Latest news with #leopard
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
What's the difference between a leopard and a jaguar?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A large predator lurks in the brush, flashing a long tail and fur printed with telltale black and tan rosettes. It must surely be a leopard. Or … could it be a jaguar? With their stealthy hunting habits and similar builds, patterns and hues, the two large cats can be strikingly difficult to tell apart. What, in fact, is the difference between a leopard and a jaguar? To begin with, they live in completely different parts of the world, with jaguars found in the Americas today, and leopards occurring across a large range spanning Africa, parts of the Middle East and Asia. "They're on the opposite sides of the globe, but a long time ago they shared a common ancestor," Allison Devlin, jaguar program director for Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, told Live Science. Jaguars and leopards are part of the Panthera genus, which also includes lions, tigers and snow leopards. Tigers and snow leopards form their own branch of the Panthera family tree, while leopards, jaguars and lions are grouped together on another branch because they descend from a separate common ancestor. However, between 3.6 million and 2.5 million years ago, jaguars split from the common ancestor shared by their leopard and lion cousins. The origins of the Panthera genus are uncertain, but fossil evidence shows that jaguars dispersed across the Eurasian plateau about 2 million years ago, and from here they migrated across the Bering Land Bridge during the last ice age to North America, and eventually down into Mexico through South America, where this species occurs today. In fact jaguars are the only Panthera lineage that occurs in the Western Hemisphere, and exist as just one species across their entire range, Devlin said. Meanwhile, leopards split off from their closer relatives, lions, about 2 million years ago, and spread into Africa, Southeast and Northeast Asia, where they occur as eight regional subspecies across this range today. This evolutionary history means that leopards and jaguars are different species that aren't even each other's closest relative, despite their striking similarities. Most noticeable among these common features is their spots, but even these have subtle differences that can be used to tell the animals apart. "The rosettes on the jaguar quite often have spots in the middle of them, whereas the leopard doesn't," Tara Pirie, a lecturer in ecology and conservation at the University of Surrey in the U.K., told Live Science. She shared another clue: "[Leopard] rosettes are tightly packed, whereas the jaguar, with the spot in the middle, their rosettes are quite large and not as tightly packed." Related: What's the difference between apes and monkeys? Their shared ancestry might partly explain why these two remote species both have spots. But it could also be an adaptive response to the environments they live in, a phenomenon known as convergent evolution, Devlin explained. Rosettes, spots and other light-and-dark mixed patterns are in fact quite common in felid predators that live in partly-shaded landscapes, where their spots help keep them camouflaged. Jaguars and leopards both occur in places with partial forest cover, and both animals also rely on ambush tactics to hunt. So their coats provide critical camouflage enabling them to sneak up and pounce on prey at close range, Devlin said. There are, however, some key differences in their hunting styles that also reveal striking physiological distinctions between the two animals. "The way I think of it is that a leopard is built more like your all-around athlete. They can climb trees, they can run, they can ambush," Devlin said. "For jaguars, they're built more like a bodybuilder, where they're heavier in the barrel, in the chest and in the head. And part of that is related to their hunting techniques." Jaguars are real heavyweights that can reach up to 260 pounds (120 kilograms). Their generally stockier frames include a much bulkier head than leopards have, formed by larger bones that support bigger muscles and give this animal some of the strongest jaws in the cat family, Devlin said. Whereas most cats kill their prey through strangulation or breaking the neck, the jaguar's powerful bite gives it the extraordinary ability to kill its prey by puncturing the skull. Their bite is so strong that they can crush through the upper shells of tortoises and sea turtles, both of which they target as prey, Devlin explained. On the other hand, at a much lighter 176 pounds (80 kg), leopards kill prey through suffocation, by biting the throat. Their smaller frames allow them to spring up into trees — something that jaguars can also do, although in general they spend far less time in trees. The leopard's arboreal preferences, meanwhile, have given them the advantage of being able to store or "cache" prey away from others' prying eyes, Pirie said. Up in the canopy, the leopard's nimble-footed ways are helped along by another key tell that separates them from jaguars: a lengthier tail. "Whereas in the leopard, it could be up to a meter [3.2 feet long], in the jaguar it is maybe 60 centimeters [1.9 feet]. So even just that 40 centimeters [1.3 feet] could bring a lot more balance," Pirie said. With these features as a guide, it's just about possible to tell leopards and jaguars apart. But nature has one more trick up her sleeve: all-black leopards and jaguars. The satiny sable coats on these animals are caused by a genetic mutation, and while they might look like it, they are not a different species. In fact, they're what's known as the "melanistic phase" of the species in each case, according to Devlin. RELATED MYSTERIES —Why do cats' claws retract but dogs' claws don't? —Why are tigers orange? —Did cats really disappear from North America for 7 million years? Interestingly, in both leopards and jaguars, these darker cats appear more commonly in heavily-shaded habitats. Black jaguars occur more in the dimly-lit depths of the Amazon rainforest, Devlin said. Meanwhile "you've got leopards over in [the Malaysian jungle], they tend to be melanistic … which would help blend them in with that dense habitat," Pirie said. The rarity of melanistic leopards and jaguars makes them even more vulnerable than their regularly-spotted siblings, who are threatened by hunting, shrinking habitats and the illegal wildlife trade. As a result, jaguars and leopards share the unfortunate fact that their populations are both in decline, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. But we have the tools to change that, Devlin said. "If they have the habitat, the prey and the protection that they need, they can persist."
