Leopards are a type of big cat from Africa and parts of Asia. They live in both savanna grasslands and rainforest. Most leopards have cream and gold fur with black rosette-like markings. Their colouring allows them to blend into the surrounding trees. The snow leopard has white fur, while the clouded leopard has marbled markings. Leopards are fierce, solitary hunters, seizing most of their victims by stealth. Some have dark fur but with the same, spotted markings, making them look almost completely black. These individuals are known as black panthers.

Hunting

Leopards are solitary animals. Hunting at night, they carefully stalk their prey, for example, antelope, gazelle or deer, using their excellent senses of hearing and smell, before lunging at it with their powerful jaws. Good swimmers and nimble climbers, they can also run fast, reaching speeds of nearly 60 km/h (37 mph) in short bursts.

The leopard will eat nearly any animal that it can catch, including, as well as a wide range of mammals, fish, birds and even insects. Sometimes, it will leap down on to its victim from above, then drag the kill back up into the tree to keep it safe from hyenas, where it then devours it. A leopard can drag prey more than twice its own weight into a tree.

Snow leopard

Snow leopards live on the high mountain slopes of Central Asia. Their white fur camouflages them against the snow and their huge paws act like snowshoes, spreading their weight so that they do not sink into the snow. They normally leap on their prey from above or chase them several hundred metres down steep mountainsides. They kill with a bite to the neck.

In the depths of winter, snow leopards leave the exposed mountain slopes where they usually hunt and follow their prey down to lower altitudes. Here, forests offer some shelter, and food is a little easier to find.