Panthera pardus(Carnivora: Felidae)

Abstract

Panthera pardus (leopard;Linnaeus, 1758) is the smallest of the 4 large felids in the genus Panthera. A solitary and adaptable species, P. pardus is the widest ranging of all wild felids, inhabiting rain forests, mountains, semiarid environments, and suburban areas throughout sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia to the Russian Far East. Despite this distribution, P. pardus is listed as "Near Threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and several Asian subspecies are listed as endangered. P. pardus primarily feeds on small to medium-sized ungulates, but has a varied diet including fish, reptiles, birds, and small mammals.

Three-dimensional cranial ontogeny in pantherines (Panthera leo,P. onca,P. pardus,P. tigris; Carnivora:, Felidae)

“…It has been previously reported that P. pardus competes for food with P. leo, P. tigris, Crocuta crocuta (Erxleben, 1777), and Lycaon pictus (Temminck, 1820) (Hayward & Kerley, 2008;Stein & Hayssen, 2013). To avoid attacks from potential predators, P. pardus tends to hunt at different times of the day and to avoid areas where potential predators are most abundant (Hayward & Kerley, 2008;Stein & Hayssen, 2013).…”

“…The four study species (Panthera leo, P. onca, P. pardus, and P. tigris) have similar gestation periods (88-112 days: Seymour, 1989;Haas et al, 2005;Sunquist & Sunquist, 2009;Stein & Hayssen, 2013) and litter size (1-4 cubs: Maz ak, 1981;Seymour, 1989;Sunquist & Sunquist, 2002;Haas et al, 2005). The smallest weight at birth is that of P. pardus (300-700 g Hemmer, 1979), followed by P. onca (700-900 g, Seymour, 1989), P. leo (1000 g, Hemmer, 1979), and P. tigris (780-1600 g, Maz ak, 1981).…”

“…Weaning is precocious in P. pardus (at 4 months, Stein & Hayssen, 2013), followed by P. onca at 5-6 months (Seymour, 1989), P. tigris at 6 months (Maz ak, 1981) and P. leo is the most delayed (at 7-9 months, Estes, 2012). The deciduous teeth start to emerge between 14 and 21 days in P. tigris (Maz ak, 1981), 21 days in P. leo (Haas et al, 2005), 21-29 days in P. pardus (Stein & Hayssen, 2013), and 26-30 days in P. onca (Sunquist & Sunquist, 2009).…”

“…The deciduous teeth start to emerge between 14 and 21 days in P. tigris (Maz ak, 1981), 21 days in P. leo (Haas et al, 2005), 21-29 days in P. pardus (Stein & Hayssen, 2013), and 26-30 days in P. onca (Sunquist & Sunquist, 2009). Sexual maturity is reached at 2-3 years of age in both sexes in P. pardus (Hunter & Hinde, 2005), 2-3 years in females and 3-4 years in males of P. onca (Seymour, 1989), 3-4 years in females and 4-5 years old in males of P. tigris (Maz ak, 1981), and 3-4 years in females and 2 years in males of P. leo (Hunter & Hinde, 2005).…”

Pleistocene leopards in the Iberian Peninsula: New evidence from palaeontological and archaeological contexts in the Mediterranean region

“…Their ubiquitous and eurythermal nature and their opportunistic behaviour allow them to adapt well to different biotopes. Nowadays, different subspecies are distributed throughout different areas of Africa and Asia (Turner and Ant on, 1997;Bertram, 1999;Hayward et al, 2006;Macdonald et al, 2010;Stein and Hayssen, 2013).…”