Interesting Facts About Leopards

Leopards are incredibly beautiful and powerful animals. They are solitary creatures preferring to be loners of the cat world. Leopards leap gracefully and climb with a marvelous agility. Read this informative article to learn some interesting facts about leopards.

There are over 30 subspecies of leopards.

Leopards can weigh between 60 to 200 pounds.

Leopards prefer to stalk their prey from trees. Since they are relatively slow eaters they often drag large prey up into trees to keep it from other predators and scavengers. Leopards can kill and carry prey 2 to 3 times their weight.

Leopards hunt by sight and sound. Leopards are mostly nocturnal animals hunting primarily at night.

Leopards can hang upside down from the branches of a tree.

Leopards can breed year round. A female leopard gives birth to a litter of 2 to 5 cubs after a gestation period of approximately 3 months. She then nurses her young for the first 5 months. Female leopards give birth once every 2 years. Male cubs tend to develop faster than female cubs.

Leopards have a variety of vocalizations including growls, roars and purrs.

The average lifespan of a leopard is 20 years.

The snow leopard is an endangered species.

Snow leopards live in the harsh remote environment of the mountains of Central Asia.

The snow leopard's tail is almost as long as its body.

Clouded leopards weigh an average of 35 to 50 pounds and are 36 inches long with a 30 inch tail. Their coat ranges in color from a pale yellow to brown.

Clouded leopards have the largest eyes in proportion to body size.

Snow leopards have dense wooly fur to protect them from bitter cold.

Snow leopards have short fore limbs and long hind limbs which allow for agility and steep mountain climbing.

Snow leopards are most active at dawn and dusk.

Snow leopards are not normally aggressive toward humans unless they perceive a threat to their young.

Snow leopards can growl, hiss and mew but they cannot roar.

Clouded leopards are listed as vulnerable.

All leopards have spots referred to as rosettes. These markings penetrate the animal's skin as well as their coat. Black leopards have the markings as well although they are not as visible and the animal may appear to be solid black.

For its size the clouded leopard has the longest canine teeth of all the cats.

Even though they are not especially fond of water Leopards are strong and excellent swimmers.

Leopards have the widest habitat range of all the big cats. They are very adaptable to various geographical areas.

Sources:

www.nationalzoo.si.edu

www.snowleopard.org

www.wikipedia.org