Leopard
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Carnivora
Family:Felidae
Genus:Panthera
Species:P. pardus

The leopard is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera; the other three being the tiger, lion and jaguar. Once distributed across southern Asia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa, the leopard's range of distribution has decreased radically due to hunting and loss of habitat, and the leopard now chiefly occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Pakistan, India, Indochina, Malaysia, and China. Due to the loss of range and declines in population, it is graded as a "Near Threatened" species. Its numbers are greater than other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The leopard has relatively short legs and a long body, with a large skull. It resembles the jaguar, although it is smaller and of slighter build. Its fur is marked with rosettes which lack internal spots, unlike those of the jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either completely black or very dark, are one of the big cats known as black panthers.
The species' success in the wild owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour, its adaptability to habitats and its ability to move at up to approximately 58 kilometres (36 miles) an hour. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can hunt down and catch. Its preferred habitat ranges from rainforest to desert terrains. Its ecological role is similar to the American cougar.

Etymology
In antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid of a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound of λέων leōn ("lion") and πάρδος pardos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पृदाकु pṛdāku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars; in South America, jaguars; and everywhere else, it refers to leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek πάνθηρ pánthēr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of παν pan ("all") and θηρ ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "white-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाण्डर pāṇḍara, from which was derived पुण्डरीक puṇḍárīka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The word "leopard" resembles the Dutch name for this animal "luipaard", which literally means "sneaky one".

Taxonomy
Like all of the feline family, the Panthera genus has been subject to much alteration and debate and the exact relations between the four species (as well as the clouded leopard and snow leopard) have not been effectively resolved. DNA evidence shows that the lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, snow leopard, and clouded leopard share a common ancestor nearly 11 million years ago (Ma)—the basal divergence amongst the Felidae family. The fossil record points to the emergence of Panthera just two to 3.8 million years ago.
In a mitochondrial DNA study, Yu and Zhang (2005) suggest that the leopard is most closely related to the snow leopard, and go so far as placing the latter as a fifth species of Panthera, P. uncia. Canonical works, such as the Mammal Species of the World, continue to list the snow leopard as the only species within its genus, Uncia uncia, but this could change; Johnson et al. (2006) support the placement of the snow leopard within Panthera. They suggest, however, that the snow leopard is most closely aligned with the tiger. The leopard is held to have diverged from the Panthera lineage subsequent to these two species, but before the lion and jaguar. Older research has tended to suggest that the leopard is most closely related to the lion and/or the jaguar. As recently as 2001, it was held to have split along with the lion in a phylogenetic analysis of chemical secretions amongst cats.
Panthera is believed to have emerged in Asia, with ancestors of the leopard and other cats subsequently migrating into Africa. Fossil evidence of leopard ancestors has been found from 2 to 3.5 Ma. These Pleistocene specimens resemble primitive jaguars. The modern leopard type is suggested to have evolved in Africa 470,000–825,000 years ago and radiated across Asia 170,000–300,000 years ago.

Subspecies
As many as 27 leopard subspecies were once suggested, the number growing from the time of Linnaeus in the 18th century to that of Reginald Pocock in the early 20th. In 1996, Miththapala et al. revised this downward to just eight subspecies based on DNA analysis. Uphyrina et al. would concur in 2001 but split out a ninth separately, the Arabian leopard (P. pardus nimr). The latter researchers note the number might be an underestimation because of limited sampling of African leopards. Their list as follows:
.Indo-Chinese leopard (P. pardus delacouri) in Mainland Southeast Asia.
.Indian leopard (P. pardus fusca) in India, southeastern Nepal, and northern Bangladesh, and parts of Pakistan.
.North Chinese leopard (P. pardus japonensis) in China.
.Sri Lankan leopard (P. pardus kotiya) in Sri Lanka.
.Javan leopard (P. pardus melas) in Java.
.Amur leopard (P. pardus orientalis) in the Russian Far East, northern China, and Korea.
.African leopard (P. pardus pardus) in Africa.
.Persian leopard or Iranian leopard (P. pardus saxicolor) in Southwest Asia.
.Arabian leopard (P. pardus nimr) in Arabian Peninsula.
.Zanzibar leopard (Panthera pardus adersi) endemic to Unguja Island in the Zanzibar archipelago.

Older taxonomic divisions

Included in the African leopard (P. pardus pardus):

.Barbary leopard (P. pardus panthera)
.Cape leopard (P. pardus melanotica)
.Central African leopard (P. pardus shortridgei)
.Congo leopard (P. pardus ituriensis)
.East African leopard (P. pardus suahelica)
.Eritrean leopard (P. pardus antinorii)
.Somalian leopard (P. pardus nanopardus)
.Ugandan leopard (P. pardus chui)
.West African leopard (P. pardus reichinowi)
.West African forest leopard (P. pardus leopardus)
.Zanzibar leopard (P. pardus adersi)

Included in the Persian leopard (P. pardus saxicolor):

.Anatolian leopard (P. pardus tulliana)
.Baluchistan leopard (P. pardus sindica)
.Caucasus leopard (P. pardus ciscaucasica)
.Central Persian leopard (P. pardus dathei)
.Sinai leopard (P. pardus jarvisi)

Included in the Indian leopard (P. pardus fusca):

.Kashmir leopard (P. pardus millardi)
.Nepal leopard (P. pardus pernigra)