Indian leopard
The Indian leopard is a subspecies of the leopard. It is widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent. It is threatened by illegal trade of skins and body parts, and persecution due to human-leopard conflict and retaliation for livestock depredation.
Taxonomy
Felis fusca was the scientific name proposed by Friedrich Albrecht Anton Meyer in 1794 who described a black leopard from Bengal that was on display at the Tower of London. Leopardus perniger proposed by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1863 were five leopard skins from Nepal, out of which three were black. He mentioned Sikkim and Nepal as habitat.Panthera pardus millardi proposed by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1930 was a single leopard skin and skull from Kashmir. It differed from typical P. p. fusca skins by longer hair and a more greyish colour.
Since leopard populations in Nepal, Sikkim and Kashmir are not geographically isolated from leopard populations in the Indian subcontinent, they were subsumed to P. p. fusca in 1996. The Indus River in the west and the Himalayas in the north form topographical barriers to the dispersal of this subspecies. In the east, the Ganges Delta and the lower course of the Brahmaputra River are thought to form natural barriers to the range of the Indochinese leopard.
A genetic analysis of 49 leopard skin samples collected in Azad Jammu Kashmir and Galyat regions of northern Pakistan revealed haplotypes of both Persian and Indian leopards, indicating intergradation of both subspecies in this region.
Characteristics
The Indian leopard has strong legs and a long, well-formed tail, broad muzzle, short ears, small, yellowish-grey eyes, and light-grey ocular bulbs.Its coat is spotted and rosetted on a pale yellow to yellowish-brown or golden background, except for the melanistic forms; the spots fade toward the white underbelly and the insides and lower parts of the legs. Rosettes are most prominent on the back, flanks and hindquarters. The pattern of the rosettes is unique to each individual. Juveniles have woolly fur, and appear dark due to the densely arranged spots. The white-tipped tail is long, white underneath, and displays rosettes, which form incomplete bands toward the end. The rosettes are larger in other leopard subspecies in Asia. Fur colour tends to be more pale and cream in arid habitats, more grey in colder climates, and of a darker golden hue in rainforest habitats.
The clouded leopard can be told apart by its diffuse "clouds" of spots compared to the smaller and distinct rosettes of the leopard, longer legs and thinner tail.
Skull
The largest skull for an Indian leopard was recorded in 1920, and belonged to a large, melanistic cat in the area of Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu. The black panther was said to have bigger forelimbs and forequarters than hind-limbs and hind-quarters, with a skull and claws nearly as large as those of a tigress. The skull measured in basal length, and in breadth, and weighed. By comparison, the skull of one western African leopard measured in basal length, and in breadth, and weighed.Size
Male Indian leopards grow to between and in body size with a to long tail and weigh between. Females are smaller, growing to between and in body size with a to long tail, and weigh between. Sexually dimorphic, males are larger and heavier than females.The largest wild individual appears to have been a male man-eater that was shot in the Dhadhol area of Bilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh in 2016. It reportedly measured from head to tail, at the shoulder, and weighed.
Distribution and habitat
The Indian leopard is distributed in India, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of Pakistan.Bangladesh has no viable leopard population but there are occasional sightings in the forests of Sylhet, Chittagong Hill Tracts and Cox's Bazar.
It inhabits tropical rainforests, dry deciduous forests, temperate forests and northern coniferous forests but does not occur in the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans.
In southern Tibet, it was recorded in Qomolangma National Nature Preserve.
In Nepal's Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, a melanistic leopard was photographed at an elevation of by a camera trap in May 2012.
Population in India
In 2015, 7,910 leopards were estimated to live in and around tiger habitat in India; about 12,000 to 14,000 leopards were speculated to live in the entire country. The following table gives the major leopard populations in the Indian states.As of 2020, the leopard population within forested habitats in India's tiger range landscapes was estimated at 12,172 to 13,535 individuals. Surveyed landscapes included elevations below in the Shivalik Hills and Gangetic plains, Central India and Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, as well as the Brahmaputra River basin and hills in Northeast India. As per 2022, the Indian leopard population was estimated at 13,874 individuals.
