than leopards further north. [18] Leopards in Somalia and Ethiopia are also said to be smaller. [19] The skull of a West African leopard specimen measured 11.25 in (286 mm) in basal length, and 7.125 in (181.0 mm) in breadth, and weighed 1 lb 12 oz (0.79 kg).
The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches 40–50 cm (16–20 in) at the shoulders and weighs between 7 and 15.5 kg (15 and 34 lb) on average.
Black leopards were thought to be more common in Travancore and in the hills of southern India than in other parts of the country. [5] Black leopards were also frequently encountered in southern Myanmar. [6] By 1929, the Natural History Museum, London had skins of black leopards collected in South Africa, Nepal, Assam and Kanara in India. [7]
"Our research suggests they likely originated in the low-latitude regions of Gondwana near the equator, an area that today includes northern South America and northern Africa," Heath added.
Leopards are unlikely to persist outside of protected areas. [89] Droughts in wide areas of leopard habitats affected the main prey species such as wild goat and wild sheep. [ 90 ] An assessment of leopard mortality in Iran revealed that 71 leopards were killed between 2007 and 2011 in 18 provinces; 70% were hunted or poisoned illegally, and 18 ...