What in the world are leopards?

Answer 1

Leopards, also known as Panthera pardus, are from the Felidae family. They are the smaller of the "big cats", that includes tigers, lions, and jaguars. Leopards have some what shorter legs with a long body, and powerful large skull. They look much like the jaguar, but are lighter boned, smaller framed, with a lighter build. Their fur is marked with a smaller rosettes pattern than a jaguar, plus they are more tightly formed or patterned across their coat. Also they do not have a "central spot" in the rosettes as the jaguar does. If a Leopard is"melanistic" or very dark, they are referred to as "Black Panthers". There are 9 subspecies of Leopards listed to date, but some of the data is tentative at best, and is likely to change. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or the IUCN Red List, there are 5 subspecies of Leopards listed, three of those are listed as "critically endangered", and two are listed as "endangered" all with population trends of"decreasing" . For more details, please see the sites listed below.