Extremely dangerous predator of the cat family. The oldest representative of the genus Smoky Leopards.
What does a smoky leopard look like
The color of this species is gray or brown with a marble tint and a small haze of yellowish color. The whole body of a smoky leopard is covered with beautiful patterns in the form of rings and sockets, painted in a dark color at the edges and light in the middle. All these patterns are unique. Small black spots are located on the face. This representative has quite impressive dimensions: the body length varies from 75 to 105 centimeters in length, and the weight reaches 22 kilograms. The hind limbs are longer than the front ones, but the paws themselves are short, in comparison with other representatives of the family. It is noteworthy that fangs of smoky leopards reach a length of 4 centimeters, and this is a lot of their small head. The eyes are brown-yellow, and some representatives have a grayish-green color.
Habitat
In total, 3 subspecies of this representative are distinguished, which differ in the habitat:
Some representatives of this species can be found on the south side of the Himalayan mountains, on the territory of Butan and in some parts of India, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia.
The habitat of the smoky leopards is located in evergreen tropical forests 3000 meters. Swamp and secondary forests, meadows and swamps can also be populated.
Food
Smoky leopard one hundred percent predator. His diet includes both small and rather large mammals. Among them there may be:
Favorite victims for this species are: Fazan Argus, wild boar, Javanese lizard and Himalayan civilian. These animals kill their prey with one bite in the neck.
Cubs of smoky leopard
Reproduction
In captivity, the wedding period begins in December, and finishes in March. The pregnancy of the female lasts from 88 to 109 days. Most often, two cubs are born, in rare cases, five can be born. Only the kittens who were born have characteristic large spots of black color. The smoky leopards begin to be fastened quite quickly: in the period from 2 to 11 days, vision appears, the ability to walk on the 20th day, and after 6 weeks they can climb trees.
In the wild, the cubs are under the care of the mother for 10 months of life. They become sexually mature at the age of 20 months. The male does not remain to educate his offspring, so after mating leave the female. After the appearance of kittens, mother helps them survive. The female licks kittens until they learn to do it on his own. During the search for food, she hides her cubs in thick vegetation in order to keep them safe.
The only source of nutrition of small smoky leopards for 10 weeks of life is mother’s milk. After 10 months, the mother supplies the cubs of prey while they learn independent hunting. As a rule, at the ages of 10 months, smoky leopards are ready to leave their mother.
