Leopard

V

REPRODUCTION

Female leopards are usually about two-and-a-half years old when they give birth to their first litter. Males are capable of mating at about 24 months but because older, stronger males do most of the breeding, young males probably have to wait until they are three or four years old before they have an opportunity to sire a litter.

Leopards breed at any time of the year. After a gestation period of 96 days, the female finds a secure birth den in a cave, thicket, or rock pile. The usual litter size is two but on rare occasions as many as six cubs may be born.

Baby leopards are born with their eyes closed. Their short fur is faintly spotted and they weigh 430 to 1000 g (15 to 35 oz). The first few days after the cubs are born the mother spends all her time at the den, resting, nursing, and looking after her young. However, she has to hunt, and to do so she must leave her cubs. This is the time when her choice of a safe den site becomes crucial because the defenseless cubs are very vulnerable to predators. Fifty percent of young leopards die before they are a year old. Radio-tracking studies have shown that female leopards have to travel long distances from the birth den to find food and often have to leave their cubs unattended for long periods of time.

Cubs begin to travel with their mother when they are about two or three months old. At this time they weigh 3 to 4 kg (6 to 8 lb) and are beginning to eat meat. They practice killing grasshoppers and lizards but usually do not begin to kill larger prey until their permanent canine teeth appear at about seven months of age.

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By 12 to 18 months, young leopards are independent of their mother, but the timing varies. Males usually become independent earlier and some mother-daughter relationships are extended because daughters often settle near or next door to their mother’s range. This form of philopatry (the tendency of an individual to return to, or stay in, its home area or another adopted locality) creates clusters of closely related female leopards. Somewhat similar clusters are found among female lions, who form groups of closely related members called prides. Female leopards living near one another may be as closely related as lionesses in a pride.

VI

CONSERVATION STATUS

The leopard is in the odd position of being critically endangered in some parts of its range and considered a pest in other areas. In the 1970s, all leopards were listed as vulnerable by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and international trade in leopards was prohibited. However, since 1983 several African countries have been allowed to export a limited number of leopards shot by trophy hunters.

Leopards clearly have the ability to survive near humans. However, the greatest long-term threat to their continued survival is the expansion of livestock ranching. With ranching usually comes the elimination of wild prey and attempts to exterminate predators. When leopards kill domestic stock they are often shot. If the carcass of a stock animal brought down by a leopard is found, it may be laced with pesticides to poison the cat when it returns to feed on the kill.

Leopards are also shot because they occasionally kill people. Man-eating leopards are feared more than man-eating tigers because leopards actually break into houses to claim their victims whereas tigers kill people who are tending livestock or collecting forest products.

Scientific classification: The leopard belongs to the family Felidae. It is classified as Panthera pardus.

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