Leopard

Gottopardo, Il (1963)

Snow Leopard (Species Data Sheet) 

To the leopard, Panthera pardus, trees serve as resting place, hunting ground, and place for storing food. High above the ground, leopards can ambush terrestrial prey and, dragging it back up behind them, keep it out of scavengers’ reach. Leopards hunt alone and at night, focusing on smaller animals that are less desirable to competitive predators such as lions, hyenas, and tigers.

Steve Turner/Oxford Scientific Films/Library of Natural Sounds, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. All rights reserved.

Humpback Whale

Humpback and Northern Right Whales

Virtual Whales

Here seen off the Abrolhos Archipelago, Brazil, this 15 m (50 ft) humpback whale is a magnificent sight as it leaps entirely free of the water before falling back down in a cascade of foam. It is an activity that can be witnessed throughout the year.

Tiger

Cardiff Castle

Carnivore Preservation Trust

Sabretooth Cats

The Salt Creek Tiger Beetle

The Tiger Information Center

The Beetle World

The Siberian tiger has been hunted to near extinction in many Asian countries, where its body parts are sold for medicinal purposes and for cooking.

Pat and Tom Leeson/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Condor

Andean Condor

California Condor

Condorcet

With a wingspan of up to 3.25 m (about 10y ft), the Andean condor is one of the largest flying birds in the world. It is found in the Andes from Venezuela to Cape Horn and feeds almost exclusively on carrion, or rotting flesh.

John Chellman/Animals Animals

Plains Bison

Originating in Eurasia but migrating to North America across the Bering land bridge during prehistoric times, the American bison thrived on the Great Plains, until the arrival of white settlers drove them to the brink of extinction. Although they once ranged across the Great Plains from Mexico to Canada, with numbers estimated at 60 million, today they exist primarily on game reserves and ranches, with estimated numbers of only 30,000.

Stan Osolinski/Oxford Scientific Films/Library of Natural Sounds, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. All rights reserved.

Gorilla

Gorillas

Great Ape House

Mountain Gorilla

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund

The Gorilla Foundation

Your Life As a Gorilla

A gorilla group centres around its silverback male, seen at the upper left of this gathering. Because females leave their birth groups to join a male, they are rarely related to each other, eliminating the tie that is usually the strongest in a primate colony. It is instead the dominant male’s relationship with each member of his group that holds it together. During rest and play periods, females with young tend to stay closest to the silverback. In this way, their infants quickly get used to his protective yet imposing presence.

Andrew Plumptre/Oxford Scientific Films/BBC Natural History Sound Library. All rights reserved.

Rhinoceros

International Rhino Foundation

Rhinoceros Auklet 

A female white rhinoceros keeps a wary eye open while she and her calf drink at a water hole in South Africa. About 90 per cent of white rhinoceroses are found in South Africa, where their numbers are gradually beginning to increase again after dwindling dramatically over the last 30 years.

Roger Tidman/Corbis

Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard (Species Data Sheet)

The snow leopard, Uncia uncia, is found only in coniferous forest scrub and mountain steppe regions of the Himalayas and surrounding areas. Generally solitary in habit except during mating season, the snow leopard may be found at 6,000 m (19,000 ft) and higher in search of migratory game such as wild sheep, ibex, and musk deer. It is considered an endangered species.

Tim Davis/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Dodo

The dodo, a large flightless bird that lived only on the island of Mauritius, was originally described in 1598. It had become extinct less than 100 years later as a result of the adverse impact of European settlers and their domestic animals.

Tom McHugh/Field Museum, Chicago/Photo Researchers, Inc.