|
|
|
  |
| Sunday, 5 December 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Spotted beauties A solitary hunter, the leopard is the most skilful of the large beasts of prey. It is the smallest member of the four 'big great cats' and closely resembles its cousin, the Jaguar. It's distributed in a large area from Africa to Asia. It roams in all parts of Africa except the Sahara. We, Sri Lankans can boast of having a large number of these spotted beauties. In fact it is recorded that of all the subspecies of leopards in Asia, the Sri Lankan leopard is the largest. There are many subspecies and some of them are the Javan leopard, Indian, Arabian, African and Persian. At the Yala National Park there are said to be around 30 leopards, probably the highest density anywhere in the world. In Sinhala the leopard is called a kotiya or a diviya while in Tamil it is known as Puli and Sarrugu-Puli. The male leopard grows to about two metres and the female to about 15 cms smaller than the male. They weigh around 80-150 pounds, have short powerful limbs, heavy torsos and long tails. The black markings on the tawny coat are in the form of rosettes. These magnificent coats have become the death of them. Many hunt and kill them to obtain these beautiful skins which are in great demand, especially in the fashion world. The leopard hunts mostly during evening and night. An opportunistic animal with a flexible diet, it feeds on deer, sambhur, monkeys and other small animals which it stalks or ambushes. In many parts of the world, the leopards are slowly disappearing. **** Snow leopard
The snow leopard has a long, thick fur coat which helps it withstand the cold. The exceptionally long, thickly furred tail helps it to maintain its balance when moving about in rocky terrain. The background colour of its coat varies from pale grey to cream and brownish grey. An adult male measures up to seven feet in length including a tail that stretches up to 40 cm. It weighs about 155 lbs.
**** Fact file * The leopard has very accurate hearing and eye sight but a poor sense of smell. * An expert at climbing trees, sometimes it carries its prey up on to trees to eat, undisturbed by scavengers. * The female has 2-3 cubs which remain with the mother until they are two years. * Lives to about 20 years in captivity. * Vocalisation - grunting, growling, hissing, meowing. Its most recognised sound is the long distance call which sounds like someone is sawing. * Uses same methods as other cats to define territory with scent markings, faeces and scratch marks. ***** Black panther Leopard or what?
This distinction between the two comes from a colour variation. In early times, hunters used to refer to the larger specimens with a larger head as panthers and the smaller specimens as leopards. But today the difference is determined by gender. However the word panther continues to be used for black leopards. The black leopard and the spotted leopard are one and the same species. Black leopards or panthers are found mostly in certain regions like mountains and damp rain forests in Ethiopia, Thailand and Malaysia. They are the most hunted . |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Politics | Produced by Lake House |
The snow leopard which maintains a large territory is distributed
mostly in rocky, alpine habitats of Central Asian mountains - the
Himalayas of Bhutan, India, Nepal, China and parts of Russia. It is
estimated that there may be only between 3,500 and 8,000 individuals
living in the wild today.
Predominantly a nocturnal hunter it is most active either early morn or
at twilight. It preys on deer, goat, hares and boars. It stalks its prey
to within a striking distance and attacks with a lethal bite to the neck.
Even today, many are uncertain about the difference between leopards
and panthers and ask if they are two different species. The answer is no.
