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Sri Lankan Leopard and its conservation
- 1. 1 Prashanthini Shreeganesh Index no :- S 7782
- 2. 2 Who am I…! • The leopard, Panthera pardus - Felidae family • Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) • The leopard is Sri Lanka’s top predator • Classified as Endangered (IUCN)
- 3. 3 About me…!!! •A tawny or rusty yellow •Coat with dark spots and close-set rosettes •Smaller than Indian Leopards •Different cheetah and the jaguar
- 4. 4 Black Beauty… •Rare one found in denser forests •A result of a condition called melanism •Listed as ‘Endangered’ by Red List 2012.
- 5. 5 Distribution •Historically been found in all habitats throughout the island (Phillips 1935) •Remaining populations of leopard are extant National Parks which cover 12% •Habitat types (Santiapillai 1982) arid zone (<1000 mm) dry zone (1000-2000 mm) wet zone (>2000 mm) lowland sub-montane montane
- 6. Habitats 6 Ecology and behavior •Solitary hunters •With the exception of females with young • Primarily nocturnal
- 7. 7 •Both sexes live in overlapping territories
- 8. 8
- 9. Predatory 9 •They prefer hunting at night. but are also active during dawn and dusk. •Powerful, opportunistic predators •Camouflage – Body Pattern
- 10. 10 •Massive skull •Long canines •Powerful jaw, neck and shoulder muscles and short muscular legs •They can run up to 36 mph (58 kmh), jump forward 20 feet (6 meters) and leap 10 feet (3 m)
- 12. 12 •The leopard catches its prey with the claws on its front paws •It kills either with a bite to the throat or to the back of neck
- 13. Feeding 13 •Choice of diet, which can include small mammals, birds, reptiles as well as larger animals. •A varied diet allows it to adjust to changes in prey availability
- 14. 14 Mating and reproduction •Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round. •Mating call •The male typically grasps the female with a bite to the back of the neck before an intromission. •The male often kills the female
- 15. Paternal care 15 •Gestation period - 90 to 105 days •Females give birth in a cave •Usually a litter includes two or three cubs •Keeps them hidden -first 8 weeks, •Giving them meat - 6 or 7 weeks old •Suckling them for 3 months or longer.
- 16. Threats… Habitat Disruption 16 •Major causes for population decline- habitat loss and fragmentation
- 17. 17 Pouching •This was originally due to game hunting during colonial times
- 18. 18 •Later through poaching for skins •Most of poaching by Snare
- 20. Human-leopard conflict 20 •Globe- human habitation •Deforestation
- 21. 21 Conservation Leopard Project: •By The Leopard Project of the Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT) •Using such visitor-captured data obtained from interested visitors and volunteers to supplement to research database.
- 22. 22 Sri Lankan Wildlife Department: •Service from Leopard Safaris by Monitoring for suspicious behavior or poaching within the parks. •The passage of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance of 1938 put leopards under legal protection •The leopard was added to Appendix I of CITES
- 23. 23 Lennie The Leopard: •A collection of our photos went towards the making of the book Lennie the Leopard by Jan Latta, who is developing wildlife and conservation education for children through true-to-life stories on endangered animals.
- 24. 24 •http://lankapera.blogspot.com/2012/03/leopard.html •http://npramitha.blogspot.com/ •http://www.leopardssrilanka.com/ •http://www.leopardsafaris.com/eco_policies_greenpartnership.php •https://window2nature.wordpress.com/category/leopards/ •Mother leopard’s fate still a mystery , Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe. The Sunday Times, July 17 2011. References:
- 25. Let us leave our foot print… Thank you… 25
Editor's Notes
- large mammalian predator,The origin of the leopard on the subcontinent of India , Sri Lanka split off from the Indian sub-continent, The sea level rise that separated Sri Lanka was ~5,000-10,000 ybp. keystone species
- The cheetah has longer legs and a thinner build, taller but less powerfully built than the leopard. The jaguar is more similar in build to the leopard but is generally larger in size and has a more muscular, bulky appearance. The cheetah has simple black spots, evenly spread; the jaguar has small spots inside the polygonal rosettes; while the leopard normally has rounder, smaller rosettes than those of the jaguar.
- Zoologists say this is caused by a melanistic recessive gene and on close inspection the usual leopard spots are visible even on a black leopard. Scientists also say two leopards with normal coats have a one-in-four chance of producing a black-coated cub, if both mother and father have the recessive trait for melanistic form. Other big cats such as jaguars who have this melanistic form are commonly referred to as black panthers.
- Water is maintained to varying degrees throughout the year in created and/or deepened water holes. As exemplified in our Yala study this water availability allows for higher year-round densities of prey and therefore possibly higher numbers of leopard than would otherwise survive in these habitats. Yala National Park has one of the highest recorded densities of leopards in the world,
- with the exception of females with young, usually resting during the daytime in trees or thick bush.
- Each individual has a home range that overlaps with its neighbors; the male's range is much larger and generally overlaps with those of several females.
- Leopards continually move about their territory, seldom staying in an area for more than two or three days at a time. Ranges are marked with urine and claw marks and leopards announce their presence to other leopards with a rasping cough. Leopards also growl, roar and purr.
- It is a patient stalker, relying on stealth and camouflage.The massive skull, long canines, powerful jaw, neck and shoulder muscles and short muscular legs allow the leopard to kill medium-sized antelope easily - and to carry the carcass up a tree to keep it away from other predators
- The massive skull, long canines, powerful jaw, neck and shoulder muscles and short muscular legs allow the leopard to kill medium-sized antelope easily - and to carry the carcass up a tree to keep it away from other predators
- It is a patient stalker, relying on stealth and camouflage.The leopard depends on hearing and eyesight when hunting. Using available cover it gets as close to its prey as possible, preferably within 5 meters. It tries to pounce before the prey is alerted and seldom chases an animal if it misses
- The leopard catches its prey with the claws on its front paws fully extended; it kills either with a bite to the throat, asphyxiating the animal, or to the back of the neck, severing the spinal cord. Before starting to feed, the leopard will invariably eviscerate its prey at the kill site before either dragging or carrying it to cover. Once satiated it will either cover the prey with leaves and soil or carry it up a tree to hide it from other predators and will continue to return to eat for up to 5 days or until finished, if undisturbed.
- They can survive less water availability by water from the prey, they save their energy by resting for another hunting or mating and reprodution
- leopards use elevated areas to deliver a long moaning call that travels well. This call is suspected to be a mating call, but it may be a territorial call instead. The most successful matings have occurred between a male and female that were raised together from only a few weeks of age
- Leopard mama. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round.The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6–7 days. Gestation lasts for 90 to 105 days. Females give birth in a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to make a den. A litter includes two or three cubs, whose coats appear to be smoky gray as the rosettes are not yet clearly delineated. The female abandons her nomadic wandering until the cubs are large enough to accompany her. She keeps them hidden for about the first 8 weeks, giving them meat when they are 6 or 7 weeks old and suckling them for 3 months or longer.
- Large tracts of wilderness in the wet zones were cleared and cultivated into coffee and tea plantations in the late 1800’s under British rule. This greatly reduced the extent of forest cover
- That there is a concerted effort in the country to become self-sufficient, especially in the production of rice, compounds the problem of human/leopard conflict as more and more land area is converted into paddy for agricultural utilization. no choice but to resort to attacking domestic animals and livestock in order to survive.
- For more information on this initiative and how your data could be contributing to ongoing long term research visit here
- the leopard was added to Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which completely restricted any trade in leopard products (Baily, 1992).