Leopards are at risk!

Leopards are among the most beautiful, ruthless and fascinating animals that can be encountered during a safari, they are elusive creatures and are undoubtedly the kings of the ambushes.

These beautiful dappled felines are difficult to spot, they love to rest and spend most of the time away from the sun on comfortable tree branches or hidden in the bush.

Unfortunately, these predators are at risk and the population of leopards has declined considerably in recent decades.

Among the big cats the leopard is the most widespread species in the world: it is found in Africa, in the Middle East and in Asia and this makes us mistakenly think that they are also the ones less at risk among predators.

But the situation is not so serene, just think that in the past the habitat of the leopard extended over an area of ​​35 million square kilometers, distributed across the different continents, while today it has been reduced to just 8.5 million.

Leopards live in tropical forests, in grasslands, but also in deserts and in alpine areas, they can even be found near urban centers.

"The occasional and daring appearance of specimens in megacities such as Mumbai and Johannesburg encourages the erroneous belief that these cats continue to thrive in nature," said Luke Dollar, director of the Big Cats project of the National Geographic Society.

The threats to the leopard are numerous, the loss of habitat is the main cause, the land is taken away from the forest and the savannah to be cultivated and leopards are often forced to attack the livestock because they no longer find their natural prey, this implies however conflict with the man who, unfortunately for the leopards, always has the best.

The other threats are related to poaching and "sport" hunting, absurd activities and, from our point of view, unacceptable, that we hope will be eradicated from the face of the earth as the worst diseases.

Luckily there are also numerous projects to safeguard this beautiful animal and this bodes well for the survival of the species.