Leopard
The beauty of the leopard has been displayed throughout time. Their magnificent pelts have been a part of their undoing. From the veld in Africa to the Roman Legions these magnificent animals have been killed so that man can use this beauty as a garment. Almost hunted to extension throughout several parts of the world, man has realized that without the help of man this manficent creature will be just a memory.
The leopard or panther is a large, graceful cat with a long, lithe build. Its coat is pale brown to yellowish-brown with dark brown spots in rosettes. Some individuals are very dark brown, almost black, effectively masking their spots and producing the famous black panther. The leopard has incredible jumping ability. It can leap up to 22 feet long and 10 feet high without much difficulty.
The fur trade was a major threat to the leopard in some areas during the 1960s and 1970s, before the market collapsed due to changing public opinion and the imposition of international trade controls under CITES (see Part II Chapter 4). Hamilton (1981) reported that poaching for the fur trade substantially reduced the leopard population in Kenya, and considers the species to be particularly vulnerable to baited trapping, as leopards patrol small home ranges along regularly used trails. Use of poisoned baits is also an important threat (Myers 1976; E. Abe, T. Anada, P. Chardonnet, A. Simonetta in litt. 1993). Martin and de Meulenaer (1988) simulated the effects of high harvests on leopards in East Africa during this period (they estimated 30,000 leopards killed between 1968-69), and concurred with Hamilton?s (1981) finding that hunting had severely depressed populations there. However, their model also indicated that even very high offtakes, of the order of 61,000 animals a year, had produced only a slight decline in the total Sub-Saharan population (see Part II Chapter 5). They consider the leopard to be generally resilient to harvest up to a critical threshold, which varies with density.
Martin and de Meulenaer (1988) argue that re-opening the fur trade with appropriate controls under CITES would significantly benefit conservation of the leopard by allowing local people to derive economic value from the species, seldom possible under current tourism and sport hunting practices of most range states. Rural people are at present the force responsible for the continuing decline of the leopard in the region, through degradation of habitat where their livestock graze and persecution of the leopard as a threat to these animals. Development of options to enable local people to obtain income from leopards could encourage them to refrain from eradicating the leopards in their vicinity. Cobb (1981), without considering such options, could not foresee a future for the leopard in Africa outside of protected areas. In 1986, protected habitat made up only 13% of potential leopard range (MacKinnon and MacKinnon 1986a, Martin and de Meulenaer 1988).
Leopard -Panthera pardus
Panthera Pardus Nimr (Arabian Leopard)
