the dark panther walking into the light, and the golden leopard stalking through the dense jungle. which colorway do you like more?
the leopard comes in five subspecies that live across the continents of africa and asia. the one i drew here specifically is an african leopard, which are easily recognizable due to their distinctive open rosette pattern (though occasionally misidentified as a jaguar, their americas living cousin, you can identify those through their rosettes having a dot in the middle and just being bulkier in general). african leopards are considered a vulnerable species with their primary threats including by habitat loss, human conflict as their natural prey numbers dwindle causing them to seek out livestock to eat, as well as trophy hunting and poaching
the melanistic variant of the leopard is often called a panther or a black panther, though any big cat with a darker coat can be called that (like a jaguar). in leopards the melanistic coat variant is as common as 11% of the total population. this darker coloration is caused by a recessive gene that both parents must carry, and it brings an advantage to those who live in low light forests and jungles
the leopard comes in five subspecies that live across the continents of africa and asia. the one i drew here specifically is an african leopard, which are easily recognizable due to their distinctive open rosette pattern (though occasionally misidentified as a jaguar, their americas living cousin, you can identify those through their rosettes having a dot in the middle and just being bulkier in general). african leopards are considered a vulnerable species with their primary threats including by habitat loss, human conflict as their natural prey numbers dwindle causing them to seek out livestock to eat, as well as trophy hunting and poaching
the melanistic variant of the leopard is often called a panther or a black panther, though any big cat with a darker coat can be called that (like a jaguar). in leopards the melanistic coat variant is as common as 11% of the total population. this darker coloration is caused by a recessive gene that both parents must carry, and it brings an advantage to those who live in low light forests and jungles
mini prints and stickers will be are available at my etsy next week
and large prints are available at my inprnt
you can also pledge at my patreon and one of these two as march’s mini print reward
