Cougar vs Leopard
The leopard is heavier: 52 kg against 51.6 kg for the cougar, about 1% more.
Photo: Carlos · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Sumeet Moghe · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
What is the difference between a cougar and a leopard?
Each point below is worked out from a pair of recorded values.
- The leopard is heavier: 52 kg against 51.6 kg for the cougar, about 1% more.
- The leopard is longer-lived: 27.3 years against 23.8 years for the cougar, about 15% longer.
- They share the family Felidae but sit in different genera: Cougar in Puma, Leopard in Panthera.
- The cougar is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List; the leopard is Vulnerable.
Side by side
| Cougar | Leopard | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Puma concolor | Panthera pardus |
| Family | Felidae | Felidae |
| Order | Carnivora | Carnivora |
| Weight | 48 kg – 51.6 kg | 52 kg – 53.1 kg |
| Length | Not recorded | 92 cm – 1.83 m |
| Lifespan | 21.9 years – 23.8 years | 23 years – 27.3 years |
| Main food | american badger, beaver, bighorn sheep, bobcat, canada goose, capybara and 38 more | aardvark, african civet, african wildcat, antilope cervicapra, banded mongoose, barbary striped grass mouse and 76 more |
| Habitat | rocky | forest, shrubland |
| Conservation status | Least Concern | Vulnerable |
| Countries recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
A scale drawing needs a recorded length for both animals; only weights are on record for this pair.
Full record: CougarFull record: LeopardCompare other animals