CHAPTER VII 

 THE LEOPARD AND THE CHEETAH 



The Leopard 



Felis pardus 



The leopard Is widely distributed from China, India, 

 and the islands of Japan and Java westward through 

 Persia to Asia Minor, Arabia, and the whole of Africa. It 

 is over this territory a universally distributed animal, 

 being found in all the forest and bush country as well as 

 in sheltered nooks on the plains. The leopard still occurs 

 over practically all its original range, being able to hold 

 its own against man owing to its stealthy habits. Ex- 

 ternally the leopard may be distinguished from the other 

 species of large cats by the small size and rosette-like char- 

 acter of its dark spots. Several well-marked races of 

 leopards are recognizable, but the Indian races as a whole 

 are not distinguishable from the African, there being ap- 

 parently no characters of continental scope in the group. 

 Skins from Java, for instance, are not distinguishable in 

 coloration from the Soudan leopard, or typical pardus. 

 Chinese specimens may, as a rule, be recognized by the 

 distinctness of the black median stripe formed by a series 

 of closely linked, elongate, solid black spots, while others 

 from Central Asia exhibit large rosettes or ocellations 

 widely separated by the ground-color, somewhat after the 



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