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leopard | What is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma? | a pumapard | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma? | A pumapard | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Where do leopards often hide their kills? | in dense vegetation | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Where do leopards often hide their kills? | in dense vegetation or in trees | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | How did early naturalists distinguish between leopards and panthers? | by the length of their tails | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | How did early naturalists distinguish between leopards and panthers? | By the length of the tail, panthers having longer tails than leopards | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What are dark leopards known as colloquially? | Black Panthers | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What are dark leopards known as colloquially? | black panthers | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What shape are a leopard's black rosettes in East Africa? | circular | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What shape are a leopard's black rosettes in East Africa? | circular | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Is the leopard an Old World mammal? | yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Is the leopard an Old World mammal? | yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Is the leopard an Old World mammal? | . | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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Leopardus
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leopard | Is the leopard of the Felidae family? | yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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Leopardus
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leopard | Is the leopard of the Felidae family? | yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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Leopardus
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leopard | Is the leopard of the Felidae family? | null | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Is the leopard one of the four 'big cats'? | yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Is the leopard one of the four 'big cats'? | yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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Leopardus
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leopard | Is the leopard one of the four 'big cats'? | null | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Where is the leopard distributed? | southern Eurasia and Africa | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Where is the leopard distributed? | southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Where is the leopard distributed? | null | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | How long is a leopard's tail? | 60 to 110cm | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | How long is a leopard's tail? | 60-110cm | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | How long is a leopard's tail? | null | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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Leopardus
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leopard | How much does a leopard weigh? | Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | How much does a leopard weigh? | (because of ambiguity) - 28-90kg | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | How much does a leopard weigh? | null | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Does a male leopard weigh more than a female leopard? | yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Does a male leopard weigh more than a female leopard? | yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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Leopardus
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leopard | Does a male leopard weigh more than a female leopard? | null | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What is the difference between leopards and cheetahs? | The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots and the leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah. | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What is the difference between leopards and cheetahs? | The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What is the difference between leopards and cheetahs? | null | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | How does the distribution size of the leopard compare to the distribution of other wild cats? | As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | How does the distribution size of the leopard compare to the distribution of other wild cats? | the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat. | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | How does the distribution size of the leopard compare to the distribution of other wild cats? | null | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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Leopardus
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leopard | What resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas? | The leopard's ecological role | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae? | Felis pardus | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What sort of cats are solitary? | Leopards | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Are leopards circular? | No | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Is the leopard solitary? | Yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | What centred in Sierra? | The leopard men | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Felis pardus was what? | One of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Has the New Zealand Rugby League featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards ? | Yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Were the Leopard men a West African secret society who practised cannibalism ? | Yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Was the leopard tank a German designed tank which entered service in 1965 ? | Yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Is the black color heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus ? | Yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
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Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Is the leopard -LRB- panthera pardus -RRB- an old world mammal of the felidae family and the smallest of the four (`` ` big cats ('' ' of the genus panthera , along with the tiger , lion , and jaguar? | Yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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Leopardus
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leopard | Can a panther be any of several species of large felid? | Yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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leopard | Is the leopard an agile and graceful predator? | Yes | data/set1/a2 | leopard
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as Black Panthers.
Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa, from Korea to South Africa and Spain, it has disappeared from much of its former range and now chiefly occurs in subsaharan Africa. There are fragmented populations in Israel, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Malaysia, and western China. Despite the loss of range and continued population declines, the cat remains a least concern species; its numbers are greater than that of the other Panthera species, all of which face more acute conservation concerns.
The species' success owes in part to its opportunistic hunting behaviour and its adaptability to a variety of habitats. The leopard consumes virtually any animal it can catch and ranges from rainforest to desert. Its ecological role resembles that of the similarly-sized cougar in the Americas. Physically, the spotted cat most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is of lighter build.
In Antiquity, it was believed that a leopard was a hybrid between a lion and a panther, as is reflected in its name, a Greek compound word derived from λÎÏν léon ("lion") and ÏάÏÎ´Î¿Ï párdos ("male panther"), the latter related to Sanskrit पà¥à¤¦à¤¾à¤à¥ pá¹dÄku ("snake, tiger, panther").
A panther can be any of several species of large felid; in North America, the term refers to cougars, in South America, jaguars, and elsewhere, leopards. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by colour (a common misconception), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Felis pardus was one of the many species described in Linnaeus's 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.
The generic component of its modern scientific designation, Panthera pardus, is derived from Latin via Greek ÏÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï pánthÄr. A folk etymology held that it was a compound of Ïαν pan ("all") and Î¸Î·Ï ("beast"). However, it is believed instead to derive from an Indo-Iranian word meaning "whitish-yellow, pale"; in Sanskrit, this word's reflex was पाणà¥à¤¡à¤° pÄá¹á¸ara, from which was derived पà¥à¤£à¥à¤¡à¤°à¥à¤ puá¹á¸Ã¡rÄ«ka ("tiger", among other things), then borrowed into Greek.
