Mid-African leopard cage 2 (April 19th, 2015)

Cage holding one black Mid-African leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei). Bigger and less sparse than the other two leopard cages. Not a great enclosure, though probably acceptable, and an improvement from previous big cat housing at the Olmense Zoo.

I believe only the spotted animals are mid-African leopards, the black ones (as you said being held in this enclosure) are zoomix IIRC.

I have never heard of the term "Mid-African" Leopards - can you explain what this means ? Where exactly are these from. Which sub-species are they ?

Nanook said:

I have never heard of the term "Mid-African" Leopards - can you explain what this means ? Where exactly are these from. Which sub-species are they ?

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I think "Central African leopard" is more common as a name. If one accepts the subspecies then they are Panthera pardus shortridgei (it says this in the first post ). Distribution is given here: Subspecies Sheet | Mammals'Planet

Interestingly (according to The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals), the Shortridge they are named after (a South African taxidermist and zoological collector, Captain Guy Chester Shortridge, who has several African animals named after him) is the same Shortridge which several Asian animals are named after as well, including Shortridge's langur (Trachypithecus shortridgei), and an Australian rodent (Pseudomys shortridgei).

I think 'Central African leopard' is probably a more commonly used name than 'Mid African leopard', which is the one that Olmen uses (and perhaps a little too literal a translation and too little research on my side, my apologies). It is indeed the 'shortridgei' subspecies.

However, recent DNA analysis and research suggest that the previous classification of leopard subspecies, with 27 subspecies, is invalid and that only 8 or 9 subspecies of leopard are actually valid. In this taxonomy, Panthera pardus shortridgei would be part of the Sub-Saharan african subspecies Panthera pardus pardus, or the African leopard (although the sampling of African leopards in the study was limited, so there might be more than one subspecies in Sub-Saharan Africa). It would probably be more correct to speak of 'African leopards'.

See here, for example:
http://www.biosoil.ru/files/00001386.pdf

But it is certainly possible that many of these leopards are actually zoomix rather than pure individuals of one subspecies.

The shortridgei at Olmen - and indeed Heythrop Zoo here in the UK - are pure animals as whether you call them shortridgei or pardus, as they come from a known wild location

Yeah the spotted ones are pure. I am very well aware of that. However the black ones, to my knowledge, aren't.

Indeed - my reply was intended to be aimed at KevinB, as he had expressed doubt about their purity in the post above mine.

I didn't know the spotted leopards at Olmen are pure and from a known wild location, my bad. That said, I have actually seen black and spotted leopards in the same cage at Olmense Zoo. I don't know what's up with that, nor do I know if they breed the spotted ones with the black ones or not.

Chlidonias said:

I think "Central African leopard" is more common as a name. If one accepts the subspecies then they are Panthera pardus shortridgei (it says this in the first post ). Distribution is given here: Subspecies Sheet | Mammals'Planet

Interestingly (according to The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals), the Shortridge they are named after (a South African taxidermist and zoological collector, Captain Guy Chester Shortridge, who has several African animals named after him) is the same Shortridge which several Asian animals are named after as well, including Shortridge's langur (Trachypithecus shortridgei), and an Australian rodent (Pseudomys shortridgei).

Click to expand...

Many thanks.