LEOPARD
			Phylum: Class: Order: Family: Species: Chordata Mammalia Carnivora Felidae Panthera pardus

One of the big cats, the leopard is found in southern Asia and much of Africa. Males reach up to approximately 8 feet long (2.5 m), including the tail, and weigh about the same as an average man. The females are smaller.

Their beautiful coats vary in color and in fur length according to their locality and the climate. The background color is usually a tawny or golden yellowish shade with white underfur. They are covered in small black spots, sometimes these spots form in little groups and look like the face of a flower. Many fabrics duplicate this print in fashion wear. Some of these cats are straight black all over, whereas they are referred to as black panthers.

Leopards reside where there is plentiful cover such as in forests, bush or scrub, or on rocky hillsides. They are mainly solitary animals except during the breeding season. In areas where they are hunted, they are nocturnal. Elsewhere, they are active in early morning and from late afternoon into the night.

Leopards rest in thick undergrowth, and will eat almost anything that moves, from dung beetles to antelopes larger than itself. Generally, it preys on small and medium-sized antelopes. Some leopards are partial to dogs as food. When hunting, a leopard may simply lie in ambush, camouflaged by the play of light and shade on its coat. It then leaps on passing prey, seizing it by the throat or sinking its teeth into the victim's skull. Often times, a leopard will develop a taste for just one kind of prey. This may explain the occasional man-killer and cattle raider. In addition, leopards are very powerful for their size. They can carry a large kill up into a tree, where it is safe from theft by lions, hyenas or any other intruder.

Breeding appears to occur at any time of the year. A female bears between 1 to 6 cubs, although 3 is the usual number born. The cubs stay with the parents until nearly adulthood.

Hunters have killed countless leopards as farm pests, and also for their skins. At one time 50,000 were poached annually in East Africa alone.