Rainforest Leopards

[Luipaard]

I got in touch with someone from Panthera. Here's the response I got:

Quote:Hi, my name is Jo and I am one of Panthera's research technicians in South Africa. What an excellent question! I too have noticed that the Gabon leopards are much larger and appear stockier too, but I did not know what the difference measured out to be. I sent your question to our researchers in central and western Africa to see if they had any insight. Our chat group had a great discussion on the topic and some photos of "beasty" leopard males were shared. It does not sound like anyone in Panthera has done much research into the weight of leopards in the equatorial region. However, to gather weight information on live leopards, it requires an immobilisation by a veterinarian, which is a risky and stressful procedure for the leopard. Unless there is another activity such as removal of a snare or a collaring for monitoring (which we really try not do unless absolutely necessary for leopards), than just gathering weight information is not justifiable for a procedure with that level of risk. Overall, I think it is very interesting and something cool to note. Thank you so much for your question! Cheers, Jo

Interesting to see what their opinion is. Seems like they share that of mine. Reply