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Weight: 90-150 pounds
Head/Body: 48 inches
Tail: 24 inches
Subspecies: 15
The leopard or panther is a large,
graceful cat with a long, lithe build. Its coat is pale brown to
yellowish-brown with dark brown spots in rosettes. Some individuals are
very dark brown, almost black, effectively masking their spots and
producing the famous black panther. The leopard may be found in all parts
of Africa south of the Sahara, Asia east of the Indus and south of
Mongolia, and Indonesia, where it hunts by night, by twilight, and by day
in late afternoon and early morning, from the ground or from trees, often
dropping silently on its prey, and seeks large or small game of almost any
type.
Where most large
cats can pull five times their weight in trained human athletes, the
leopard can pull seven times its weight. It often displays this
amazing strength by a heart-stopping run up the side of a tree with a
full grown antelope in its jaws for an undisturbed meal.
Hear a Leopard
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