Leopard
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| Leopard | |||
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| ヒョウ | |||
| Character Data | |||
| Romaji | Hyō
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| Debut | Kemono Friends (2015 Game) | ||
| Animal Data | |||
| Scientific Name | Panthera pardus
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| Distribution | Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia
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| Diet | Carnivore
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| Avg. Lifespan | 12-17 years
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| Read More | Leopard
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| Conservation | 
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| Leopard | Anime | Season 2 | Festival (Costume) | Pavilion (EX • Gen 2) | KF3 | Nexon Game | Gallery |
“Hot and cold places, humid and arid places; I've been to many locations, but every place in the Park is pleasant. Although, my favorite place is on top of a tree. Isn't this the best place? Eh? You're not good at climbing trees? Once I've told you how to do it, come! Don't be so shy!”
—Leopard (EX)'s introduction
The Leopard is a type of felid Friend who first appeared in the original Kemono Friends mobile game.
Appearance
Standard Design
The standard Leopard design has amber-coloured, neck-length hair which curls up under her ears, where it fades into an off-white at its ends; additionally, there are five brown spots on her middle bangs. Atop her head are leopard ears, with amber fur bearing brown spots; likewise, she has a leopard's tail out of her lower back. Her eyes are yellow.
She wears a short-sleeved white dress shirt under a fawn-brown sweater-vest, and sports a leopard-patterned tie. As one might expect, this leopard pattern makes up a large part of her attire; she wears long gloves, a knife-pleated miniskirt, thigh-highs, and boots which all bear this pattern. The amber colour of her thigh-highs fades into an off-white as it moves from the thigh to the feet; her boots follow this trend, and are off-white as a result. They are tied with caramel-brown bows.
EX Design
The EX Leopard design has longer hair that is tied into two pigtails of a more definite white than her counterpart's off-white. The brown spots on her middle bangs number six instead of five, and are differently arranged; additionally, her left and right bangs feature five brown spots apiece. She wears a similar white dress shirt, but the fawn-brown vest is omitted, and her leopard-print tie is substituted for a red bow. Her boots are higher, reaching about halfway up her thigh, and have black laces. Like her pigtails, they are more starkly white compared to the off-white of the standard design.
Series Appearances
| Media | Role | First Appearance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Nexon Game | ↪ Minor character, playable character | |
| 2017 | Kemono Friends (2017 Anime) | ↪ Background character | Episode 8 |
| 2018 | Kemono Friends Pavilion | ↪ Observable character (Both design) | |
| 2018 | Kemono Friends Festival | ↪ Minor character, playable character | |
| 2018 | Kemono Friends Picross | Appears on multiple puzzles | |
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 2 | ↪ Minor character (EX only) | Episode 5 |
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 2 (Manga) | ↪ Minor character (EX only) | Chapter 8 |
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 3 | ↪ Minor character, playable character | |
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 3: Planet Tours | ↪ Photo illustration (EX only) | |
In Real Life
Inhabiting a wide range of habitats across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa- savanna, rainforests, mountains, grasslands, even temperate forests- the elusive leopard is one of the five members of the family Felidae that finds itself classified among the Panthera genus, alongside the lion, tiger, jaguar, and snow leopard. The distinctive fur of the leopard is characterized by its rosettes, which act as camouflage while it hunts. It is also notable for its long tail, which helps improve its agility and balance both on the ground- where it is able to run up to 58kph- and in the trees it so often climbs.
Like many cats, leopards have acute hearing and eyesight which they rely on for hunting. They are opportunistic ambush predators, sneaking as close to a mark as possible- often aided in doing so by their camouflage- before pouncing, targeting either the back of the head or neck for smaller prey or going for the throat when taking down larger animals. Leopards are by no means picky eaters; their prey menu includes wild pigs, antelope, deer, porcupines, primates, rodents, and other small-to-medium-sized animals, and they are known to scavenge carcasses. Their most-preferred prey items are ungulates, such as impala and the aforementioned antelope.
Leopards bear immense neck and upper body strength, which are used to drag their meals into trees; lugging prey items upwards of 40kg (88lbs.) vertically up a tree is little trouble for one of these big cats. The main reason this is done is to secure the food for itself; kill theft is commonplace in the animal kingdom, and large carnivores such as tigers, lions, and hyenas, as well as pack hunters such as African wild dogs and dholes, have little to no issue chasing a leopard away from its food. The other reason is to avoid becoming a food item themselves; leopards are often not apex predators within their ecosystems, and lions and tigers alike have been documented killing and eating both juvenile and adult leopards.
Trivia
- Leopards and jaguars are often confused for one another due to their similar patterns. However, their distinctions are in fact numerous.
- Leopards and jaguars do not inhabit the same range; leopards are found in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, while jaguars are found primarily in Central and South America.
- The rosettes found on a leopard's pelt are smaller and more tightly-packed than those found on a jaguar's pelt.
- Due to their semi-arboreal lifestyles, leopards have notably longer tails than jaguars do; if the animal's tail seems it would drag considerably on the ground when left limp, it is more likely a leopard, and if it seems only the tip would drag, it is more likely a jaguar.
- Jaguars possess bulky heads and rounder faces than leopards, whose heads and faces tend to be more lithe.
- Although the Panthera genus is often believed to contain the five largest members of the Felidae family, this is not quite the case. The leopard is indeed the fifth largest of the Felidae, but it is smaller on average in all of weight, length, and shoulder height than the non-Panthera cougar- the fourth largest of the Felidae- which belongs to its own genus, Puma. Additionally, the snow leopard ranks only seventh, being smaller than both of the aforementioned as well as the non-Panthera cheetah, which like the cougar also belongs to its own genus: Acinonyx.
- Though both are members of the Panthera genus, and both are called "leopard," the leopard and snow leopard are very distinct, being no more genetically similar to one another than either is to the other members of Panthera.