The Barbary Leopard or North African Leopard has been described originally as a separate subspecies (Panthera pardus panthera) of the leopard. It is native to the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. However, according to recent genetic data, the subspecies status is probably not valid, because there are no significant genetic differences to other African leopards, which are supposed to represent one single subspecies, the African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus).
The leopard is very rare in northern Africa. Only small populations persist in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria and a few may remain also in Egypt.
This subspecies has a very thick coat of fur, as compared to other leopards, that suits its cold mountain habitat. It preys on Barbary macaques, gazelles and some small animals.
Famous quotes containing the word leopard:
“There are other letters for the child to learn than those which Cadmus invented. The Spaniards have a good term to express this wild and dusky knolwedge, Grammatica parda, tawny grammar, a kind of mother-wit derived from that same leopard to which I have referred.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)