Panthera pardus pardus photo © Derek Keats
Rapid miniaturisation of leopard in southern Africa
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.
Figure 1. Panthera pardus with human for scale [photo by Wildfact]
Figure 2. Much smaller Cape leopard with human for scale [photo by CLT Environmental Education]
Robin and the Honey Badger, 22 March 2016