Daily Express
24-05-2025
- General
- Daily Express
Government told to rethink Tawai route
Published on: Saturday, May 24, 2025 Published on: Sat, May 24, 2025 Text Size: Red line on map shows the proposed realighment of Pan Borneo cutting through the Tawai Forest Reserve. Green dots show elephant locations. Kota Kinabalu: A heart-wrenching incident on May 11 has brought renewed attention to the dangers Malaysia's road networks pose to wildlife, including in Sabah. A five-year-old male elephant calf was fatally struck by a 10-tonne lorry while attempting to cross the East-West Highway in the Belum-Temenggor Forest Reserve. The calf's mother remained by its side for five hours, desperately trying to rescue her offspring, in a scene that has since gone viral and sparked public outcry. Professor Benoit Goossens from Danau Girang Field Centre and Dr Nurzhafarina Othman from Seratu Aatai express their concerns and implore the Government to consider mitigation measures for the Tawai Forest Reserve alignment in Telupid, Sabah. 'This tragedy underscores the broader issue of human-wildlife conflict exacerbated by infrastructure development', said Goossens, from Cardiff University. 'In response, the Malaysian Government has announced plans to incorporate dedicated wildlife crossings into future highway designs to prevent similar incidents. Why not act now for the Pan Borneo Highway? 'I sincerely hope that it is not too late to do this for the proposed alignment in Telupid for which construction will start soon,' he added. Advertisement 'With Coalition Humans, Habitats, Highways (3H), we have emphasised for many years that road construction through wildlife habitats not only leads to fatal accidents but also increases the risk of poaching and habitat fragmentation,' said Dr Nurzhafarina, from Universiti Malaysia Sabah. The proposed Pan Borneo Highway alignment which cuts through the Tawai Forest Reserve would endanger the elephant population in the reserve as well as other protected species such as the Bornean orang-utan, the Sunda clouded leopard, the Malayan sun bear and the Bornean peacock pheasant. 'Events like the one on May 11 will definitely happen in Telupid if nothing is done,' added Dr Nurzhafarina. This incident in the peninsula serves as a poignant reminder of the urgent need to balance infrastructure development with wildlife conservation. 'It would be a shame if that poor baby elephant died in vain. We sincerely hope that mitigation measures could be implemented immediately, such as building dedicated wildlife crossings, or even better, viaducts at the two elephant hotspots that our research has identified. 'There is also a need to enforce speed limits and install warning signage and lighting to alert drivers of potential wildlife crossings. 'Finally, preventing heavy lorries to use the stretch crossing the forest reserve at night and force them to use the existing Telupid road, would limit the chance of dramatic accidents leading to human and wildlife casualties,' they said * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
New York Times
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Meet the Leopards of YouTube
It was just after sunrise, and we were racing to meet a local celebrity we had been doggedly tracking all morning. She'd been spotted grabbing a drink nearby, so we made a beeline to the nearest watering hole, arriving just in time to watch her gracefully slink away and disappear — delighting, then deflating, her thousands of fans expectantly watching via livestream. We had found Tlalamba, the Queen of Djuma, a female leopard whose physical territory amounts to a patch of bushveld near South Africa's Kruger National Park but whose digital dominion spans the globe. That's thanks to WildEarth, a TV channel that for 17 years has broadcast live safari drives from Djuma Game Reserve and other wilderness areas across South Africa. Those virtual safaris have turned Tlalamba and the leopards of Djuma into internet royalty, with five-figure Facebook follower counts and millions of views on YouTube, and fans increasingly willing to fly thousands of miles (and spend as many