THE LEOPARD 



(Felis pardus) 



IT is not a little remarkable that three such closely related animals as the lion, 

 the tiger, and the leopard or panther (for these two names really indicate the 

 same species) should exhibit such striking dissimilarity in their type of colour- 

 ing. The explanation of the difference in this respect is, however, probably to be 

 found in the diversity of habit. Neither the lion nor the tiger can climb ; and as the 

 former is mainly an inhabitant of open and more or less desert country, it has 

 assumed a uniformly sandy coat to accord with the tawny hue of its surroundings. 

 The tiger, on the other hand, resorts more to covert, and has therefore adopted a 

 livery suitable to such situations, or, at all events, one which tends to break up the 

 general outline of the body. 



From both its larger cousins the leopard differs by its arboreal habits, 

 and this may to a great extent account for its spotted type of colouring, which 

 harmonises well with the chequered shade thrown by the foliage on the horizontal 

 and gnarled branches of forest-trees. It is, however, important to notice that the 

 dark markings on the fur of an ordinary leopard are not solid black circular spots, 

 but take the form of rosettes of irregular black patches enclosing a centre of darker 

 tint than the general ground-colour of the fur. Such a type of colouring seems to 

 be one specially adapted to a partially arboreal life, for in the purely terrestrial 

 hunting-leopard {Cyncelurus jubatus), as well as in the smaller African cat known 

 as the serval {Felis serval), the markings all take the form of solid circular black 

 spots. It is further noteworthy that the Amurland race of the leopard (F, pardus 

 villosa), which inhabits a country where the forests are coniferous and therefore 

 ill-adapted for climbing by a large animal, the spots are in the main solid and 

 more or less nearly circular. 



Leopards have a range larger than that of either the lion or the tiger. In 

 former times they probably inhabited a considerable portion of Europe ; and at 

 the present day they extend from the Caucasus over the greater part of Asia, 

 inclusive of Persia, India, China, and the Malay countries, although unknown in 

 northern Siberia, the highlands of Tibet, and Japan. In Africa they inhabit the 

 whole continent from Morocco to Cape Colony, although from certain districts they 

 have now been killed off. As a rule, the central chestnut area forming the centre 

 of the rosettes does not carry any small spots, but two or three such spots occur in 

 the rosettes of some Asiatic leopards ; and skins thus marked serve to connect the 

 leopard with its near relative the jaguar (F. oncd) of Central and South America, in 

 which these central spots are constant. Now the jaguar is an even more arboreal 



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