The leopard is an agile and graceful predator. Although smaller than the other members of Panthera, the leopard is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm, the tail reaches 60 to 110cm. Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm. Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 90 kg compared to 28 to 60 kg for females. Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
One of many spotted cats, a leopard may be mistaken for a cheetah or a jaguar. The leopard has rosettes rather than cheetah's simple spots, but they lack internal spots, unlike the jaguar. The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. The leopard's black, irregular rosettes serve as camouflage. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square in southern Africa. .
Leopards have been reported to reach 21 years of age in captivity.
A melanistic leopard, or "black panther"
A melanistic morph of the leopard occurs particularly in mountainous areas and rain forests. The black color is heritable and caused by only one recessive gene locus. In some regions, for example on the Malayan Peninsula, up to half of all leopards are black. In Africa black leopards seem to be most common in the Ethiopian Highlands. While they are commonly called black panthers, the term is not applied exclusively to leopards. Black leopards are less successful on the African plains because their colouration makes them stand out.
As of 1996, the leopard had the largest distribution of any wild cat, although populations before and since have shown a declining trend and are fragmented outside of subsaharan Africa. The IUCN notes that within subsaharan Africa the species is "still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats" where other large cats have disappeared, but that populations in North Africa may be extinct. In Asia, data on distribution are mixed: populations in Southwest and Central Asia are small and fragmented; in the northeast portion of the range, they are critically endangered; and in Indian, Southeast Asia, and China, the cat is still relatively abundant. Leopards also like to live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
Graceful and stealthy, leopards are famous for their ability to go undetected. They are good, agile climbers, but cannot get down from a tree headfirst, because they do not have the ankle flexibilityâthe only two cats that do are the Margay and the Clouded Leopard. Female leopard. Note the white spots on the back of the ears used for communication with cubs when hunting in long grassAlong with climbing, they are strong swimmers but not as fond of water as tigers; for example, leopards will not normally lie in water. They are mainly nocturnal but can be seen at any time of day and will even hunt during daytime on overcast days. In regions where they are hunted, nocturnal behaviour is more common. These cats are solitary, avoiding one another. However, three or four are sometimes seen together. Hearing and eyesight are the strongest of these cats' senses and are extremely acute. Olfaction is relied upon as well, but not for hunting. When making a threat, leopards stretch their backs, depress their ribcages between their shoulder blades so they stick out, and lower their heads (similar to domestic cats). During the day they may lie in bush, on rocks, or in a tree with their tails hanging below the treetops and giving them away.
Leopards are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the leopard will eat anything from dung beetles to 900 kg male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see Panthera Pardus, pp. 24 â 29.) Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten. Schaller, p. 290 In fact, they hunt about 90 different species of animals. A solitary dog is a potential prey for leopards, although a pack of dogs can kill or drive off a leopard. Even large pythons are potential prey for leopards. In Africa, mid-sized antelopes provide a majority of the leopard's prey, especially impala and Thomson's gazelles. Schaller, p. 291 In Asia the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. Leopards have even been spotted killing and eating crocodiles.
The leopard stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Leopards often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way. Storing carcasses up trees keeps them away from other predators such as spotted hyenas, jackals, tigers and lions, though the latter will occasionally be successful in climbing and fetching the leopard kills. Schaller, p. 293
One survey of nearly 30 research papers found preferred prey weights of 10 to 40 kg, with 25 kg most preferred. Along with impala and chital, a preference for bushbuck and common duiker was found. Other prey selection factors include a preference for prey in small herds, in dense habitat, and those that afford the predator a low risk of injury.
Leopard resting on a tree
A male may follow a female who catches his attention. Eventually fighting for reproductive rights can take place. Depending on the region, leopards may mate all year round (Asia and Africa) or seasonally during January to February (Manchuria and Siberia). The estrous cycle lasts about 46 days and the female usually is in heat for 6â7 days.
Cubs are usually born in a litter of 2â3, but infant mortality is high and mothers are not commonly seen with more than 1â2 cubs. The pregnant females find a cave, crevice among boulders, hollow tree, or thicket to give birth and make a den. Cubs open their eyes after a period of 10 days. The fur of the young tends to be longer and thicker than that of adults. Their pelage is also more gray in color with less defined spots. Around three months the infants begin to follow the mother out on hunts. At one year of age leopard young can probably fend for themselves but they remain with the mother for 18â24 months.
