Leopard Sign
Leopards are solitary and stealthy animals. Even though a large number of leopards exist on earth, they are rarely seen by visitors to the wild. They do leave signs to show their presence. Leopards also use signs and body language to communicate with one another.
To claim the ownership of a territory or home range, leopards mark rocks, logs, and trees by spraying their urine which contain special scent. This is called scent marking. They also make scratches on tree trunks or logs, or leave scat to mark their territories and to alert other leopards to their presence. Of course, leopard paw prints also leave traces of their presence.
Leopards also use signs and body language to communicate with one another. The underside of a leopard’s tail is usually white. When a mother and her cubs move through thick underbrush, the mother leopard usually leads the way and holds her long tail straight up. The leopard cubs keep track of the white tip of their mother’s tail. Leopards also use the ways they flick their ears to send different messages, for example, by pulling their ears back, leopards show that danger is coming.
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