A leopard in my kitchen

The Leopard is the smallest of the four big cats in the genus Panthera- the others being?
Were you paying attention?


Lion, Tiger, Jaguar.

Once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, the leopard's range of distribution has decreased radically because of hunting and loss of habitat. It is now chiefly found in sub-Saharan Africa; there are also fragmented populations in Pakistan, India, Indochina, Malaysia, and China. Because of its declining range and population, it is listed as a "Near Threatened" species by the IUCN.


Compared to other members of the Felidae family, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, but is smaller and more slightly built. Its fur is marked with rosettes similar to those of the jaguar, but the leopard's rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and do not usually have central spots as the jaguar's do. Both leopards and jaguars that are melanistic (completely black or very dark) are known as black panthers.



We will meet the Black Panther in May.


Behaviour

Purring
As we saw yesterday leopards don't purr properly but they do make a rattle that sounds like purring and like our domestic cats is often used to show contentment but not always. The purring is more of a signal of submission and acceptance in our pets. It's thought to be a signal to the mother when suckling that the kittens are receiving nourishment and because in moggies it is a true purr they can still do it while suckling. Moggies also purr when at the vets, even being put to sleep indicating its role in submission.

Leopards on the other hand roar and this vocalisation is used to signal many things in much the way moggies meow. Leopards produce a number of vocalizations, including grunts, roars, growls, meows and "sawing" sounds

Paws n claws
Look at your cat's feet- go on... I'll wait....


la la la....

Oh he's out climbing a tree? Hunting? Just not in the mood?

That's cats for you!

Well leopards also have pads and retractable claws.The pads allow silence when hunting and the function of the claws is naturally a lethal weapon.
In much the same way your moggies will thread the back of your lovely new sofa (ignoring the perfectly positioned super scratching post you bought at Pets At Home) leopards do the same on trees. It is not so much sharpening claws but more the stripping off of old worn out claw sheaths.

Rolling Over
Moggies often greet by rolling over and showing their belly. This is a sign of submission and is also thought to be a way of assessing your mood. But when you touch the belly it often results in play. That said if you have a particulary intimate relationship with your cat it will let you rub its belly (Cagney loves it!)

Leopards are solitary animals apart from when mating. They can then be seen rolling and exposing their belly.

Spraying
This is an obvious scent marking behaviour, seen in leopards and your moggies (neutered and entire males (and females) although the smell is less pungent in castrated tom cats.)It is regarded more like a newspaper, announcing all the feline movements into and out of the area. It's exactly the same in leopards and other big cats.


Burying faeces
It is thought that burying faeces is an act of subordination when a less dominant moggie wants to cover his tracks, perhaps hide scent if their are kittens not so much a fastidious act by the cat that makes cat owners gloat at the superiority if the feline over the canine! Dominant tom cats often do not bury faeces.

Leopards generally do not bury faeces either but use it as a territorial mapping.

Grooming
Moggies don't only groom to clean but also because unruffled fur is a better insulator so after you;ve petted a cat she will want to smooth out the coat and also remove the prodominance of your scent on her.

Cats grooming in the sunshine has another function. Vitamin D in manufactured in the sun and the licking of warm fur is a means of ingesting Vitamin D... not many people know that...

A leopard does the same thing...



Tail wagging
Cats wag their tails when it is in a stage of conflict. The cat wants to do two things at once, but each impulse blocks the other. For example: If your cat is in the doorway wanting to go outside, and you open the door to find it raining, the cat's tail will wag because of internal conflict. The cat wants to go outside, but doesn't want to go into the rain. Once the cat makes a decision and either returns to the house or leaves into the rain, the tail will immediately stop wagging.

Leopards have been seen tail swishing in social encounters which is considered to be more of an invitation to a male. Interesting!

Climbing
Is what leopards do best- they spend most the of the day in a tree and move around by night. They are fantastic climbers and pouncers... jumping for their prey
With its head low, legs bent and belly nearly touching the ground, a leopard will try to stalk to within three to 10 meters before pouncing. If it misses, it will seldom chase its prey.

After a successful pounce, the leopard paralyses its prey with a bite through the back of the neck that damages the spinal cord, then strangles the victim with its powerful jaws.

Usually the kill is then taken by the neck and dragged to safety, away from other predators. Leopards often store their kills in trees, out of the reach of lions and hyenas. This requires great power, but is not a problem for leopards - they are renowned for their strength and can haul a carcass of at least their own weight up the vertical trunk of a tree.

This massive strength means a big adult leopard is capable of killing prey up to the size of an eland - almost 10 times its own weight! Small prey such as mice, rats and small birds are swatted to death with a single paw strike.

And we will all have watched out moggies stalk and pounce on birds in much the same way. In fact while Blogging there was a horrendous squawking and in came Cagney with a female blackbird in her mouth! Luckily after chasing her in the garden in socks and screaming for the neighbour's pleasure she dropped it and it flew away- back to its babies I hope.

So I'll let you decide if you have a leopard in your kitchen...

Tomorrow: Can a leopard change its spots?