[معلومات العضو Hamzaan مشرف واحة الكمبيوتر و البرامج]

The Arabian Leopard, once prolific across the Arabian peninsula, is on the verge of extinction; fewer than 200 are thought to remain in the wild. Oman has a small, protected population, but neighbouring Yemen, where conservation is largely a theoretical concept, is now the key to any attempt to protect Leopard stocks across the region.

Scientific Name: Panthera pardus nimr
Weight:
Males range from 24 - 34 kg (53 - 76 lbs.)
Females range from 18 – 23.5 kg (40 - 51 lbs.)

Overall length:
Males range from 1820 – 2030 mm (6 ft – 6 ft 8 in)
Females range from 1600 - 1920 mm (5 ft 3 in – 6 ft 4 in)

Habitat:
High mountains and deep wadis (valleys) with sufficient prey, permanent water, adequate cover, and freedom from persecution.

Range:
Historic: Mountainous areas throughout the Arabian Peninsula, Sinai, and the Levant
Current: Proven to currently exist only in the Dhofar region of Oman, Hajjah and Al Mahrah governorates in Yemen, and the Judean Desert and Negev highlands of Palestine.


Habits:
Solitary, except when females come in heat and they form short-lived pairs. Outside of the breeding season Leopard ranges may overlap in which case different leopards will use the same routes or tracks while moving from place to place. Arabian Leopards are potentially active at any time of the day or night. Around 50% of camera-trap records in Oman and Yemen occurred during the day with peaks of activity in early morning and late afternoon; midday activity is more common between November and February. As the season warms up the animals become increasingly nocturnal. Males patrol large territories. Radiotracking of Arabian leopards in Oman has shown that individuals may cover more than 500 kilometers in a single month.

Reproduction:
Mating occurs frequently during each female’s five-day ‘heat.’ From 98 to 100 days later, she gives birth to a litter of from one to four cubs in a naturally protected den such as a cave. The cubs are born blind and remain so for up to ten days. Although the cubs don’t usually leave the den for the first month of their lives, the mother may move them periodically to prevent them from being discovered. The cubs are naturally curious like most cats and explore a wider area as they grow older.

Prey:
Nubian Ibex, Arabian Tahr, Mountain Gazelle, Indian Crested Porcupine, Cape Hyrax, Cape Hare, the foxes, and various partridges may all be hunted by the Arabian leopard. As leopards are highly adaptable it is possible that they eat other animals including mongoose, genets, honey badgers, snakes, lizards, hedgehogs, rats, and mice. An adult Hamadryas baboon would probably be too difficult for the small Arabian Leopard to tackle, but perhaps young baboons are taken where the species' ranges overlap. It has also been suggested that Arabian Leopards could potentially eat migratory locusts during mass emergences as Snow Leopards have been recorded doing.

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