Leopards in Nepal

Leopard, Central Zoo, Kathmandu

The above photo of a Leopard was taken at the Central Zoo in Kathmandu. It was sad to see such a magnificent animal caged up like that in a very inadequate enclosure. Added to this was the fact that it wouldn’t give me a full face shot. Never mind.

Indian Leopards are a subspecies of leopards found throughout the Indian subcontinent.

The Indian leopard is one of the most successful members of Indian big cats. The animal is distributed throughout the subcontinent, including in the border nations of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and southern China. Habitat varies from dry deciduous forests, desert ecosystems, tropical rainforests, northern coniferous forests, to near human habitation. (fromWikipedia)

On our elephant rides through the Royal Chitwan National Park in the Terai area of southern Nepal I was aware of the possibility of seeing leopards as well as tigers. Sadly we saw neither. To have seen these magnificent animals in their natural habitat would have been wonderful.

The leopard’s diet varies on all sorts of creatures from small animals, to larger quarry such as, monkeys, deer, and antelope. The animal silently stalks its prey, ending with a quick bite to the throat. It then stores its prey up in the tree to keep it safe from scavengers. (Wikipedia article)