56 Fun Facts About Leopard

What is the leopard's scientific name?

Panthera onca is the jaguar, Panthera leo the lion and Acinonyx jubatus the cheetah; the leopard is one of just five living Panthera species.

The ancient Greek word 'pardos', the second half of 'leopardos', meant what?

The first half, 'leon', means lion, so the name literally reads 'spotted lion'.

The Greek word 'leopardos' originally referred to which animal, not the leopard at all?

The ancients had trouble telling the spotted cats apart, and the name eventually settled on the wrong one.

Who first gave the leopard a scientific name, Felis pardus, in 1758?

Oken later coined the genus Panthera in 1816, but his name was not widely accepted until the 20th century.

The leopard is the sister taxon to a clade made up of which two other cats?

Chemical-secretion studies also point to the leopard being closest to the lion, and their mitochondrial genomes suggest an ancient hybridisation with snow leopards.

Cave paintings of leopards in which French cave are indirect evidence that they once roamed Europe?

Fossils back this up: leopard bones dating to the Pleistocene have been dug up at some 40 sites across Europe.

What is the name given to the offspring of a male leopard and a female lion?

The cubs, born in 1959 and 1961, were spotted and bigger than a leopard cub; attempts to mate one with a tigress failed.

In which country was a male leopard successfully crossbred with a female lion at Hanshin Park in 1953?

Hanshin Park is in Nishinomiya, near Osaka; the hybrid cubs became a minor sensation.

A melanistic (dark-coated) leopard is commonly known as what?

The rosettes are still there under the black; you can see them in the right light.

Melanism (the black coat) is inherited in leopards as what kind of trait?

In jaguars it is the opposite: black coats there come from a dominant allele.

A rare reddish leopard morph recorded in South Africa's Madikwe Game Reserve is nicknamed what?

The condition is erythrism, and its cause in leopards is still poorly understood; it has also been called the 'pink panther'.

Among all wild cats, the leopard holds which distinction?

It ranges across Africa and Asia from rainforest to steppe, though populations are fragmented and declining almost everywhere.

By roughly what percentage is the leopard's range in West Africa estimated to have declined?

In the Sahara the loss is even worse, an estimated 97%.

How do a jaguar's rosettes differ from a leopard's?

Leopard rosettes also vary by region: circular in East Africa, squarish in southern Africa and larger in Asia.

How high can a leopard jump vertically?

About the height of a basketball hoop, from a standing start.

The largest prey ever reportedly killed by a leopard was a 900 kg male of which antelope?

That is roughly ten to twenty times the weight of the leopard that killed it; leopards normally prefer prey of 10-40 kg.

A leopard was once seen hauling a young animal weighing nearly 125 kg up 5.7 m into a tree. What animal?

Its powerful jaw muscles let it drag carcasses heavier than itself into trees, out of reach of lions and hyenas.

How does a leopard typically kill large prey?

Small prey gets a bite to the back of the neck instead; the leopard stalks to within about 5 m before it pounces.

Of Africa's large predators, the leopard is dominant over only which one?

Everyone else in the guild has size, pack numbers or both on their side.

In Sabi Sand Game Reserve, which animal can be responsible for about 22% of leopard deaths?

They also have a high success rate at fetching leopard kills out of trees.

Hyenas in Sabi Sand are the culprits of up to what share of stolen leopard kills?

Storing carcasses in trees is the leopard's main defence against them.

In Asia, besides the tiger, which pack-living predator dominates leopards during encounters?

The three coexist by taking different-sized prey: in Nagarhole a leopard kill averaged 37.6 kg against 91.5 kg for tigers.

How long is a leopard's gestation?

Litters are usually two to four cubs, and 41-50% of them do not survive their first year.

How long do leopard cubs typically remain with their mother?

After leaving her, sibling cubs may keep travelling together for months.

The oldest recorded leopard, a captive female, died at what age?

In the wild the average lifespan is 12 to 17 years.

How does the IUCN Red List classify the leopard?

The species as a whole is Vulnerable, but individual subspecies such as the Amur and Arabian leopards are Critically Endangered.

Killing leopards for sport is banned in Afghanistan and in which African country?

In 11 other sub-Saharan countries, trade is limited to the skins and body parts of 2,560 individuals.

By the 2010s, the leopard was estimated to occupy what share of its historical range?

Habitat fragmentation, conflict with herders, trophy hunting and poaching for skins all keep pushing it back.

