Editing Leopard (section)

===Social spacing===
[[File:Day 47 Leopard (Panthera pardus) male marking a bush with urine ... (53310719953).jpg|thumb|A male leopard [[scent mark|scent-marking]] his territory<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bothma |first1=Jacobus du P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPvuCAAAQBAJ |title=Larger Carnivores of the African Savannas |last2=Walker |first2=Clive |date=2013-11-11 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-662-03766-9 |language=en |access-date=2024-01-06 |archive-date=2024-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106170223/https://books.google.com/books?id=DPvuCAAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>]]
In [[Kruger National Park]], most leopards tend to keep {{cvt|1|km|mi}} apart.<ref name=bailey93>{{cite book |last=Bailey |first=T. N. |year=1993 |title=The African leopard: a study of the ecology and behaviour of a solitary felid |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1-932846-11-9}}</ref> Males occasionally interact with their partners and cubs, and exceptionally this can extend beyond to two generations.<ref name="Kingdon"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pirie |first1=T. J.|last2=Thomas |first2=R. L.|last3=Reilly|first3=B. K. |last4=Fellowes |first4=M. D. E. |name-list-style=amp |date=2014 |title=Social interactions between a male leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and two generations of his offspring |journal=African Journal of Ecology |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=574–576 |doi=10.1111/aje.12154 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2014AfJEc..52..574P}}</ref> Aggressive encounters are rare, typically limited to defending territories from intruders.<ref name=mammal/> In a South African reserve, a male was wounded in a male–male territorial battle over a carcass.<ref name=Hunter_al2003/>

Males occupy [[home range]]s that often overlap with a few smaller female home ranges, probably as a strategy to enhance access to females. In the [[Ivory Coast]], the home range of a female was completely enclosed within a male's.<ref name=Ivory>{{cite journal |author=Jenny, D. |year=1996 |title=Spatial organization of leopards ''Panthera pardus'' in Tai National Park, Ivory Coast: Is rainforest habitat a "tropical haven"? |journal=Journal of Zoology |issue=3 |volume=240 |pages=427–440 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1996.tb05296.x |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227901726 |access-date=2021-09-06 |archive-date=2024-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240505145917/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227901726_Spatial_organization_of_leopards_Panthera_pardus_in_Tai_National_Park_Ivory_Coast_Is_rainforest_habitat_a_%27tropical_haven%27 |url-status=live}}</ref> Females live with their cubs in home ranges that overlap extensively, probably due to the association between mothers and their offspring. There may be a few other fluctuating home ranges belonging to young individuals. It is not clear if male home ranges overlap as much as those of females do. Individuals try to drive away intruders of the same sex.<ref name=estes/><ref name=nowak/>

A study of leopards in the Namibian farmlands showed that the size of home ranges was not significantly affected by sex, rainfall patterns or season; the higher the prey availability in an area, the greater the leopard population density and the smaller the size of home ranges, but they tend to expand if there is human interference.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Marker |first1=L. L. |last2=Dickman |first2=A. J. |name-list-style=amp |title=Factors affecting leopard (''Panthera pardus'') spatial ecology, with particular reference to Namibian farmlands |journal=South African Journal of Wildlife Research |date=2005 |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=105–115 |url=http://reference.sabinet.co.za/webx/access/journal_archive/03794369/3418.pdf}} {{open access}}</ref>
Sizes of home ranges vary geographically and depending on habitat and availability of prey. In the [[Serengeti]], males have home ranges of {{cvt|33|-|38|km2|sqmi}} and females of {{cvt|14|-|16|km2|sqmi}};<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bertram |first1=B. C. R.|title=Leopard ecology as studied by radio tracking |journal=Symposia of the Zoological Society of London |date=1982 |volume=49|pages=341–352}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mizutani, F. |last2=Jewell, P. A. |name-list-style=amp |year=1998 |title=Home-range and movements of leopards (''Panthera pardus'') on a livestock ranch in Kenya |journal=Journal of Zoology |pages=269–286 |volume=244 |issue=2 |doi=10.1017/S0952836998002118}}</ref> but males in northeastern Namibia of {{cvt|451|km2|sqmi}} and females of {{cvt|188|km2|sqmi}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stander |first1=P. E. |last2=Haden |first2=P. J. |last3=Kaqece |first3=II. |last4=Ghau |first4=II. |name-list-style=amp|title=The ecology of asociality in Namibian leopards|journal=Journal of Zoology |date=1997 |volume=242|issue=2 |pages=343–364 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1997.tb05806.x}}</ref> They are even larger in arid and montane areas.<ref name=mammal/> In Nepal's [[Bardia National Park]], male home ranges of {{cvt|48|km2|sqmi}} and female ones of {{cvt|5|-|7|km2|sqmi}} are smaller than those generally observed in Africa.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Odden, M. |author2=Wegge, P. |name-list-style=amp |year=2005 |title=Spacing and activity patterns of leopards ''Panthera pardus'' in the Royal Bardia National Park, Nepal |journal=Wildlife Biology |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=145–152 |doi=10.2981/0909-6396(2005)11[145:SAAPOL]2.0.CO;2 |doi-access=free |s2cid=86140708}}</ref>