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 is a genus within the family Felidae, and one of two extant genera in the subfamily Pantherinae. It contains the largest living members of the cat family. There are five living species: the jaguar, leopard, lion, snow leopard and tiger. Numerous extinct species are also named, including the cave lion and American lion.
The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus Panthera, namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard, as well as the non-pantherine cheetah and cougar.
Panthera spelaea, commonly known as the cave lion, is an extinct Panthera species that was native to Eurasia and northwest North America during the Pleistocene epoch. Genetic analysis of ancient DNA has revealed that while closely related, it was a distinct species genetically isolated from the modern lion, with the genetic divergence between the two species estimated at around 500,000 years ago. The earliest fossils of the P. spelaea lineage in Eurasia date to around 700,000 years ago. It is closely related and probably ancestral to the American lion. The species ranged from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America, and was a prominent member of the mammoth steppe fauna, and an important apex predator across its range. It became extinct about 13,000 years ago. It closely resembled living lions with a coat of yellowish-grey fur though unlike extant lions, males appear to have lacked manes.
The American lion, with the species name meaning "savage" or "cruel", also called the North American lion) is an extinct pantherine cat native to North America during the Late Pleistocene from around 130,000 to 12,800 years ago. Genetic evidence suggests that its closest living relative is the lion, with the American lion representing an offshoot from the lineage of the largely Eurasian cave lion, from which it is suggested to have split around 165,000 years ago. Its fossils have been found across North America, from Canada to Mexico. It was about 25% larger than the modern lion, making it one of the largest known felids to ever exist, and an important apex predator. It is possible, like modern lions, they were social animals, although this is not known for sure.
The Pantherinae is a subfamily of the Felidae; it was named and first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1917 as only including the Panthera species, but later also came to include the clouded leopards. The Pantherinae genetically diverged from a common ancestor between 9.32 to 4.47 million years ago and 10.67 to 3.76 million years ago.
Panthera gombaszoegensis, also known as the European jaguar, is a Panthera species that lived from about 2.0 to 0.35 million years ago in Europe, as well as likely elsewhere in Eurasia. The first fossils were excavated in 1938 in Gombasek Cave, Slovakia. P. gombaszoegensis was a medium-large sized species that formed an important part of the European carnivore guild for a period of over a million years. Many authors have posited that it is the ancestor of the American jaguar, with some authors considering it the subspecies Panthera onca gombaszoegensis, though the close relationship between the two species has been questioned by some authors.
Panthera palaeosinensis was an early Pleistocene species from northern China. It is often incorrectly referenced as the ancestor of the tiger, Panthera tigris, although it shares features with all living large cats. Recent studies place it close to the base of the genus Panthera.
Panthera fossilis is an extinct species of cat belonging to the genus Panthera, known from remains found in Eurasia spanning the Middle Pleistocene and possibly into the Early Pleistocene.
Panthera pardus tulliana, also called Persian leopard,Anatolian leopard, and Caucasian leopard in different parts of its range, is a leopard subspecies that was first described in 1856 based on a zoological specimen found in western Anatolia. It is native to the Iranian Plateau and the surrounding region from eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus to the Hindu Kush, where it inhabits foremost subalpine meadows, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and rugged ravines at elevations of 600 to 3,800 m. It preys mostly on ungulates reliant on these habitats.
Tautavel is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.
The snow leopard is a species of large cat in the genus Panthera of the family Felidae. The species is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is estimated to number fewer than 10,000 mature individuals and is expected to decline about 10% by 2040. It is mainly threatened by poaching and habitat destruction following infrastructural developments. It inhabits alpine and subalpine zones at elevations of 3,000–4,500 m (9,800–14,800 ft), ranging from eastern Afghanistan, the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to southern Siberia, Mongolia and western China. In the northern part of its range, it also lives at lower elevations.
The Javan leopard is a leopard subspecies confined to the Indonesian island of Java. It has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2021. The population is estimated at 188–571 mature individuals in 22 fragmented subpopulations and a declining population trend. The total remaining habitat is estimated at only 2,267.9 to 3,277.3 km2.
Panthera zdanskyi is an extinct pantherine species, the fossils of which were excavated in Gansu Province, northwestern China. Due to its close relationship with the modern tiger, it is called the Longdan tiger.
Tautavel Man refers to the archaic humans which—from approximately 550,000 to 400,000 years ago—inhabited the Caune de l’Arago, a limestone cave in Tautavel, France. They are generally grouped as part of a long and highly variable lineage of transitional morphs which inhabited the Middle Pleistocene of Europe, and would eventually evolve into the Neanderthals. They have been variably assigned to either H. (s.?) heidelbergensis, or as a European subspecies of H. erectus as H. e. tautavelensis. The skull is reconstructed based on the specimens Arago 21 and 47, and it is, to a degree, more characteristic of what might be considered a typical H. erectus morphology than a typical H. heidelbergensis morphology. The brain capacity is 1,166 cc. They seem to have had an overall robust skeleton. Average height may have been 166 cm.
Leopards have a long history in Europe, spanning from the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition, around 1.2-0.6 million years ago, until the end of the Late Pleistocene, around 12,000 years ago, and possibly later into the early Holocene. Remains of leopards have been found across Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula to the Caucasus.
Palaeopanthera is an extinct genus of pantherine felid which lived during the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene of Asia. It contains two species, P. blytheae and P. pamiri, which were initially suggested as members of the genera Panthera and Felis respectively, but subsequent studies have placed both species to be separate from their original generic assignment.
Panthera shawi is an extinct prehistoric cat, of which a single canine tooth was excavated in Sterkfontein cave in South Africa by Robert Broom in the 1940s. It is thought to be one of the oldest known Panthera species in Africa.
Arago cave is a prehistoric site in the community of Tautavel, in the department of Pyrénées-Orientales. It is a large cavity overlooking a perennial stream called the Verdouble. Human remains attributed to the Tautavel Man and the lithic remnants of the Lower Paleolithic were discovered in the cave.
Puma incurva is an extinct species in genus Puma. It was described based on fossils from the Early Pleistocene-aged Swartkrans site in South Africa.
