African Leopard

Meet “Sabor” our beautiful female African Leopard

The African Leopard is native to many countries in Africa. The most widely seen in the sub-Saharan Africa.

Leopards are the largest of the cat species to regularly climb trees. They are excellent climbers and spend much of their time in the safety and shade of trees. Primarily nocturnal. They return to the ground to do some of their hunting but will also jump onto unsuspecting prey from above. The carcass is then dragged into the tree in order to protect their kill. It takes incredible strength to drag a large mammal up into a tree, and the leopard is, pound for pound, the strongest of the big cats. Their diet in the wild consists mostly of grazing animals such as antelope, but they will also eat smaller animals such as monkeys, rodents, birds, and fish.

Leopards are solitary animals and are seen together only during mating or caring for their young. Adults males and females find each other through scent. A male may follow a female around for several days before she is ready to breed. Breeding is a dangerous time, as both cats have sharp claws and teeth and know how to use them!

They have a body structure similar to jaguars and are covered with flower-shaped spots on their backs called rosettes, with no dot in the center. Leopards have short, powerful limbs, a heavy torso, a thick neck, and a long tail. Leopards can also hear five times more sounds than humans, even the ultrasonic squeaks made by mice.

Unfortunately these amazing and beautiful cats have long been hunted for their soft fur for coats and ceremonial robes. Along with habitat fragmentation and reduced prey base, the human-wildlife conflict has greatly reduced this species.