dollars) for the chance to have an audience with them. During each safari livestream, a command center continuously filters and relays viewers' questions to the presenters to answer in real time, creating an interactive experience. Among WildEarth fans, Djuma's resident lion coalitions and hyena clans also have scores of devoted followers. But the leopard — solitary, mysterious and mesmerizing — is inevitably the star of the show. Wild leopards are typically skittish, and in many of Africa's national parks and reserves, a leopard sighting is an extraordinary event. But Djuma, WildEarth's longtime home base, sits in the Sabi Sand Nature Reserve, an association of privately owned game reserves renowned for its excellent leopard viewing — and for its exclusive, high-end safari lodges. Rates at Mala Mala and Londolozi, which pioneered the practice of tracking, identifying and naming the area's leopards half a century ago, start at around $1,300 per person per night. When WildEarth livestreamed its first virtual game drive in 2007, expanding on the original concept of the Djuma Dam Cam (a live waterhole camera that's been running since 1998), it opened up this expensive corner of African wilderness to anyone with an internet connection. WildEarth began offering its own safari trips to Djuma guided by the program's presenters in 2019, and the response was immediate. The first trip's eight available spots, each priced at around $12,600, sold out in three minutes. The pandemic shut down WildEarth's real-life safari business almost overnight. But its effect on the virtual safaris was equally profound. In a week, WildEarth's YouTube audience numbers increased tenfold, from about 1,000 viewers at a time up to 10,000. Today, the channel counts seven million monthly viewers. WildEarth's most devoted fans know Djuma's big cat dynamics and leopard lineages as intimately as the channel's presenters, and there's a near-constant stream of communication on social media about which cats have mated with each other and who is having whose cubs. Territorial standoffs, cats sizing each other up and even fights over breakfast are all caught on camera. For avid viewers, it can be agonizing to miss even a moment of livestreamed leopard interaction. 'There's a huge case of FOMO when you're not in touch,' said Lisa Antell, 63, of Greenwich, Conn., who tries to keep close tabs on the reserve's leopards both online and on the ground. (As of her most recent safari last September, she has seen more than 100 different leopards in the wild.) For Dawn Borden, 58, who started watching WildEarth with her young son 'instead of 'Blue's Clues'' at home in Jackson, N.J., Tingana the leopard quickly became a favorite, and the pair followed him for years. In 2019, when WildEarth ran a sweepstakes offering a spot on its first safari to Djuma, Ms. Borden entered and won, sending her to Africa for the first time. She saw Tingana in her first hour of being at Djuma. 'Tears immediately came to my eyes,' she said. (WildEarth's last sighting of Tingana was in 2021.) Djuma Game Reserve's owners have since closed their commercial safari camps to reduce their ecological footprint, a move that forced WildEarth to relocate its Sabi Sands home base to a neighboring property earlier this year. But these changes haven't stopped fans from visiting nearby lodges whose vehicles are allowed onto Djuma, in the hopes of encountering their favorite WildEarth characters (both feline and human) while out on safari. Last year, WildEarth launched a dedicated safari company called WildEarth Travel, which sold out its full 2024 run of trips — including an eight-night Grand Tour designed to be the ultimate fan experience, guided by five veteran WildEarth presenters, including viewer favorite James Hendry. Ms. Borden booked her spot on the Grand Tour hoping she'd see Tlalamba, Tingana's daughter, who now has a cub of her own. The Queen of Djuma graciously granted her fans an audience. One morning, spotting a leopard's tail dangling out of a distant tree, the group approached to see who it belonged to. Ms. Borden recognized Tlalamba before Mr. Hendry had said a word.
