Rapid miniaturisation of leopard in southern Africa
Panthera pardus pardus photo © Derek Keats
The leopard is the only African wild mammal in which body mass in certain populations has been halved after the advent of European farming. This change can be explained by a combination of artificial isolation of populations and the elimination of most of the original predatory species competing with, and in the case of the larger species killing, the leopard.
Robin and the Honey Badger, 22 March 2016
Photographs:
Panthera pardus with human for scale
Much smaller Cape leopard with human for scale