Arabian Leopard
Kingdom
Phylum
Subphylum
Class
Order
Suborder
Family
Genus
SPECIES
Panthera pardus nimr
Population size
Bnelow 200
Life Span
10-20 years
Top speed
58
36
km/hmph
km/h mph 
Weight
20-30
44-66
kglbs
kg lbs 
Length
160-203
63-79.9
cminch
cm inch 

The Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) is a leopard subspecies native to the Arabian Peninsula. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1996 as fewer than 200 wild individuals were estimated to be alive in 2006. The Arabian leopard is the smallest leopard subspecies. It was tentatively affirmed as a distinct subspecies by genetic analysis of a single wild leopard from South Arabia, which appeared most closely related to the African leopard.

No

Nocturnal

Ca

Carnivore

Vi

Viviparous

Cu

Cursorial

Te

Terrestrial

Ar

Arboreal

Ap

Apex predator

Am

Ambush predator

No

Nomadic

Te

Territorial

Al

Altricial

Po

Polygynandry

So

Solitary

No

Not a migrant

A

starts with

Appearance

The Arabian leopard's fur varies from pale yellow to deep golden, tawny, or grey and is patterned with rosettes. It is smaller than both African and Persian leopards. However, it is the largest cat in the Arabian Peninsula.

Video

Distribution

Geography

It is considered that the current range of Arabian leopards is limited to the Arabian Peninsula, including Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. There they live in mountainous uplands and hilly steppes but seldom move to open plains, deserts, or coastal lowlands. They prefer well-vegetated terrain that is difficult for humans to reach. Since the late 1990s, leopards were not recorded in Egypt.

Arabian Leopard habitat map

Climate zones

Arabian Leopard habitat map
Arabian Leopard
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Habits and Lifestyle

Arabian leopards are mainly nocturnal but may sometimes be active in daylight. In general, leopards are solitary animals. They maintain home ranges that usually overlap with each other. Thus, a male's home range can often overlap with the territories of multiple females. Females live with their cubs in home ranges that overlap extensively and continue to interact with their offspring even after weaning; females may even share kills with their offspring when they can not obtain any prey. Leopards usually hunt on the ground and depend mainly on their acute senses of hearing and vision for hunting. They stalk their prey and try to approach it as closely as possible, typically within 5 m (16 ft) of the target, and, finally, pounce on it and kill it by suffocation. Leopards are known to be excellent climbers and often rest on tree branches during the day, dragging their kills up trees and hanging them there, and descending from trees headfirst. Leopards are also powerful swimmers. They are very agile and can run at over 58 km per hour (36 mph), leap over 6 m (20 ft) horizontally, and jump up to 3 m (9.8 ft) vertically. They produce a number of vocalizations, including grunts, roars, growls, meows, and purrs.

Group name
Seasonal behavior

Diet and Nutrition

Arabian leopards have a carnivorous diet and seem to concentrate on small to medium prey species, and usually store carcasses of large prey in caves or lairs but not in trees. They mainly prey on Arabian gazelle, Nubian ibex, Cape hares, rock hyraxes, porcupines, Ethiopian hedgehogs, small rodents, birds, and insects. Since local people reduced ungulates to small populations, leopards must alter their diet to smaller prey and livestock such as goats, sheep, donkeys, and young camels.

Mating Habits

MATING BEHAVIOR
PREGNANCY DURATION
13 weeks
BABY CARRYING
2-4 cubs
INDEPENDENT AGE
2 years
FEMALE NAME
leopardess
MALE NAME
leopard
BABY NAME
cub

Leopard cubs are born with closed eyes that open four to nine days later. Generally, leopards have a polygynandrous (promiscuous) mating system, where both males and females mate with several mates. After a gestation period of 13 weeks, females give birth to 2-4 cubs in a cave amidst boulders or in a burrow. Leopard cubs are born with closed eyes that open 4 to 9 days later. Captive-born Arabian leopard cubs emerged from their den for the first time at the age of one month. They are weaned at the age of about 3 months and remain with their mother for up to 2 years.

Population

Population threats

Arabian leopards are threatened by habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation; prey depletion caused by unregulated hunting; trapping for the illegal wildlife trade and retaliatory killing in defense of livestock. The leopard population has decreased drastically in Arabia as shepherds and villagers kill leopards in retaliation for attacks on livestock. In addition, the hunting of leopard prey species such as hyrax and ibex by local people and habitat fragmentation, especially in the Sarawat Mountains, made the continued survival of the leopard population uncertain. Other reasons for killing these rare animals are personal satisfaction and pride, traditional medicine, and hides. Some leopards are killed accidentally when eating poisoned carcasses intended for Arabian wolves and Striped hyenas.

Population number

According to a Wikipedia resource, three confirmed subpopulations of the Arabian leopard remain on the Arabian Peninsula with fewer than 200 individuals. According to the IUCN Red List, the Arabian leopard requires listing as Critically Endangered (CR) due to low population numbers. Currently, the leopard numbers are decreasing.

Ecological niche

Leopards are top predators within their natural habitat and play a very important role in the local ecosystem by controlling the numbers and health of their prey species.

Coloring Pages

References

1. Arabian leopard Wikipedia article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_leopard

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