52 A HAND-BOOK OF THE MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 



generally live together in one set of dens, the black leopards being 

 always lodged separate from the others. New arrivals, when very 

 young, are mostly accommodated in small cages and kept inside the 

 hospital or some other suitable place. 



Too much care cannot be bestowed in securing them in their 

 prison, as they have a wonderful capacity for escaping through small 

 spaces and climbing to incredible heights to find means of exit. The 

 rods of the iron gratings of their dens ought not to be more than 

 three inches apart anywhere, either in the front, or sides, or the top. 

 As leopards are, when at liberty, in the habit of climbing trees, stout 

 ramified trunks have been placed in their outer dens, and the animals 

 have been constantly observed extended at full length along a branch, 

 or curled up in a fork. 



Food. — JSix pounds of beef, including bones, suffice for the daily 

 food of an adult leopard, and at this rate an animal's food costs 

 about Rs. 6-12 per month. But the appetite of individual animals 

 varies, so that it is impossible to lay down a hard-and-fast rule in this 

 respect. There have been leopards which would eat as much as 8 

 pounds. Leopards, with the rest of the animals in the same house, are 

 fed in the evening at the hour indicated on page 46. As more than one 

 pair generally live together in the same set of dens, some of them are 

 shut into the inner, and others left out in the outer den during feeding- 

 time to prevent their quarrelling over the food. Leopards do not 

 appear to drink as much and as often as tigers. Pariah dogs were, 

 at one time, tried as food for the leopards, but though, in their wild 

 state, they are accustomed to kill dogs for food, the same diet did not 

 appear to agree with them in captivity ; so that the idea of feeding 

 them on dog's flesh had to be abandoned. Those that are sent to the 

 garden after having been kept as pets have to be fed upon boiled meat, 

 at least for some time after their arrival. Either they altogether 

 refuse to eat raw meat or it disagrees with them. 



Transport. — All that has been said with regard to the transport 

 of a lion or tiger applies to a leopard also. As, however, the leopard is 

 a much smaller animal, the travelling cage should be proportionately 

 diminished. Greater precautions are necessary in transferring a leopard 

 from its den to the travelling cage. Whoever superintends the oper- 

 ation should satisfy himself that the cage is firmly placed against 

 the door of the den, and that there are no spaces whatever between the 

 cage and the door so as to allow the beast to escape into the open ; it is 

 incredible, as intimated above, through how small a space and how 

 stealthily a leopard can manage to escape. If (as for instance, at the 

 Calcutta garden, when the sliding wooden protector, which is outside 

 the grated door of the den, is raised) a space is left between the cage 

 and the wall of the den, this should be closed in also, because the 

 leopard on stepping out from the den (or the travelling cage, as the 

 case may be), generally looks up and, if it finds an open space above, 

 is sure to climb up with a view to escaping. Leopards are sometimes 

 sent from the interior of the country in bamboo or old ricketty cages. 

 This is a specially dangerous method of transport, as the cage is 

 subjected to much jolting and oscillation in the course of transit. 

 When, therefore, the offer of an animal is accepted, enquiry should be 



