IV.

BEHAVIOR

Leopards are solitary. Other than a female and her young, or a mating pair, they seldom associate with one another. Adult male leopards typically occupy large areas that overlap the ranges of one or more females. Female ranges are usually smaller than those of males.

Individuals maintain their rights to these areas primarily by scent marking. Scent marks, in the form of urine or feces, are deposited along commonly used travel routes, especially at road junctions or trail intersections. For a nocturnal solitary animal like the leopard, scent has many advantages as a signaling device in that it is persistent and not diminished by darkness.

Leopards also communicate with one another via visual markings; they scratch trees and make scrape marks in the dirt by raking with their hind feet. They also vocalize—their well-known “sawing” call is said to sound like “a piece of wood being sawn across with short sharp double strokes.” The sawing call can carry for 2 to 3 km (1 to 2 mi).

Leopards are usually nocturnal, but they may be more active during the day in places where there are no large competing predators such as lions or tigers. They are also more diurnal in areas where their prey is active during the day.

Primarily visual hunters, leopards find prey from vantage points like trees and rock piles or by lying in wait in places where animals come to feed or drink. They are masters of concealment, and use every available rock, bush, or depression in the ground to get as close as possible to their prey. The final charge is short, usually less than 10 m (33 ft). After a strike with the forepaw, leopards kill larger prey with a bite to the throat and smaller animals with a bite on the back of the neck.

Leopards in Africa often take their kills into trees, but Asian leopards seldom do so. Dense vegetation may allow leopards in Asia to more easily hide their kills.

In general, leopards eat whatever they can catch, and in most places they live on medium-sized mammals. However, leopards kill a much wider range of prey than most other large cats—the diet of African leopards, for example, includes more than 90 documented species.

Medium-sized antelope, such as gazelles and reedbucks, and deer make up most of the leopard’s diet in the wild. Leopards also feed on smaller animals such as rodents, porcupines, rabbits, hares, pangolins, monkeys, baboons, and even birds. They have also been seen eating reptiles and amphibians, as well as grass. In places where leopards live close to people, they often kill livestock such as goats, sheep, and pigs. Leopards also will prey on domestic dogs and wild members of the dog family—jackals, foxes, African hunting dogs, and dholes. It is not known why leopards have an apparent taste for dogs.