In Greek mythology the leopard was a symbol of which god?

He wore its skin and rode leopards; in one myth two of them rescued him from pirates.

In the Benin Empire the leopard symbolised the power of which ruler?

The leopard was considered king of the forest, so it appears constantly in Benin engravings and sculpture.

Among the Ashanti, only the king was allowed to own a ceremonial leopard what?

Some African cultures rated the leopard a smarter, better hunter than the lion, and harder to kill.

Rudyard Kipling's 'How the Leopard Got His Spots' appears in which collection?

In the tale a spotless leopard in the Highveld hunts alongside an Ethiopian partner.

A leopard plays a key role in which 1938 Hollywood screwball comedy?

Katharine Hepburn's character keeps the tame leopard, Baby, and Cary Grant spends the film chasing it.

How is the leopard usually depicted in heraldry?

The heraldic leopard and heraldic lion are so alike that the two are often used interchangeably.

Which country's coat of arms features a melanistic (all-dark) leopard rather than a rosetted one?

Benin, Malawi, Somalia and the DR Congo use more naturalistic spotted leopards on theirs.

The man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag was finally shot by which British hunter and author?

He used a .275 Rigby rifle, which the gunmaker Rigby now owns.

In which year was the Leopard of Rudraprayag killed, after eight years of attacks?

Its first victim died in 1918; Gurkha and British soldiers, gin traps and poison had all failed before a ten-week hunt ended it.

The Panar Leopard of India was thought to have killed roughly how many people?

The Rudraprayag leopard killed more than 125 and the Spotted Devil of Gummalapur about 42.

Around 1235, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II gave three leopards to which English king?

They joined the Tower of London menagerie that King John had founded earlier in the century.

As of 2023, roughly how many adult and sub-adult Amur leopards were thought to survive in the wild?

In 2007 the estimate was just 19-26 animals, so the population has grown, but it remains Critically Endangered.

The Amur leopard is native to southeastern Russia and which other country?

It survives winters of -25 °C in temperate conifer forest and is also called the Far Eastern or Korean leopard.

Which is the smallest leopard subspecies?

As of 2023 only about 100-120 remain, in Oman and Yemen; it is possibly extinct in Saudi Arabia.

The leopard is one of Africa's Big Five with the lion, rhinoceros, elephant and which other animal?

Big-game hunters coined the term for the five most dangerous animals to hunt on foot.

When are leopards mainly active?

They rest most of the day in thickets, among rocks or draped over a branch, and may walk 25 km in a night.

How do leopards usually come down out of a tree?

They are among the most skilful climbers of the big cats and often rest on branches during the day.

In the southern Kalahari, leopards get part of their water from which plants?

They drink only every two or three days there and get the rest of their moisture from the body fluids of prey.

As of 2020, roughly how many leopards were estimated in the forested tiger landscapes of India?

India's leopards are relatively abundant and some live right next to towns, staying so hidden that people never know they are there.

The generic name Panthera comes from a Latin word for what?

The Romans used such nets to catch wild animals for the arena, where leopards were also used to execute criminals.

The leopard's most notable vocalisation is usually described as what?

It consists of deep, repeated strokes and probably serves to mark territory and attract mates.

Which naturalist first used the generic name Panthera, in 1816, for all known spotted cats?

Oken's grouping was not widely accepted; Felis or Leopardus stayed in use until the early 20th century.

The oldest unambiguous leopard fossils, about 2 million years old, come from which region?

Leopards evolved in Africa and only reached Eurasia around 1.2 to 0.6 million years ago.

A 2007 leopard reintroduction programme in the Russian Caucasus rears its cubs where?

Six leopards released into the Caucasus Nature Reserve and Alaniya National Park in 2018 were still alive as of February 2022.

In China's Wolong reserve, leopards shifted over seven years from eating tufted deer to which prey?

The switch tracked receding vegetation cover, showing how opportunistic the leopard's diet can be.

Leopard cubs are born with their eyes closed. Roughly how long until they open?

Newborns weigh just 280 to 1,000 grams and start eating meat at around nine weeks.

In May 2012, a camera trap in Nepal photographed a melanistic leopard at what altitude?

The image came from the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, showing how high the cats can range.

Which English monarch first established the Tower of London menagerie that later housed leopards?

Around 1235 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II added three leopards to the collection as a gift to Henry III.