S1E7: Opportunistic Leopards

In episode seven, Claudia Hirtenfelder talks about leopards, a predator who is increasingly found in urban areas. The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast. Season 1 is focused on “Animals and The Urban.” 

 Featured: 

• Leopards stalking and hunting pigs on the outskirts of Bombay by BBC
• Urban Leopard Search by National Geographic
• Crooked Cats Beastly Encounters in the  Anthropocene by Nayanika Mathur
• The Animal Turn "Animal Highlights (Animals and The Urban)" Playlist on Youtube. 

 Credits:

• Claudia Hirtenfelder, producer and host 
• Christiaan Mentz, sound editor and producer 
• Rebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)
• Gordon Clarke, bed music composer
• Learn more about the team here. 

Support the podcast via: 

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn 
• Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn 
• Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ 

Sponsor:

• Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics sponsored the season of The Animal Turn Podcast where these highlights were originally aired. Originally Aired/Recorded: 20 April 2021.

A.P.P.L.E
Animals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.

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The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:15 Leopards in Cities
• 2:11 Facts about leopards
• 3:55 Credits

Transcript

00:00 - Introduction 

• This first season animals and the urban and is extracted from Season 3 of The Animal Turn Podcast.  
• In today’s highlight we are focusing on leopards.

0:15 – Leopards in cities

• Some of the highest concentrations of leopards in the world are in and around cities across Africa and Asia. 
• BBC Footage of leopards stalking and hunting pigs on the outskirts of Bombay, moving at night, completely unseen. 
• [Sound Clip: Urban Leopard Search by National Geographic]
• Why are leopards drawn to urban areas? One answer is that their habitats are getting destroyed and the need to get more innovative in terms of how they hunt. Cities also provide opportunity for easy prey, namely stray dogs. Urban areas provide leopards with some sort of sound camouflage.
• Leopards have the widest geographical range of any big cat.  

02:11 – Facts about leopards

• Pound for pound they are thought to be the strongest animal in the world. They can carry up to three times their body weight up a tree. 
• Their vision is seven times better than human vision. Their eyesight is powerful. 
• They have interesting sex lives. They are fairly solitary but when they have sex they can have sex every fifteen minutes for up to five days. Then they go their separate ways. 
• The mom will have a three-month gestation period. The cubs will stay with their mom for up to two years and when they are born, they are born with their eyes closed. When they open their eyes, they are bright blue. 
• “Leopards have complex social lives that involve parenting, sex, killing, eating, and making homes in pretty distinctive places including urban areas.” 
• The word leopard has etymological links to lion and panther, so a leopard is a lion panther.
• If you are interested in leopards maybe check out “Crooked Cats Beastly Encounters in the  Anthropocene” by Nayanika Mathur

03:55 – Credits 

• “A huge thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics for sponsoring The Animal Turn Podcast, where these clips were taken from. To Christiaan Mentz for editing this episode. Thank you also goes to Rebecca Shen for designing the Animal Highlight logo and episode art work.”
• Show notes compiled by Claudia Hirtenfelder