The Lion Who Didn't Want To Look Like A Giraffe!

If lions are the ‘king of the jungle’, then leopards have got to be its ‘prince regent’!

- Lorraine Doyle

Powerful, athletic, graceful and stealthy, they are the epitome of an apex predator. Leopards are one of the most adaptable of all cats, having a wider distribution than any other large carnivore. The fact that it is the most common large predator found in southern African fossil deposits, which date back 1-1.8 million years ago, pays tribute to this adaptiveness. The word ‘leopard’ stems from the Greek words leōn (lion) and pardos (panther), and the ancient belief is that it is a hybrid of both. Such an idea is, of course, the stuff of legend, with the lion and the leopard having diverged from a shared common ancestor some 2-3 million years ago. The modern leopard emerged 470 000 to 825 000 years ago in Africa (different fossil dating methods give different results) with Asian populations believed to be descended from African leopards, founded in an out of-Africa dispersal event.

Globally their range spans both hemispheres, where they can be found in at least 80 countries. They are able to occupy a highly diverse array of habitats, occurring at elevations ranging from sea level to 5 700m. Their ability to inhabit such a variety of habitats is attributed primarily to their Catholic diet. Leopards are not fussy eaters. They will prey on anything from relatively large antelope, to rodents, fish and even dung beetles.