Common+Leopard-Semere+Hagos

Common Leopard(Panthera pardus)

The common leopard mostly leavs in Africa and central Asia. They Live in forests as well as in open country. Becasue of their adaptive capabilities, they have manged to live in deserts like Saharah in Africa or in cold forests like The Great Himalayan National Park and all across Western Europe, India and South Asia.
 * __Habitat__**



The common leopard(Panthera pardus) is one of the four "big cats" of the genus Panthera. Its is the fourth largest of the Panthera "big cats" in the world, behind the tiger, lion and jaguar. It generally ranges in size from one to just over two metres (6.5 ft) long, and generally weigh between 30 and 70 kg (65–155 lb). Some males may grow over 90 kg (200 lb). Leopards are infamous for their ability to go undetected. They will eat just about any animal. Their diet consists of mostly monkeys, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish, wild pigs, and ungulates. In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. Leopards have difficulty defending kills from large social predators, such as lions or hyenas. In areas with large numbers of large predators, they typically store their kills out of reach in trees. Although a leopard caught on the ground will typically try to defend its kill, it will generally find itself outmatched by these predators. If outnumbered, it will abandon its kill and seek safety in trees.In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behavior is common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, 3 or 4 are sometimes seen together. Lives in forests as well as in open country. Males may follow a female who catches his attention. Sometimes fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (India and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6-7 days. Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2-3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1-2 cubs.
 * __NIche__**



**__Current status__**
It is estimated that there are as many as 500,000 leopards worldwide. But like many other big cats, leopards are increasingly under threat of habitat loss and are facing increased hunting pressure. Today leopards are still found in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia Minor, the Middle East, India, Pakistan, China, Siberia, much of mainland South-East Asia, and the islands of Java and Sri Lanka. In some of these areas they are very rare today.The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was written to prevent the people and businesses of the United States from driving extinct any species, and this would be prevented at any cost. The Act goes into great specificity about what constitutes a species (versus sub groups of the same species) and the past, current and potential future status of the population. The Act also outlines procedures for identifying what is driving the species extinct and then implements a series of rules that protect the species from future harm, depending on what pressure is killing the organism in the first place. However, the ESA only affects the United States, and has no control or impact on organisms outside of the United States. Therefore the ESA has no bearing on the status of the Common Leopard.

__Conservation Efforts__
Becasue the ESA can not protect these animals, and most of the country's the Leopard lives on are non wealty, it is fair to say for the most part no conservation efforts are being done. So unless the goverments of these conutries pass laws preventing or reducing the # of both Leopard and their preys being hunted, the Leopards are going to be extinct in a very near future. Also they should separate and preserve wild forests and large rocky mountain areas which the leopards largely depnd on for hunting their prey's.

__Work Cited__
http://www. greathimalayannationalpark. com/GHNP_biodivAnim.htm [] [|www.outtoafrica.nl/animals/eng**leopard**.html] http://www.snowleopardnetwork. org/newsblog/?cat=3