Proper Leopard Identification techniques

There are many ways to effectively identity a leopard.

Aside from noting if the animal is:

• Male or Female 

• Has cubs (and how many of each sex)

And noticing details relating to the animal such as:

• Was there a kill (and what kill it was)

• Where was it? In a tree? Etc..

More details on this can be found here 

It's important to develop techniques to identify different animals. When it comes to leopards, you need to notice the following:

• Spot patterns

• Knicks or cuts and in which area

• Eye color

These can be green, yellow, orange, almost white, blue or brown.

• Eye size and shape

• Lost eyes - literally if an eye is missing

If the leopards mouth opens look at:

• Tongue color - how dark it is.

• Holes in the tongue

• Broken teeth

• Legs: inverted, knock knee etc.

We aim to eventually use facial and spot pattern recognition software to automate all of this for you! Watch this space for more details...

The leopard featured in today's post is the Hlabankunzi female. Her photos were taken back when she was a cub in 2007.