Study shows animals with larger brains are best problem solvers

Why did some species, such as humans and dolphins, evolve large brains relative to the size of their bodies? Why did others, such as blue whales and hippos, evolve to have brains that, compared to their bodies, are relatively ...

Oldest big cat fossil found in Tibet

Scientists have unearthed the oldest big cat fossil yet, suggesting the predator—similar to a snow leopard—evolved in Asia and spread out.

Apple kicks SMS scam fraudsters to the curb

(Phys.org)—Just what you never wanted. Mac-based malware, just ponder that phrase alone, not Windows-based but Mac-based, that tricks users into paying subscription fees. The malware masquerades as an installer for various ...

Why the leopard got its spots

Why do leopards have rosette shaped markings but tigers have stripes? Rudyard Kipling suggested that it was because the leopard moved to an environment "full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy-blatchy shadows" ...

Web browsers and iPhone hacked at contest

(PhysOrg.com) -- Hackers had a field day on the first day of the Pwn2Own contest, successfully attacking Safari, iPhone, Internet Explorer, and Firefox. The Pwn2Own contest is an annual event that encourages security specialists ...

Apple to unleash Snow Leopard on August 28

Apple announced on Monday that its next-generation Snow Leopard operating system tailored for the California company's Macintosh computers will be unleashed on the market on Friday.

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Leopard

Felis pardus (Linnaeus, 1758)

The leopard ( /ˈlɛpərd/), Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its range of distribution has decreased radically because of hunting and loss of habitat. It is now chiefly found in sub-Saharan Africa; there are also fragmented populations in the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China. Because of its declining range and population, it is listed as a "Near Threatened" species on the IUCN Red List.

Compared to other members of the Felidae family, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, but is smaller and more slightly built. Its fur is marked with rosettes similar to those of the jaguar, but the leopard's rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and do not usually have central spots as the jaguars do. Both leopards and jaguars that are melanistic (completely black or very dark) are known as black panthers.

The species' success in the wild is in part due to its opportunistic hunting behavior, its adaptability to habitats, its ability to run at speeds approaching 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph), its unequaled ability to climb trees even when carrying a heavy carcass, and its notorious ability for stealth. The leopard consumes virtually any animal that it can hunt down and catch. Its habitat ranges from rainforest to desert terrains.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA