Since the beginning of human history, people have lived in close contact with animals—usually as hunters and farmers—and have developed myths and legends about them. [24][25], Its fur tends to grow longer in colder climates. [119], Prey as heavy as a 550 kg (1,210 lb) giraffe is hunted, especially in areas that lack larger carnivores such as lions or tigers since they do not need to drag prey up trees to retain it. An example of African leopard mythology can be found in the legends and images that surround the superhero T'Challa in Black Panther. African Leopards: Treasures of the South. 11) firmly joined to the legs, imitates leopard-skin. [154] During the Benin Empire, the leopard was commonly represented on engravings and sculptures and was used to symbolize the power of the king or oba, since the leopard was considered the king of the forest. [15] The word λέοπάρδος originally referred to a cheetah. Since 1996, only eight subspecies have been considered valid on the basis of mitochondrial analysis. Perhaps the most extreme example is the amazing snow leopard which lives in the Himalayas. The mean leopard density decreased significantly (from 9.76 to 2.07 animals per 100 km2 (39 sq mi)) while the mean density of tigers increased (from 3.31 to 5.81 animals/100 km2) from 2004–2005 to 2008 in Rajaji National Park following the relocation of pastoralists out of the park. These data indicate the near-fixation of the dark allele in the region. In Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Jordan, Morocco, Togo, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Kuwait, Syria, Libya, Tunisia and most likely in North Korea, Gambia, Laos, Lesotho, Tajikistan, Vietnam, and Israel, leopard populations have already been extirpated. [33] Some leopards in North Africa allegedly were as large as Barbary lions. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because leopard populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and are declining in large parts of the global range. [94][95] [123][107] Mugger crocodiles reportedly killed an adult leopard in Rajasthan. “Sher” in Persian means “a lion”. In classical mythology, Dionysus, the god of wine, wears a leopard skin and is accompanied by leopards as he travels the earth, teaching the art of wine-making. The black panther is common foremost in tropical and subtropical moist forests like the equatorial rainforest of the Malay Peninsula and the tropical rainforest on the slopes of some African mountains such as Mount Kenya. [90][91], In Myanmar, leopards were recorded for the first time by camera traps in the hill forests of Myanmar's Karen State. Melanism in leopards is inherited as a recessive trait relatively to the spotted form. She died in December 2010 at the age of 24. Nicholas Reeves and Richard H. Wilkinson, The Complete Valley of the Kings , 2008 . [127][128], While interspecies killing of full-grown leopards is generally rare, given the opportunity, both tiger and lion readily kill and consume both young and adult leopards. [43][44] Pseudomelanistic leopards have also been reported. The fur tends to be grayish in colder climates, and dark golden in rain forest habitats. 13. Weerasinghe, U.M.I.R.K., Kariyawasm, D. and M. De Zoysa (2003). Nov 28, 2017 - Circe dreams, holding her philtres in her hands ... And her leopards have almost human looks. In the Ivory Coast, the home range of a female was completely enclosed within a male's. [100] On the treacherous slopes of the Himalayas, no hunter other than the Snow Leopard would have a chance of catching such agile prey as the Markhor. They say that the symbol of the lion was brought by Iranians, but during the Arab and Turkic periods it was changed to the leopard. This seminal study was featured in National Geographic (June 1986) , and led to the publication of Darla Hillard’s account, Vanishing Tracks: Four Years Among the Snow Leopards of Nepal . [12][13][14] 'Panther' is another common name, derived from Latin: panther and Ancient Greek: πάνθηρ (pánthēr);[13] it can additionally refer to the cougar or the jaguar. Two extreme cases occurred in India: the first leopard, "the Leopard of Rudraprayag", killed more than 125 people; the second, "the Panar Leopard", was believed to have killed more than 400. While luxury establishments may boast the fact that wild animals can be seen at close range on a daily basis, the leopard's camouflage and propensity to hide and stalk prey typically make leopard sightings rare. When a tiger killed baits at sites formerly frequented by leopards, the leopards did not hunt there for some time. [26] In a South African reserve, a male was wounded in a male–male territorial battle over a carcass. [11], In Europe, the leopard occurred at least since the Pleistocene. Leopards tend to take smaller prey, usually less than 75 kg (165 lb), where tigers are present. [114] They are even larger in arid and montane areas. [30], The largest skull recorded for a black panther from India, recorded in 1920, measured 28 cm (11 in) in basal length, and 20 cm (8 in) in breadth, and weighed 1,000 g (2 lb 4 oz). [146], The average typical life span of a leopard is between 12 and 17 years. It made me think of how different societies view mental illness. [141], In Serengeti National Park, troops of 30–40 olive baboons were observed while mobbing and attacking a female leopard and her cubs. Spots fade toward the white underbelly and the insides and lower parts of the legs. [118], The leopard is a carnivore that prefers medium-sized prey with a body mass ranging from 10–40 kg (22–88 lb). Contemporary records suggest that the leopard occurs in only 25% of its historical global range. 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