The Arabian leopard—one of the world’s rarest and most elusive big cats—clings to survival across the Middle Eastern deserts and mountains. With the IUCN believing only 120 remain in the wild, these stunning predators are edging dangerously close to vanishing entirely.
How big are Arabian leopards?
The Arabian leopard is the smallest leopard in the world. Female Arabian leopards are quite a lot slighter and smaller than males, weighing between 18-24kg compared to the males weighing 24-34kg. Females measure between 1.6-1.9m head to tail, while males measure 1.8-2m.
What do Arabian leopards look like?
Arabian leopards are smaller and paler than most of their African cousins. Their fur can range in colour from a pale yellow to a deep golden, and sometimes grey.
What do Arabian leopards eat
Arabian leopards mostly feast on Nubian ibex, Arabian gazelle, rock hyrax and Cape hare but also enjoy domestic goats and camels, plus a wide range of small animals.
Where do Arabian leopards live?
They live in the Arabic peninsula specifically Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Israel, and Palestine. They favour remote, arid mountains and wadis and often use caves and rocky ledges as dens.
Despite their remarkable versatility of diet, there's often little food to go round, so the leopards of the Arabian Peninsula need huge territories covering several hundred square kilometres.
The problem today is that a combination of hunting and overgrazing by livestock has reduced prey available even further, to such low levels that much of the habitat can no longer support leopards.
How often do Arabian leopards breed?
Breeding may occur all year. 1-4 cubs born after 98-100 days and are independent at 18-22 months. They are sexually mature at 2-3 years.
Top image by By יוסי אוד, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31670293