Panthera pardus

The leopard is one of the five extant cat species in the genus Panthera. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular, reaching a length of 92–183 cm (36–72 in) with a 66–102 cm (26–40 in) long tail and a shoulder height of 60–70 cm (24–28 in). Males typically weigh 30.9–72 kg (68–159 lb), and females 20.5–43 kg (45–95 lb).

Panthera pardus

Sumeet Moghe · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
leopardPBDB
Sits inside
PantheraPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Panthera
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Felidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 106 occurrencesPliocene — about 8 of 106 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 87 of 106 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 11 of 106 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.5–2.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 9 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 9 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 9 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 37 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

106 occurrences of Panthera pardus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

106 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

11 formations

Swartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.45°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°EUSNO — 5.33°N, 36.17°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EYuanmou — 24.87°N, 100.94°EDursunlu — 38.28°N, 31.91°EUnterer Travertin — 50.95°N, 11.38°EHengchun Limestone — 21.97°N, 120.81°E

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The named rock units Panthera pardus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 84 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Panthera pardus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Panthera pardus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,018 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 105 sites for Panthera pardus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

80 references

Each of the 106 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 68 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Panthera pardus

Credit
Sumeet Moghe
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Panthera Panthera pardus · LACM:Mammals:11704

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPanthera through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)