The life of a leopard is not an easy one. Three months after she meets Mr. Leopard, Mrs. Leopard gives birth to between 2–4 cubs. These cubs, with the odds stacked against them, are born in sheltered hollows or caves with only a 50-50 chance of survival and thereafter a mere 1 in 3 chance of reaching adulthood. For the first few weeks, the mother regularly moves her delicate baby cubs to different shelters every two or three days in an attempt to avoid predators. Their tiny little eyes only begin to open a week after birth but, from then onwards, they mature swiftly to reach full independence after a year. They may live up to 20 years, though in the wild usually survive only half that time.

Their coats are typically yellow above and white below, with dark spots arranged in rosettes over much of their body. Although, as we know, they never change their spots, no two leopards have the same pattern and, as a result, several forms of the same species have been named. A black form, in which both the background colour and the spots are black is known as the Black Panther which is still to be found in areas of the Far East. The pink form, Sellersicus Pinkypus, cerebrally challenged, shaved to the skin, well manicured and posing like a French species, is fortunately to be found only in cartoons. However, much less common are the Barbary, South Arabian, Anatolian, Amur and our very own Sinai leopard, all now listed as endangered species and teetering on the edge of extinction.

As with all cats, the leopard makes a variety of easy to understand noises. These noises vary within the different forms of leopard and undoubtedly change according to mood. The sound of communication between leopards is usually likened to a series of harsh smokers coughs, moving up a scale to throaty growls when threatened or, just like your favourite pussy, a deep soft purring of contentment which almost makes you want to reach down and tickle them.

Both males and females are territorial, although the females tend to have a segregated, smaller home range often overlapped by that of the male. These territories can vary from 10 square km in areas of abundant prey up to 400 square km in arid areas. Fortunately for the leopards, they are not dependant on a water source for survival since they imbibe enough fluids from their prey. However, unusually for a cat, the leopard takes to water readily and is a good swimmer.

Being extremely adaptable, leopards are to be found in almost any kind of terrain, though they seem to prefer areas with rocky outcrops and mountains of which we have an abundance here in Sinai. Unfortunately, their available habitats are swiftly decreasing due to the spread of the human population. During the 60’s and 70’s, around 50,000 leopards were killed worldwide every year in order to satisfy our Dylanesque desire for wearing leopardskin pillbox hats. Primarily due to the collapse of the fur trade in the 80’s the leopards numbers are once again stable. Now their two main enemies are the poor Bedouin farmers trying to protect their stock and a few big, brave, trophy hunters who continue to shoot leopards either at night using artificial lights or when they’re already caught in box traps – an admirable sport for admirable men.

So the next time you ponder over whether or not to get that designer leopardskin handbag, spare a thought for this graceful, wild creature which has been almost wiped from the face of the earth solely to pander to our vanity. After all, would you even consider carrying your purse inside your dead pet pussy ?