ETYM Old Eng. pantere, French panthčre, Latin panthera, Greek panther, prob. from Skr. pundrîka a tiger.
Or leopard; Cat Panthera pardus, found in Africa and Asia. The background color of the coat is golden, and the black spots form rosettes that differ according to the variety; black panthers are simply a color variation and retain the patterning as a “watered-silk” effect. The leopard is 1.5–2.5 m/5–8 ft long, including the tail, which may measure 1 m/3 ft.
The snow leopard or ounce p. uncia, which has irregular rosettes of much larger black spots on a light cream or gray background, is a native of mountains in central Asia. The clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa is rather smaller, about 1.75 m/5.8 ft overall, with large blotchy markings rather than rosettes, and is found in se Asia. There are seven subspecies, of which six are in danger of extinction, including the Amur leopard and the South Arabian leopard. One subspecies, the Zanzibar leopard, may already be extinct. The last Judean desert leopard died May 1995, although a small population survives in the Negev desert.
A leopard in the black color phase. + prikaži više