This may sound like a simple one, but it’s not always as clear-cut as one would think. Ok if you have a clear view of the leopard’s nether regions, or a male and female are next to each other, then the difference is glaring, but in certain situations, it can be mighty hard to distinguish between the sexes.
A young male can easily be confused with a female, and after dark with only the beam of the spotlight to go on, it’s hard to properly gauge the size of a leopard.
I’ve starred in a number of embarrassing incidents in which I’ve too quickly pronounced on the sex of a spotted cat, only to hastily be made to retract my statement, muttering some excuse as to why I botched what should surely be a simply matter of differentiation. “The grass was too long” or, “It can be really hard to tell” are two of my go-to lines.
When I first came to the bush, the thrill of seeing a leopard in the flesh was so overwhelming that I didn’t really worry about whether or not it was a female or male or what age it was (mainly because I was completely unable to tell), but after more and more leopard sightings, sexing them started to become much easier. We’ll run through a couple of the easier tells to look for.
Size
The Tamboti female (closest to camera) walks side-by-side with the Tu-Tones male (middle) and his father the Camp Pan male. The size difference between the sexes is clearly visible here, especially in the forequarters, neck and head.
Adult male leopards are significantly bigger than females. Although weights of adult males are often exaggerated, with some captured individuals reported to weigh close to 100kg, a far likelier average weight in the Sabi Sand Reserve would be around 70-75kg. Of course if the leopard has a full stomach that could add significantly to its weight, as individuals can eat probably a good few kilograms of meat at a single sitting. Also, leopards from different areas attain different sizes (eg. Leopards from the Cederberg region of South Africa are much smaller than their Londolozi cousins, but we’ll go into that another day), but wherever you are in the world, adult males are still going to weigh more than females, probably around 50% more in most cases. An average female on Londolozi might be in the 40-45kg range.
(Clockwise from top): Anderson male, Thamba young male, Nhlanguleni female.
Take a look at the above grouping of photographs. The Anderson male, Londolozi’s biggest, clearly stands out from the other two with his massive head and neck. The loose skin hanging below his neck – known as a dewlap – is characteristic of a mature male. The bottom two photos illustrate how similar in size and proportion a young male is to a female, so that without recognising the individual or getting a look at other characteristics, telling one from the other can be tricky, although both are clearly much smaller than the adult male.
When dealing with a litter of cubs, the size difference between male and female becomes apparent from early on:
The Tatowa female’s cubs of 2016, at around 9 months old. The male is on the left, and is already clearly bigger than his sister, particularly in head size.
The Tatowa female was one of a litter of three females born in early 2012 to the Ximpalapala female of the north.
Genitalia
The second and probably easiest way to sex a leopard is simply – and without trying to be so blunt – to look between the hind legs. The photo below of the Piva male in the Tugwaan Riverbed was used in the Londolozi leopard ID kit a few years ago, until it was pointed out to me that the image was so glaringly obvious in portraying a male leopard that I might want to use a more subtle one. I took the hint.
The Piva male lies in the sandy bed of the Tugwaan drainage line.
Directly descended from the original mother leopard and therefore part of the royal lineage of Londolozi.
The Tracks
This is where things get slightly trickier, as again the size difference isn’t always the only thing to go on. A young male leopard’s tracks can be very similar in size to an adult female, and even within the same sex there is a tremendous amount of variation between individual track sizes. The Nanga female has probably the smallest tracks of any female leopard on Londolozi, whilst the Mashaba and Nkoveni females both have tracks that could easily be confused with a male, so large are they. The Camp Pan male had tracks so big that he was sometimes tracked in the belief that it was a solitary lioness! The general rule of thumb is that males have larger tracks, but the shape of the individual tracks themselves can also give one a clue.
The outside edge of a male’s rear pad tends to be quite rounded, whilst a female’s tends to be more angular. Why this is so I can’t say, but it is a fairly consistent rule.
The bottom, larger set of tracks are of a male, and one can see the more rounded edges of the rear pad. The smaller tracks at the top are those of a female, with slightly more angular edges on the outer pad. F and H denote front and hind. The front pad of a leopard is wider than the hind pad.
The edges of tracks can be obscured depending on the substrate, so this way isn’t always clear, and again, there can be variation between individuals.
At the end of the day, spending time with any leopard is special. Being able to determine whether it’s a male or female can, however, give you that extra edge when it comes to interpreting its behaviour, and understanding just how the individual you are watching fits in to the African wilderness it inhabits…
Fascinating reading! I am glad I don’t have to call out the sex of a leopard to anyone. If they aren’t turned the right direction or if there isn’t a huge size difference, I am lost! Thanks for the info, James.
I love these blogs where I can learn something new. When we started going to the bush we were just too happy to see a leopard and did not even think to try and sex it. It is only after coming to Londolozi that we learned to tell the difference and to take a closer look at the animal. Being on the game drives made us more aware of the animal we were looking at. Always appreciate the blogs about Camp Pan.
Hi Marinda,
It might be time for a Camp Pan tribute post. What do you think?
Definitely James. Looking forward to it.
Great article. Cant wait to see my next leopard and try to sex it.
Thank you for this fabulous information. The sexting has always been a bit difficult but on my last trip to Africa 18 months ago I successfully identified the leopards at a 80% rate – I was thrilled. The females seen to be more feminine and sleek, not so bulky. At any rate, just seeing a leopard is thrilling enough without worrying about what sex it is. Hoping for many sightings during my stay in November!!
Hi Denise,
With the number of newly independent youngsters roaming the property there’s every chance your stay will be a very successful one!
Fabulous, James! I had noticed that males have thicker necks than females. How does one tell apart cheetahs? To the untrained eye, the difference is not obvious. Lastly, not sure if you’ve done this, but how about a post on track identification. That would make our game drives just a bit more interactive! Thanks!
Hi Malavika. Haha if only we saw enough cheetahs here to get in enough practice to tell them apart easily. It’s mainly a size thing as well, with the males being bigger, but it’s generally more of a subtle difference than between leopards.
Love the track photos – can really tell the difference
James, you always tell a story, no matter what the blog is about. I appreciate your knowledge of the bush and your incite about the animals that are so dear to all of us.
Thanks Joan!
Outstanding information, James. Thank you! I recognized the dewlap of the male leopard as a distinguishing characteristic a few years ago. I can relate to that feature because without my beard, I too have a dewlap. Keep up the excellent work and again thank you for the great photos and superb articles on the leopard.
Thanks for pointing out the differences in male and female characteristics James. I do not believe that anybody would be aghast at seeing the picture of the Piva male – this, after all, is nature and we see many rear ends of both male and female cats. An interesting blog and thanks for sharing with us James. Good to see the Anderson male, he is a magnificent cat.
Thanks for the comments Leonie. The Anderson male is looking good and it seems that eye of his is well on the way to recovery!
Best regards
We were fortunate enough to have as our guide and Tracker the team of “M&M” who found such examples and pointed them out. When they are alone and your new to the experience you would only be guessing without telling angle. Thanks for the examples which will make it easier for us the next time.
This is a very informative and interesting post James. Its fantastic to see such great visual examples of the difference between a male and female leopard. Out of interest have you ever misidentified a leopards sex?
Thanks for the explanation.
I Believe that the (beautiful) picture of Tatowa cubs shows Tatowa cubs born 2018 (not 2016). Warm regards. Yves
Hi Yves,
Thanks for the correction. We’re both wrong unfortunately! It was 2017. Apologies for the typo…!
Hi, Mr.James Tyrrell
I love these blogs,
please let me know what is the size of leopard “neck” (minimum And Maximum size of male/Female)
That is cool and I love the photos that you took!