Download Pictures Of Leopard
Keyona Vilven
WildCats Conservation Alliance, (formerly ALTA & 21st Century Tiger) is a wild tiger and Amur leopard conservation initiative between Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation and Zoological Society of London, (UK charity # 208728).
Leading the conservation efforts for the endangered snow leopard in Kyrgyzstan, the Snow Leopard Foundation partners with international organizations such as the Snow Leopard Trust to better understand and protect this cat in this key range country.
The Snow Leopard Trust, based in Seattle, WA, is a world leader in conservation of the endangered snow leopard, conducting pioneering research and partnering with communities as well as authorities in snow leopard habitat to protect the cat. www.snowleopard.org
A photo of a snow leopard on the icy cliffs of northern India has won the people's choice award for the 58th annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award, the Natural History Museum in London announced Thursday.
Snow leopards, like many big cats, can be quite elusive and are great at camouflaging. There are only about 6,500 left in the wild, due to threats from poaching, habitat loss and conflict with humans.
Suprised by a leopard.
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We had always heard that the chances of seeing Leopard in Etosha were slim, and while in previous visits we had seen them at the Halali water hole after dark, we had yet to get any good photos of Etosha leopards.
That all changed in September of 2011...
On this trip we had three close encounters with these cats two at the Goas water hole and one in the middle of the road between Goas and Halali. This one was a large male that let us get some good shots before moving into the bush.
One morning we drove directly to the Goas water hole from Halali in hopes of seeing a repeat of a leopard that we had photographed late the previous afternoon. My wife had just said wouldn't it be nice if it came out of the bush and walked in front of the car. when I said Leopard. She thought I was kidding. Right on the side of the road, which goes around about half the hole, was a young female, just lying on her back. She posed for us for several minutes then moved across the road disapearing into a depression. I then started to move our vehilce to a better positon when a porcupine exploded out of the hole with the leopard in hot pursuit. The chase lasted for about 25 meters with the porcupine displaying and presenting its rear to the young cat. The leopard raised one paw touched a quill and then stood beside the porcupine for a minute or so before walking away. The cat was young not dumb.
Unfortunatley it happened so fast, with the car in motion, that there are no photos of the initial encounter. We did take a few, through the bush, as it was standing close to the porcupine, but the pictures in our minds will never be lost.
Few months ago, I started a project on my free time, the creation of a Leopard. I also had many other projects but did not find the time to keep working. However I decided to share with you my assets, including the full skeleton and 200 references pictures that I took personally at the Museum d'histoire naturelle in Paris.
I've been on safaris for most of my life and only saw a baby leopard in the wild for the first time after about 20 years. It was only a brief glimpse as it and its mother crossed the road in the Kruger National Park. Since then I have been blessed twice more with longer viewings: at Sabi Sands private game reserve and during a sunset game drive at the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa.
The South Luangwa National Park in Zambia and the Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve in South Africa seem to provide the best likelihood of a rare leopard cubs sighting but to be honest your chances of not seeing them seems to be just about the same everywhere.
The cubs will stay with their mother, learning all the skills they need to survive until they are between 13 and 18 months old. There may be a delay if the prey in the area is abundant or if their is already a resident leopard in the adjacent territory.
Since snow leopards are so rare, not much is known about them in the scientific community, and there are few pictures of them in the wild. While they've been documented since 1775, the first photo of one was only captured in the 1970s.
According to the World Wildlife Foundation, snow leopards are known as "ghosts of the mountains," because they're so rare to spot. There's not even a term for a group of snow leopards, like a pride or a pack, because you almost never see more than one together.
But while leopard seals play a unique role in the Antarctic ecosystem, they are still largely misunderstood and mysterious as a species. As we will demonstrate with these 10 leopard seal facts, however, this amazing Antarctic animal is well worth a closer look.
Female leopard seals, the larger of the two sexes, can grow up to 590 kg (1,300 pounds) and 3.8m meters (10 feet) long. Their bodies are long and slender, and their heads appear to be almost too large for their serpent-like bodies. This streamline shape, combined with their unusually large fore flippers, can help propel leopard seals through the water at speeds of up to 40 kph (25 mph). In terms of polar marine life, only elephant seals and walruses are larger than leopard seals.
Leopard seals do not play well with others! Generally, they hunt alone and are never seen with more than one or two other seals. Exceptions to this include the annual breeding period, which takes place shortly after the pupping season, when multiple leopard seals aggregate.
Due to their solitary and elusive demeanor, little is known about the leopard seal reproductive cycle. Scientists are still trying to figure out how leopard seals choose mates and establish territories. As with many marine mammals, these activities are likely linked to acoustics, which we will discuss below.
Female leopard seals are the first to reach sexual maturity, and they do so between the ages of three and seven. Male leopard seals take a little longer, typically reaching maturity between ages six and seven. After breeding takes place, the implantation of the fertilized egg can be delayed by up to three months, ensuring the pup will be born in the spring or early summer when it is more likely to survive.
This process is known as delayed implantation or embryonic diapause, and it is common in seal species. The actual pregnancy period is around 240 days. Females usually have only one pup per year. Pups are born on ice floes and kept in small snow holes that the female leopard seals dig out during their pregnancy. Here the mother nurses the pup and eventually teaches it how to hunt in the water.
National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen dove into Antarctic waters in 2006 to catch a glimpse of leopard seals in their natural habitat. His experience, he later said, was one he will never forget. For several days, a sympathetic female leopard seal brought Nicklen penguins, both dead and injured, in order to feed him and teach him to feed himself. The story and the photos Nicklen took of the event are among the most famous in the recent history of the leopard seal species.
When a leopard seal has eaten but still wants to play, they may seek out penguins or young seals. As the penguin or seal swims to shore, the leopard seal will cut them off and chase them back into the water. They may do this over and over again until the penguin successfully makes it to shore or succumbs to exhaustion.
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