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Status: Endangered due to poaching and habitat loss. Diet in wild: Small to medium-sized animals. Life span in wild: 12 years. Weight: 55 to 100 pounds. Native habitat: South of Sahara desert in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and China.
Click Here to see Chui & China GROW UP! Send an e-card featuring China or Chui - IT'S FREE! Think you want a leopard?? Read this from the USDA.
Black Pine Animal Park 1426 W. 300 N. P.O. Box 02 Albion, IN 46701 (260) 636-7383
©2008
Professional Animal Retirement Center, Inc. |
African & Asian Leopards Chui
is a black African leopard. China is an Asian
leopard. Born in captivity, they came to
Black Pine as an alternative China's spots are very
easy to see, and although Chui is black, he also has spots in his coat. Sometimes called a 'black panther', leopards
with black coats are those that inherit a melanistic gene that
accounts for the different coat coloration. They, and spotted
leopards might look different, but are the same species. It's a bit confusing today what, if anything, truly separates the African from the Asian leopard. Asian leopards originated in southeast Asia, including Indochina and the island of Java. But today those populations as well as any in northern Africa are gone. The most dense populations are now found in the Congo, with additional numbers living throughout Cameroon, Angola, Tanzania, and many other south African countries. Due to poaching for their beautiful coats, as well as habitat loss in some regions, leopards are protected and many live in preserves. Leopards are the only African cats that live in both rainforests and deserts. They have the widest distribution of all wild cats. Those from different regions have developed varying coat colors, including the black leopards found in the most tropical habitats. As adults Chui and China will weigh from 40 to 120 pounds. Weighing just a couple of pounds each upon their arrival at the zoo, it's been a privilege to watch their progress growing up at Black Pine! Click here to see them grow! To learn more about keeping exotic animals as pets, click here. |
The Animals
Download a virtual 'China' or 'Chui' puzzle!
to being sold in the exotic
animal trade. Hundreds of big cats like these are sold to become
roadside attractions or pets. In the majority of such cases the
animals wind up in sanctuaries once they grow up. Chui and China
were lucky to not experience that kind of life.