Interesting Facts About African Leopards
The Panthera Pardus, popular as the African leopard, is one of the African jungle’s most sophisticated and powerfully built big cats. Among all the other wild big cats, the leopard is arguably one of the most gorgeous because of their unique print. Compared to the tiger, lion, jaguar, and cheetah the leopard is slightly built and smaller than the other wild cats in the Panthera family.
Leopards can be found across sub-Sahara Africa and Asia. Their skin color varies between individuals, ranging from dark golden to pale yellow. Dark spots scarred across its body are grouped into rosettes. The belly is whitish and its tail is ringed with dark patches.
Leopards are famed for their climbing skills and might haul prey that is the same as their very own weight up right into a tree out of the attain of different predators.
In sub-Saharan Africa, they’re largely lively at night and the best time to see them is at nightfall or very early in the morning, according to one of the African Leopard facts.
Leopard Facts Overview
Habitat: | Rainforests, savannas, woodlands, and desert edges |
Location: | Africa and Asia |
Lifespan: | 12 to 17 years |
Size: | 90 to 190 centimeters from nose to rump, 100 centimeter tails |
Weight: | 50 to 70 pounds |
Color: | Yellow or beige with dark markings |
Diet: | Primates, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish, antelope, cheetah cubs, and warthogs |
Predators: | Lion, African wild dogs, hyenas, and tigers |
Top Speed: | 58 km/h (36 mph) |
No. of Species: | 1 |
Conservation Status: | Vulnerable |
5 Facts About African Leopards
- The African Leopard’s tail has numerous functions including showcasing its mood, being used as a communication, displaying irritation, and mating rituals and movements (climbing and balancing).
- Leopards do not need that much water and may survive on moisture from their prey.
- Both Leopards and Lions roar. Leopards like to swim while Lions do not. Leopard forelimbs are stronger than that of a Lion.
- Females will lick their cubs almost continuously the course tongue improves blood circulation and the saliva on the skin produces vitamin D
- Females will only allow males close to them during mating season, Leopards mate every 15 to 20 minutes over a period of 3 days.
- The Leopard’s vision at night is 7 times that of a human and hearing is 5 times better than that of a human. At birth, the cub’s eyes are shut and remain so for up to 2 weeks.
- African Leopards can be found in a vast variety of habitats, from forests to deserts, mountains to coastlines. They can also be spotted on the outskirts of large cities in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya.
- Some big cats, like the lion, like to roam together – not the leopard. Leopards are extremely solitary animals, and they like to maintain their own territory that they mark with scratches, urine, and feces in order to keep other leopards away.
- While leopards are known for hunting prey nearly the same size as them – if not larger! – they’re also known for carrying their prey into trees to eat!
- African Leopard’s biggest threats are the African Lions. Lions kill cubs and even adult leopards due to food competition within a certain territory.
Here are some interesting facts about African leopards mating.
- • Leopards mate every 15 minutes for up to 5 days and lasts only a couple of seconds
- • This means that they can mate more than 250 times
- • Although this may seem a little excessive, in leopards, the female requires a stimulus to start ovulation
- • This is possible when the female’s hormone levels rise enough to produce eggs in a process called oestrus
- • When a female enters oestrus she will mark her territory more frequently, thereby attracting the dominant male in the area
- • To stimulate the female to ovulate male leopards have barbs on their penises which dig into the female.
- • These barbs make retracting the penis painful for the female which causes her to lash out at the male – you can see her reaction to the male from the images
- • Leopards are a solitary breeder
- • Males leave after mating frequently for about a week and the male will take no part in rearing the cubs
- • If mating is successful, the gestation period will last about 100 days
- • On average 2 to 3 cubs are born