Indian leopard: considered the most dangerous cat for humans (9 photos)

The confrontation between humans and cats has been going on since time immemorial. If here it comes down to scolding for wet slippers, then in India the conflicts are much more serious. Big cats, like in old prehistoric times, threaten the lives of people and their pets. Meet the Indian leopard - the most desperate and ferocious primate hunter.





The situation is the opposite: a cat scolds a person for wet his slippers. And pants.

The Indian leopard is one of the deadliest man-eating cats among other felines. Every year, out of 28 Indian states, 14 report attacks by these cats. And in some cases, leopards purposefully hunt exclusively for people: for example, the panarian leopard, one of the cannibalistic predators, has killed more than 125 people!

What pushes big cats down a slippery slope? Unlike other animals, leopards have three reasons for this.



To avoid conflict, big cats are often neutralized with sleeping pills and then taken deep into the jungle.

First of all, they just can. No matter how much people consider themselves the crown of creation, there are bigger, bigger and much stronger animals in the world. On average, Indian leopards grow up to two meters in length and weigh about 30 kilograms. Well, the largest representative of the species today is considered to be a male at 2.62 meters in length and 70 kilograms.



Just like jaguars, leopards have melanistic individuals. But the photo shows a rare individual with incomplete melanism. When the coat is darker than normal, but not dark enough to cover the spots.

For hunting people, leopards are ideally secretive and intelligent. Their spotted pattern blends in perfectly with their surroundings, and the dense forest canopy provides a natural defense when fleeing a crime scene. Animals can accelerate up to 60 km/h and make surprisingly powerful jumps up to 3 meters in length and 6 in height. Do you understand that an unarmed person has slightly less than 0 chances against them?



When a leopard is chasing you, you yourself will jump two meters forward.

The second reason for attacks on people is what happened historically. Yes, we have made a huge leap in development, but we forgot to tell the predators about our evolutionary advantage. In the eyes of leopards, we remained pathetic, helpless primates that their ancestors hunted. The oldest record of leopard attacks on a hominid dates back 6 million years. The menu range today in some parts of the Indian leopard's range consists of almost 80% monkeys. The animals catch both cubs and adults.



The leopard's agility is more than enough to pursue the primates even after they have disappeared into the trees.

The third and main reason for the propensity of leopards to kill people is the loss of their natural habitat. If a leopard can deal with one bipedal primate without choking, then the big cat is powerless in front of an entire civilization. Forests are cut down, cities grow, and fertile lands for hunting are turned into pastures for livestock or fields for seedlings.



The peak of leopard attacks on people was observed during the period of massive urbanization of India - in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Other big cats, tigers, add fuel to the fire. Striped seals are much larger and more successful than spotted ones, which is why the latter try to stay away from the former. Our heroes have no choice but to move closer to people. But one male leopard needs about 50 km² for a comfortable life. Females are three times less demanding, but even they need space to hunt.



Excuse me, can you tell me how to get back to the forest jungle? I somehow got lost in your stones...

This is where a conflict of interests occurs: forced out by people from their usual habitats, and by tigers from their favorite hunting grounds, leopards have to commit crimes: predators raid homes, slaughter livestock, carry away pets, and sometimes even people. I want to eat!



What could be more romantic than dinner in the mountains?in this world?

But even with all of the above, people kill far more leopards than leopards kill people. Someone really wants to protect themselves and their household. But there are also many who take advantage of the opportunity and openly engage in poaching! Leopard skins and organs are highly prized on the black market. Every year, people kill hundreds of spotted cats illegally. And how many of them are exported for the sake of animal trafficking!



This is the kind of cat you wouldn’t want to meet on your way to the restroom.

Because of all this, the leopard population is slowly but surely moving towards the pages of the Red Book. As of 2014, there are about 14 thousand big cats left throughout India. Considering the rate of their extermination and the rather low rate of reproduction, before you have time to blink, not even half will remain.