[Animal] Léopard d'Afrique

[GreenBoys]

The African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) is the most common of the leopard subspecies. He is part, with the African lion, the African elephant, the black rhinoceros and the African buffalo, of the so-called "big five" group of the 5 mammals formerly feared and respected by African hunters.

It is the largest and most widespread of the leopard subspecies, its weight can reach up to 90 kg for large males, for a body size of 1.90 m to which a good meter of tail must be added. Females are generally 40% smaller[ref. necessary].

They are mainly found in sub-Saharan Africa and west of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia, where they are relatively common. The species is almost extinct in North Africa, where it could once be observed in the High Atlas Mountains. Its habitat is varied, it goes from the savannah (Kenya, Tanzania ...) through the forest (Gabon, Congo ...) without forgetting the mountains (South Africa, Zimbabwe ...) or the desert areas of the Kalahari desert in Namibia and the swamps of the Okavango Delta in Botswana.

The size disparities are significant depending on the region, for example, in the Cape Province in South Africa, the average weight of the animal does not exceed 30 kilos, while in the Kruger National Park, also in South Africa, the average weight is 60 kilos[ref. necessary].

Nevertheless, the lack of information and data concerning the leopard does not allow us to affirm that the largest specimens are South African, thus according to Pocock the largest leopards are in Algeria (there are now only rare specimens left), in the north of Congo, in the south of Sudan, in the coastal forests of West Africa, in central Gabon and in the rift forest region in Kenya, namely the Aberdares and Mount Kenya[ref. necessary].

These assumptions are based on measurements made from skulls, thus, in the north-east of the Congo, 7 males were measured, and their skull measured on average 261 mm, with two specimens respectively at 279 mm and 282 mm[ref. necessary]. Even more impressive, 3 specimens from the coasts of Gabon reached an average of 274 mm with the largest at 282 mm, this information can be tempered by the fact that the sample is small, the fact remains that the measurements are impressive since they rub shoulders with those of the Pantanal jaguar (the largest subspecies of jaguar) which reaches an average of 282.2 mm in skull size and 282 mm in mato grosso[ref. necessary].

Knowing that the jaguar of the Pantanal weighs on average 100 kilos, it is not excluded to believe that leopards with the same measurements, can also reach an imposing weight, about 90 kilos (the leopard is a little thinner than the jaguar with equal size)[ref. necessary].

For comparison, the leopards reputed to be the largest, namely the South Africans and East Africans, have a skull that measures an average of 230 mm, 260 mm for the largest. All these data are available in Pocock's book: The Leopards of Africa (1932) and also in Carnivora Collected by American Museum Congo Expedition by J.A. Allen.

The data on the jaguar come from Notes on the biology and status of the jaguar in Venezuela by Mondolfi and Hoogesteijn 1986.

According to Rowland ward (official hunter publications), leopards from the mountainous regions of East Africa measure an average of 260 mm at the level of the skull with even a specimen at 286 mm, which is higher than the average size of the largest subspecies of jaguar1.

 

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léopard_d'Afrique