The leopard (Panthera pardus) is widespread across most of Africa and southern Asia, ranging from open grassland to tropical rainforest and mountain highlands. It is an opportunistic feeder, choosing mainly large hoofed mammals, such as deer and antelope, but will take birds, rabbits and even dung beetles if prey is scarce.
Leopards are well adapted for climbing trees and have been seen hiding the corpses of prey high in the branches to eat later. They hunt mostly during the day to avoid competition with nocturnal lions and hyenas.
Leopards vary greatly in colour depending on their habitat. On the savannah they are usually a sandy ochre, while the high mountain leopards are very dark gold. They tend to have short legs on long bodies, and their fur is covered in black spots or rosettes. Completely black leopards - black panthers - are usually found only in forests, but they do not represent a different subspecies, merely an infrequent mutation.
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.jpg "Black Leopard (Blue Fang).jpg (36 KB)")
