More
on snow leopards.
|
|
|
When
we hear the word 'leopard' we think of big yellow cats
from Africa with black spots. These cats are often seen
in movies and on television nature programs.
But the word 'leopard' also appears in the names of other,
very different, wild cats. The snow leopard and
the clouded leopard don't look like leopards at
all.
Scientists call these very different
types of cats 'species'.
You and I, and almost everyone, use a common
name for all the species of wild cats. We
call them 'tigers', 'lions', 'leopards', 'snow leopards',
'bob cats', 'clouded leopards', 'jaguars' and so on.
There are 37 different species of wild cats in all!
Scientists also give each species a latin
name. Latin names are very useful because there
can be many common names for
the same cat! For example, the mountain lion is also
called a puma, cougar, catamount, ghost cat, painter
and panther! And that's just in North America! Having
just one latin name for a species avoids confusion.
- Scientists call a leopard Panthera
pardus.
- A snow leopard is
Uncia uncia
- A clouded leopard is Neofelis
nebulosa
|
|
A leopard,
showing the typical
yellowish color with a white belly and black rosettes.
Scientific name: Panthera pardus
A snow leopard. Snow
leopards are not white but have long, grey fur with
large black rosettes.
Scientific name: Uncia Uncia
A clouded leopard. This
cat has not only large, cloud-like spots on its sides
(which resemble the markings on a burmese python)
but also stripes on its neck and large polka dots
on its legs.
Scientific name: Neofelis Nebulosa
Key Point: Leopards, snow
leopards and clouded leopards are three different species of
wild cats.
|
