Leopard (animal)
Leopards are solitary hunters renowned for their beautiful coats and keen minds. They can be found throughout rain forests and savannah most commonly, though some claim to have found rare breeds high in the mountains. Leopards tend to cover vast territories that they hunt through, often overlapping with others in the region.
Leopards are cunning and ruthless predators, preferring the shadows of the dense forest for stalking their prey. It's taken days to track this one through its territory, following the scant remains of faeces and marked trees to a rocky hill surrounded by a creek on one side. I ready my spear, gripping the wood tight as we step cautiously through the thick underbrush. The babbling stream and buzz of mosquito around my head fill my ears completely as I scan our surroundings, until the sound of sawing wood coming from above my head drowns out all others. I look up with a startle to find our prey, the spotted leopard, staring down at us from a low branch of the forest understory. I gulp hard, stepping lightly backwards beneath the ferocious beast. If we're going to slay it, we need to act fast, before the leopard pounces.