No
two Leopards are alike, either in the markings or the ground colour, but in
general they tend to have black spots on a lighter colour underneath,
ranging from a off-white to a soft yellow. But also in size and weight vast
differences are recorded. Leopards from the southern Cape province have a
mass of about 36 kg /79 lb, while male specimen have form Zimbabwe and
Namibia can weigh as much as 60 kg /132 lb and more.
Leopards
are only rarely seen during the day since they are primarily active at dusk
and at night and not because this species has been ”decimated by hunters
because of its skin”, as some “conservationists” will claim.
Leopards
are solitary. They feed on a wide range of warm-blooded species from mice to
predators twice their size. On farmland, they can cause severe damage
through feeding on all animals up to the size of calves.
By virtue
of the Washington Convention (CITES Convention) leopards are a specially
protected species. At the 6th CITES (Convention in the Trade of
Endangered Species) meeting in 1987 in Ottawa, documentation suggested that
the African leopard, by no means, with a population of about 700.000 in
Africa. This is the reason why in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and South
Africa, individual leopards can now be hunted legally with the necessary
permit issued by nature conservation authorities. Controlling the number of
leopards through hunting as a positive effect on their population, as high
trophy fees compensate the farmer for the damage suffered through them, as
explained in the cheetah description.
Under consideration of
all biological factors, a research team of scientist produced findings that
322 leopards could be hunted annually as trophy animals in Namibia without
decimating the population. Leopards are best hunted with a lure, the hunter
hiding in waiting close by.