The Leopard

The leopards are dispersed over a wider area today, than that of any of the other large cats. Ranging across most of the African continent, with the exception of the Sahara Desert rgeion. Throughout parts of Asia Minor and the Middle East to India, Pakistan, China, Siberia, much of mainland southeast Asia, and the islands of Java and Sri Lanka.

The leopards, with more than 20 subspecies described, are included in the genus Panthera on the basis of several features. It is one of the roaring cats, capable of producing a deep sawing roar similar to that of the jaguar. The leopard is also like the jaguar in coat pattern, with dark spots or rosettes. Although the size of the rosettes varies over geographical region, leopard rosettes remain empty of markings while jaguars generally have one to four dark spots inside the open spots. The background color of the leopard's coat varies from shades of yellow through a reddish brown, with some albino, although quite rare, specimines reported. A melanistic version,