Smallest of the Big Cats

One of the most common carnivores in South-Indian forests, the Leopard (Panthera Pardus) is the smallest of the four cats of the Panthera genus. It is also the most secretive, elusive & shrewdest of the Big Cats. Leopards are specialist climbers capable of killing prey much larger than itself. To keep their prey safe from other predators, they generally stock their killings in the higher branches of trees where they are relatively safer than ground. They are solitary by nature & mostly nocturnal. The irregular shapes on its tawny coat are called rosettes.