Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 19, 2017

What Drove Tsavo Lions to Eat People? Century-Old Mystery Solved

Their names were The Ghost and The Darkness, and 119 years ago, these two massive, maneless, man-eating lions hunted railway workers in the Tsavo region of Kenya. During a nine-month period in 1898, the lions killed at least 35 people and as many as 135, according to different accounts. And...

May 12, 2017

Famed Tree-Climbing Lions Running Low on Prey

A rare group of tree-climbing lions living in Uganda must range farther and farther to find enough prey to survive, a new study found. The research discovered that the lions of the country's Ishasha district have expanded their ranges and shrunk the size of their prides since the 1970s. The...

Jul 14, 2017

Photos: In Wildlife First, Lioness Nurses Leopard Cub

Nursing story (Image credit: Joop Van Der Linde/Ndutu Lodge)In an unexpected first, wildlife experts have identified a lioness nursing a leopard cub. Normally, these two big-cat species do not get along, and it's surprising the lioness didn't kill the cub outright, experts told Live Science. Perhaps the genuinely unique experience...

Jul 14, 2017

Wild Lioness Nurses Leopard Cub in 'Unprecedented' Sighting

Lions and leopards normally don't get along, but one wild lioness — recently spotted nursing a leopard cub in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Conservation Area — apparently didn't get that memo. It's unprecedented, said Luke Hunter, president and chief conservation officer of Panthera, a global wild cat conservation nonprofit based in New...

Aug 8, 2006

How a Leopard Changes its Spots

As a leopard kitten matures into a prowling adult, its baby spots morph into more commanding rosette markings. Now scientists think they have uncovered the mechanism behind the transformation. Biologists have long wondered how leopards and other mammals acquired their distinct and uniform coat patterns. In 1952, British mathematician Alan...

Jan 11, 2008

One of 34 Remaining Rare Leopards Killed

The most optimistic figures from a recent census of the world's most endangered cat—the Amur or Far Eastern leopard—put the total count for those remaining in the wild at nine males, seven females without cubs, four females with cubs, six cubs in all and eight undefined tracks. That's 34 of...

Oct 30, 2008

Extremely Rare Leopard Photographed

At least one of the world’s rarest big cats is alive and well, according to scientists who captured, photographed and gave a check-up to a female Far Eastern leopard in Russia last week. The Far Eastern leopard is perhaps the world’s most endangered big cat, with an estimated 25 to...

Jan 25, 2011

New Clouded Leopard Species Comes in 2 Unique Types

By sleuthing through genes found in feline pelts more than a century old, scientists have discovered that the newest species of big cat known to science, the mysterious Sunda clouded leopard, actually comes in two different types. These big cats apparently owe their origins to cataclysmic super-volcano eruptions and rising...

Jan 25, 2011

Elusive Clouded Leopard Species Actually Two Unique Subspecies

A species of clouded leopard that was only recently identified is actually made up of two different subspecies, new research finds. Clouded leopards are found in certain regions of Asia, including the Himalayas, southern China, Taiwan and the Malaysian Peninsula, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. All...

Apr 6, 2011

Cute! Clouded Leopard Cubs Born at Nashville Zoo

Those too-cute-to-be-real cubs in the photo come from a pair of female clouded leopards who gave birth in March at the Nashville Zoo, the zoo announced today (April 6). Jing Jai, one of the zoo's two breeding female clouded leopards , produced a litter of three cubs on March 19....

Apr 11, 2011

Tiny! Rare Clouded Leopard Cubs Born

A storm of cuteness has descended on the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia, where two clouded leopard cubs have been born, the center recently announced. Born to a first-time mother on March 28, the two-week-old clouded leopards, a species native to the forests of Southeast Asia, are healthy and...

Jul 13, 2011

Rare Wild Leopard Caught on Camera

A newly released video is cause for rejoicing among those trying to save one of the most critically endangered cats on Earth: the Amur leopard. Across the globe, only about 50 Amur leopards remain in the wild. The video, caught by a hidden camera trap in April, shows five of...

Dec 5, 2011

Rare Leopard Photographed in Remote Afghan Mountains

Camera traps positioned in the rocky terrain of Afghanistan's central highlands by conservationists recently snapped a surprising photograph of a Persian leopard, a top predator that was long thought to have disappeared from the region. In a series of images that provides indisputable proof that the big cat persists in...

Apr 10, 2012

Gallery: Rare and Beautiful Amur Leopards

Amur Leopard on Camera (Image credit: © WWF-Russia / ISUNR)Nezhinskii, a male Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis). This photograph was taken with a movement-triggered camera trap in Russia. Land of the Leopard (Image credit: Sybille Klenzendorf/WWF)A new national park, Land of the Leopard, in eastern Russia is designed to protect...

Apr 10, 2012

Extremely Rare Leopards Find Safe Spot in New Park

A new national park in Russia is an attempt to save the world's rarest cat, the Amur leopard. The park, announced Tuesday (April 10) by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), encompasses 650,000 acres (262,000 hectares) of Amur leopard breeding area in Russia's Far East. Now called the Land of the...