Name: The Leopard

Scientific Name: Panthera pardus fusca

Nicknames: The Man-Eater, The Spotted Devil, He Who Comes at Night.

Age: 5

Gender: Male

Height: 86 cm (34 in) at the shoulder.

Length: 262 cm (8 ft 7 in) from head to tail

Weight: 71 kg (157 lb)

Victims: 82

Bio:

Like the tiger, the panther [leopard] sometimes takes to man-eating, and a man-eating panther is even more to be dreaded than a tiger with similar tastes, on account of its greater agility, and also its greater stealthiness and silence. It can stalk and jump, and...can climb better than a tiger, and it can also conceal itself in astonishingly meagre cover, often displaying uncanny intelligence in this act. A man-eating panther frequently breaks through the frail walls of village huts and carries away children and even adults as they lie asleep. - J. C. Daniel, The Leopard in India: A Natural History, 2009.

Born in the early years of 21st Century, in colonial India, the Leopard lived a relatively normal life as cub. He grew and followed his mother on her hunts, learning the ways of his kind. Sadly, normality ended during the seventeenth month of his life, when his mother was shot by hunters. While this event did not truly begin the lifestyle he would become infamous for, it set a strong caution and hate in the young cat's heart. For the next year after this event, the Leopard would live as other leopards did for thousands of years. He carved out a small territory, a piece of his late mother's, hunting the deer, wild boar and monkeys that populated the region, and keeping clear of the bipedal apes when they came. As time pasted though, the hunting grew steadily worse, the humans came more often and jungle grew thinner. Still the Leopard eked out a living as best he could, with his fear of humans granting him an advantage above his fellows, who were either shot or driven off.

Unfortunately for him, and his human neighbours, this could only last for so long under the ever encroaching borders of civilisation. Starving, the Leopard was almost driven to point of hunting livestock, until fate intervened. An outbreak of cholera struck the region, killing the local people in their hundreds. Unable to perform the proper burial rights, the survivors had little choice but to dump the diseased bodies into a ravine and it was here were the Leopard, half-mad with hunger, first tasted human flesh. Eventually the disease ran its course and it seemed things would return to normal, at least for the humans. For the Leopard the opposite was true. Now deprived of the only food source he had left, the Leopard was again left hungry... until by chance he came across a man walking home late one night.

Once a leopard has killed and eaten a human, they are likely to persist as man-eaters and they may even show a nearly exclusive preference for humans.

The Leopard became very much the latter. At three and half years of age, he became a man-eater and for the next year and half terrorised the region. Once or twice a week he would strike. At first it was stragglers making their way home at night, then people as they walked the streets. He crept into houses and dragged out his victims. He torn though mud walls and thatched roofs. In a time when the government expressly forbade the local populous from owning fire arms, there was little the people could do but buddle in their homes, waiting for the Spotted Devil, He Who Came at Night, to strike again. By his of his fifth birthday, the Leopard had killed 79 people. After his eightieth unfortunate victim, a hunter was finally called in to tackle the "problem" animal. The "Great White" Hunter was soon found to be wanting, for his target was creature who had avoided such men all his life. The Hunter finally met his grisly end when the Man-Eater had doubled back and waited for his pursuer in a tree that overlooked his trail. Ten minutes later, the Leopard had 81 victims to his name.

The Leopard's luck would eventually run out however, after his 82nd victim. This time a far more experienced hunter was sent, a man who worked with the local people to drive the Leopard into the open. The Spotted Devil eventually found himself caught between a cliff edge and gun barrel. In a moment of seeming insanity, the great cat leapt of the cliff face and... disappeared. He Who Came at Night seemed to vanish into the air, his body was never found and no more people were attacked. The local people say that the demon had returned from whence he came, the truth... as is often the case, is stranger than any story.

Abilities:

Leopards can run more than 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph), leap more than 6 metres (20 ft) horizontally and 3 metres (9.8 ft) vertically. They are largely nocturnal hunters; with vision 7 times better then a human at night. Their sense of smell is greater than that of a tiger, their hearing is 5 times better than humans and their long whiskers feed them information about their surroundings. A Leopard's muscle to body size ratio is one of the highest of any feline, greater in proportion to that of Lions or Tigers. They can carry and drag prey twice their own body weight, even taking it into the trees. Each of their paws is equated with four 1 inch long claws, which combined with the Leopard's strength and easily slice through flesh; however they primarily use their paws to hold onto prey while they position themselves to bite a vital area. Leopards primarily target the spine, throat or skull and they possess a bite force of 300 and 310 psi (pound per square inch).

A Leopard's preferred attack strategy is to try and sneak as close as possible, typically 5 meters (16 feet) near the target, then pounce. When they do this, they will often use all four legs to grapple their prey, unlike other, larger big cats, which has led to some referring to Leopards as "flying chainsaws". They are also master ambush predators, in no small part thanks to their spotted coats acting as camouflage and the fact they can move almost completely silently. They can easily hide in forest, brush, grass and even some rocky terrain. They are also one of the few big cats to enjoy swimming.

Leopards can, and do, hunt and kill Chimpanzees, Olive Baboons, Juvenile Gorillas and even Cheetahs.

Man-Eating Leopards have earned a reputation as being particularly bold and difficult to track, presenting more challenges than any other animal. This s because combined with all their other attributes, they are the most intelligent of the big cats.