A 2021 genome study found a single founding 'out of Africa' migration of leopards to Asia, 500,000 to 600,000 years ago.

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's taxonomy page says the great cats (Panthera) emerged 2 to 5 million years ago, in the late Pliocene.

As of November 2026, the IUCN Cat Specialist Group says that based on more recent genetic studies only eight leopard subspecies are proposed. The authors of a 2021 genome study said all African populations should be considered together as a single subspecies, and authors of a genomic study of leopards wrote that taxonomic categories do not take into account the variability in depth of divergence among subspecies.

Leopards are excellent climbers, and leopards are the largest cats that climb trees regularly, and pound for pound, the leopard is the strongest climber of all the big cats. A leopard can climb as high as 50 feet (15 meters) up a favorite tree, and a leopard's long tail helps it balance when it climbs. A leopard can climb down a tree head first.

A leopard climbs as a series of bounds, with its forelimbs and hind limbs acting together, and a leopard's powerful forequarters and enlarged scapula (shoulder blade) are anatomical adaptations that assist in gaining lift when it climbs. A leopard's claws are sharp and curved, and they help it grasp prey and climb trees.

A leopard carries its food up into trees, and as of November 2026, Panthera says leopards are the only wild cats known to drag their meals into trees. A leopard can carry food that weighs more than its own body up a tree, and it takes the food up to keep it safe from other animals that would take it.

A study in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa, used data on 2032 prey items from 104 leopards between 2013 and 2015. A Panthera study in South Africa's Sabi Sands Game Reserve found that leopards hoisted just over 50 percent of their prey into trees, and leopards tended to hoist prey that weighed between 40 percent and 140 percent of their body mass.

Panthera reports that leopards were more likely to hoist their prey if hyenas were present. The authors of the Sabi Sand study suggested that hoisting prey into trees is a key adaptation that lets leopards live alongside other large hunters.

Leopards have very good sight and hearing, which they use when they hunt, and San Diego Zoo says leopards can hear five times more sounds than humans, even the ultrasonic squeaks made by mice. Reflective cells called the tapetum lucidum line a leopard's eye behind the retina, and a leopard's eyes give it increased depth perception, which is important for catching fast-moving prey.

A leopard's coat is covered in spots called rosettes, and a rosette is a spot shaped like a flower. The spots help a leopard hide in grass and trees, and leopard rosettes are circular in East Africa and square in South Africa.

Some leopards are black, with spots that are hard to see. Melanism, a darkening of the background coloration, is documented in 13 felid species. The black coat of the black panther is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait in leopards, and in Peninsular Malaysia and southern Thailand, black coloring is a fixed trait and nearly all leopards are black.

Leopards live in Africa and Asia, and they can live in many kinds of places, from deserts to jungles to mountains. Leopards used to roam all across Africa, except for the driest deserts, and as of November 2026, leopards have the widest range of any big cat. As of November 2026, Panthera says leopards have been erased from at least two-thirds of their historical habitat in Africa and have lost 84 percent of their former range in Eurasia.

As of November 2026, a study in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park found a mean range of 2104.4 square kilometers for male leopards, described as the largest recorded in the world.

As of November 2026, the IUCN Red List lists the leopard as Vulnerable, and the species-level assessment was made in 2023, and the IUCN reclassified the West African leopard from Vulnerable to Endangered on October 9, 2025, and a new IUCN regional assessment led by Panthera estimates only 354 mature West African leopards remain.

Leopards are threatened by illegal trade and poaching for their skins and other body parts, and the IUCN Cat Specialist Group says overhunting of males can lower female reproductive output, and it says poorly managed trophy hunting can be detrimental to leopard populations.

A leopard's pregnancy lasts about 96 days, and females usually give birth once every 15 to 24 months, and leopard cubs weigh less than 1 kg at birth, and their eyes stay closed for the first week.

Words to know

• genome: all its genes
• hoisted: lifted up
• subspecies: a smaller kind
• Melanism: dark coloring
• taxonomic: about grouping