| State | Leopards |
| Andhra Pradesh | 569 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 42 |
| Assam | 74 |
| Bihar | 86 |
| Chhattisgarh | 722 |
| Goa | 77 |
| Jharkhand | 51 |
| Karnataka | 1,879 |
| Kerala | 570 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 3,907 |
| Maharashtra | 1,985 |
| Odisha | 568 |
| Rajasthan | 721 |
| Tamil Nadu | 1070 |
| Telangana | 297 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 371 |
| Uttarakhand | 652 |
| West Bengal | 233 |
| Total | 13,874 |
Behaviour and ecology
The leopard is elusive, solitary, and largely nocturnal. It is known for its ability in climbing, and has been observed resting on tree branches during the day, dragging its kills up trees and hanging them there, and descending from trees headfirst. It is a powerful swimmer, although is not as disposed to swimming as the tiger. It is very agile, and can run at over, leap over horizontally, and jump up to vertically. It produces a number of vocalizations, including grunts, roars, growls, meows, and purrs.In Nepal's Bardia National Park, home ranges of male leopards comprised about, and of females about ; female home ranges decreased to when they had young cubs.
In Gir National Park, the home range of a male radio-collared leopard was estimated at. It killed prey once in 3.7 days.
The leopard is a versatile, opportunistic hunter, and has a very broad diet. It is able to take large prey due to its massive skull and powerful jaw muscles. In Sariska Tiger Reserve, the dietary spectrum of the Indian leopard includes axis deer, sambar deer, nilgai, wild boar, common langur, Indian hare and peafowl.
In Periyar Tiger Reserve, primates make up a large proportion of its diet.
Reproduction
Depending on the region, the leopard mates all year round. The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6–7 days. Gestation lasts for 90 to 105 days. Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2–4 cubs. Mortality of cubs is estimated at 41–50% during the first year. Females give birth in a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to make a den. Cubs are born with closed eyes, which open four to nine days after birth. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more grey in colour with less defined spots. Around three months of age, the young begin to follow the mother on hunts. At one year of age, leopard young can probably fend for themselves, but remain with the mother for 18–24 months. The average typical life span of a leopard is between 12 and 17 years.Sympatric carnivores
Indian leopards are not common in habitats where tiger density is high, and are wedged between prime tiger habitat on the one side, and cultivated village land on the other. Where the tiger population is high or increasing, tigers drive leopards off to areas located closer to human settlements, like in Nepal's Bardia National Park and Sariska Tiger Reserve. Resource partitioning occurs where leopards share their range with tigers. Leopards tend to take smaller prey, usually less than, where tigers are present.In areas where leopard and tiger are sympatric, coexistence is reportedly not the general rule, with leopards being few where tigers are numerous.
The mean leopard population density decreased significantly from 9.76 to 2.07 animals per, while the mean tiger population density increased from 3.31 to 5.81 animals/100 km2 from 2004–2005 to 2008 in Rajaji National Park following the relocation of pastoralists out of the park. There, the two species have high dietary overlap, and an increase in the tiger population resulted in a sharp decrease in the leopard population and a shift in the leopard diet to small prey and domestic prey from 6.8% to 31.8%.
In Chitwan National Park, leopards killed prey ranging from less than in weight with most kills in the range. Tigers killed more prey in the range. There were also differences in the microhabitat preferences of the individual tiger and leopard followed over five months; the tiger used roads and forested areas more frequently, while the leopard used recently burned areas and open areas more frequently. When a tiger killed baits at sites formerly frequented by leopards, the leopards did not hunt there for some time.
In the tropical forests of India's Nagarhole National Park, tigers selected prey weighing more than, whereas leopards selected prey in the range. In tropical forests, they do not always avoid the larger cats by hunting at different times. With relatively abundant prey and differences in the size of prey selected, tigers and leopards seem to successfully coexist without competitive exclusion or interspecies dominance hierarchies that may be more common to the leopard's co-existence with the lion in savanna habitats. In areas with high tiger populations, such as in the central parts of India's Kanha National Park, leopards are not permanent residents, but transients. They were common near villages at the periphery of the park and outside the park.
In a reserved forest of southern India, species preyed upon by leopard, dhole and striped hyena overlapped considerably.
The leopard and snow leopard both hunt Himalayan tahr and musk deer, but the leopard usually prefers forested habitats located at lower elevations. Leopard may conflict with sloth bears and can follow them up trees. Bear cubs are probably far more vulnerable and healthy adult bears may be avoided by leopards. One leopard killed a three-quarters grown female sloth bear in an apparently lengthy fight that culminated in the trees. Apparently, a sloth bear killed a leopard in a confrontation in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka but was itself badly injured in the fight and was subsequently put down by park rangers.