As it was to a cat of the latter kind that Linnaeus gave the name of Felis catus, Pocock urges that this title is not available for the European wild cat, which he would call Felis sylvestris.
Of animals still found may be mentioned baboons and monkeys, the leopard, red lynx (Felis caracal), spotted hyena, aard wolf, wild cat, long-eared fox, jackals of various kinds, the dassie or rock rabbit, the scaly anteater, the ant bear (aardvaark), the mongoose and the spring haas, a rodent of the jerboa family.
The names jaguarondi and eyra are applied indifferently to this species and Felis eyra.
Both as regards structure and habits, the leopard may be reckoned as one of the more typical representatives of the genus Felis, belonging to that section in which the hyoid bone is loosely connected with the skull, owing to imperfect ossification of its anterior arch, and the pupil of the eye when contracted under the influence of light is circular, not linear as in the smaller cats.
It is exceedingly quick in its movements, but seizes its prey by waiting in ambush or stealthily approaching to within springing distance, when it suddenly rushes upon it and tears it to ground with its The Leopard (Felis pardus).
