EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Leopard in Repose

Leopard (Panthera pardus), Family Felidae
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Explanation:  Leopards are typically solitary.  They often hunt at night, skulking the darkness for unsuspecting prey ... which include antelope, boar, and many other species ... including humans.  

This leopard was resting after a feast of impala, here in the heart of the Serengeti in the plains of east Africa.  

Although sometimes difficult to observe, given their nocturnal, stealthy, and secretive behaviors, they are surprisingly widespread across the globe.  I have tracked and observed leopards in eastern and southern Africa, in India, and in the Russian Far East where an endangered subspecies known as the Amur leopard haunts the jungles of southern Siberia.
 

Can you spot the cat?
  

Draped like knob on the tree, this feline has a cozy
perch to sleep the day away.