The Sri Lankan Leopard
The leopard is the fourth largest of all cat species found in Asia, Africa and certain parts of Europe. Until 1996 there were 27 subspecies of leopard but as at today, only nine subspecies exist. Out of this nine, the Sri Lankan leopard (panthera pardus kotiya) is the largest.
DESCRIPTION
Adult male leopards are larger than adult females. The average head to body length of the Sri Lankan leopard is 105142cm with an average tail length of about 77-96cm. A female would weigh about 30kg and a male about 77kgs. The biggest leopard recorded in Sri Lanka has had a total head to tail length of 263 cm and has weighed over 100kgs. The appearance of the leopard changes according to the habitat in which it lives. Leopards found in the dry zone areas are smaller and are lighter in colouration whereas leopards found in montane highland habitats are stockier, have thicker coats and are more vibrant in colouration. Leopards found in wet zone rainforests are darker in colour to suit the vegetation. The head, neck, legs and shoulders of the leopard have black spots whereas the back, belly and sides of the leopard are covered in rosettes or broken circles which are empty at the center. A large white spot can be seen on the animal’s ears which are used as a method of communication and are shown when agitated. The sequence of spots on the face of a leopard is used by biologists as a method of identifying individuals.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
The Sri Lankan leopard is widely distributed through the country being found from sea level upto the highest peaks through a variety of habitats including tropical rainforests, dry mixed evergreen forests, deciduous forests, scrub forest and montane highland forests. Small leopard populations are found even in the heavily fragmented patches of forest found in the vicinity of densely populated cities like Kandy and Nuwara-eliya.
THREATS
The Sri Lankan leopard is evaluated as endangered by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), and CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) categorizes the leopard under its Appendix 1 category which means that it is highly protected and cannot be hunted. Even with such protection the leopard faces great persecution. Habitat loss due to growth of single crop plantations like tea, fragmentation due to the construction of roads, and hunting as trophies are some of the problems faced by the leopard. Yet the biggest problem faced by our big cat is the human-leopard conflict which is a result due to the growing human population and the encroachment of leopard habitat for development. The outcome of the human-leopard conflict is the death of both humans and leopards. If we are unable to find a solution for this we may lose our leopards for good.