The leopard is one of five extant species in the Panthera genus, which belongs to the Felidae family. It may be found across Sub-Saharan Africa, Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, and the Indian subcontinent, as well as Southeast and East Asia. Leopard populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and are falling in vast areas of their global range, according to the IUCN Red List.

In Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Jordan, Morocco, Togo, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Kuwait, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, and most certainly in North Korea, Gambia, Laos, Lesotho, Tajikistan, Vietnam, and Israel, the leopard is regarded locally extinct. According to current data, the leopard can be found in only 25% of its previous worldwide range.

The leopard has short legs and a lengthy body with a big cranium when compared to other wild cats. Rosettes adorn the animal’s fur. It has a similar look to the jaguar (Panthera onca), but is smaller and lighter, with smaller rosettes that are more densely packed and lack center spots. Black panthers are both leopards and jaguars that are melanistic. Its well-camouflaged fur, opportunistic hunting behavior, wide food, strength, and ability to adapt to a variety of environments ranging from rainforest to steppe, including desert and mountainous regions, characterize the leopard.

It has a top speed of 58 kilometers per hour (36 mph). The earliest known leopard fossils discovered in Europe date from the late Early Pleistocene and are believed to be 600,000 years old. Fossils of leopards have also been discovered in Japan and Sumatra.

The leopard’s hair is typically velvety and thick, with the belly fur being softer than the back. Individuals’ skin colors range from pale yellowish to dark golden, with black dots clustered in rosettes. It has a pale belly and a ringed tail that is shorter than its body. It has circular pupils. Leopards in dry areas are pale cream, yellowish to ochraceous, and rufous in color, but leopards in woods and mountains are considerably deeper and deep golden in color. The spots fade away from the white underbelly and the insides and lower legs.

Rosettes in East African leopard populations are round, squarish in Southern African leopard populations, and bigger in Asian leopard populations. In colder areas, the fur is grey, whereas in rain forest environments, it is dark golden. Each individual’s rosettes have a different design.

In colder climates, its fur becomes longer. The guard hairs that protect the basal hairs are small, measuring 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) in the face and head and increasing in length to around 25–30 mm (1.0–1.2 in) in the flanks and belly. Juveniles have fuzzy fur with tightly packed patches that give them a black appearance. It has a white-tipped tail that is 60–100 cm (23.6–39.4 in) in length, is white underside, and has dots that create incomplete bands near the tail’s end. The rosettes of the leopard are darker and have smaller spots within than those of the jaguar (Panthera onca). There are no rosettes on the cheetah’s tiny circular patches.

Download Leopard Silhouette PNG vector transparent background images