Studies of leopard home range size have tended to focus on protected areas, which may have led to skewed data; as of the mid-1980s, only 13% of the leopard range actually fell within a protected area. In their IUCN survey of the literature, Nowell and Jackson suggest male home territories vary between 30-78 square kilometers, but just 15-16 km² for females. Research in a conservation area in Kenya shows similar territory sizes and sex differential: 32.8 km² ranges for males, on average, and 14 km² for females. In Nepal, somewhat larger male ranges have been found at about 48 km², while female ranges are in-keeping with other research, at 17 km²; female home territories were seen to decrease to just five to seven km² when young cubs were present, while the sexual difference in range size seemed to be in positive proportion to overall increase. However, significant variations in size of home territories have been suggested across the leopard's range. In Namibia, for instance, research that focussed on spatial ecology in farmlands outside of protected areas found ranges that were consistently above 100 km², with some more than 300 km²; admitting that their data were at odds with others', the researchers also suggested little or no sexual variation in the size of territories. Virtually all sources suggest that males do have larger ranges. There seems to be little or no overlap in territory amongst males, although overlap exists between the sexes; one radio-collar analysis in the Ivory Coast found a female home range completely enclosed within a male's.
The leopard is solitary and, aside from mating, interactions between individuals appear to be infrequent. Aggressive enounters have been observed, however. Two of five males studied over a period of a year at a game reserve in South Africa died, both violently. One was initially wounded in a male-male territorial battle over a carcass; taken in by researchers, it was released after a successful convalescence only to be killed by a different male a few months later. A second was killed by another predator, possibly a spotted hyena. A third of the five was badly wounded in intraspecific fighting, but recovered.
Indian Leopard
It has been suggested that there may be as many as 30 extant subspecies of the Leopard.
However, modern taxonomic analyses have demonstrated that only 8/9 subspecies are valid. Olga Uphyrkina et al. (November 2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology, Volume 10, Issue 11, Page 2617. Abstract Sriyanie Miththapala. (August 1996). Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology,
Volume 10, Issue 4, Page 1115. Abstract
*Indo-Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), Mainland Southeast Asia
*Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), India, South eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Northern Bangladesh
*North China Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), China
*Sri Lanka Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), Sri Lanka
*Java Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), Java
*Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Russian Far East, Northern China, Korea
*African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), Africa
*Persian Leopard or Iranian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), Southwest Asia
*Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), Arabian Peninsula; Often included in the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)
Sri Lankan Leopard
Female leopard in the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the white spot on the tail used for communicating with cubs while hunting or in long grass
Other subspecies under the old taxonomic division:
Today usually included in the African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus):
* Barbary Leopard (Panthera pardus panthera)
* Cape Leopard (Panthera pardus melanotica)
* Central African Leopard (Panthera pardus shortridgei)
* Congo Leopard (Panthera pardus ituriensis)
* East African Leopard (Panthera pardus suahelica)
* Eritrean Leopard (Panthera pardus antinorii)
* Somalian Leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardus)
* Ugandan Leopard ((Panthera pardus chui)
* West African Leopard (Panthera pardus reichinowi)
* West African Forest Leopard (Panthera pardus leopardus)
* Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
Today usually included in The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor):
* Anatolian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana)
* Baluchistan Leopard (Panthera pardus sindica)
* Caucasus Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica)
* Central Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus dathei)
* Sinai Leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi)
Today usually included in The Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
* Kashmir Leopard (Panthera pardus millardi)
* Nepal Leopard (Panthera pardus pernigra)
* European leopard (Panthera pardus sickenbergi) (â )
A pseudo-melanistic leopard has a normal background colour, but its excessive markings have coalesced so that its back seems to be an unbroken expanse of black. In some specimens, the area of solid black extends down the flanks and limbs; only a few lateral streaks of golden-brown indicate the presence of normal background colour. Any spots on the flanks and limbs that have not merged into the mass of swirls and stripes are unusually small and discrete, rather than forming rosettes. The face and underparts are paler and dappled like those of ordinary spotted leopards.
In a paper about panthers and ounces of Asia, Reginald Innes Pocock used a photo of a leopard skin from southern India; it had large black-rimmed blotches, each containing a number of dots and it resembled the pattern of a jaguar or clouded leopard. Another of Pocock's leopard skins from southern India had the normal rosettes broken up and fused and so much additional pigment that the animal looked like a black leopard streaked and speckled with yellow.
Most other colour morphs of leopards are known only from paintings or museum specimens. There have been very rare examples where the spots of a normal black leopard have coalesced to give a jet black leopard with no visible markings. Pseudo-melanism (abundism) occurs in leopards. The spots are more densely packed than normal and merge to largely obscure the background colour. They may form swirls and, in some places, solid black areas. Unlike a true black leopard the tawny background colour is visible in places. One pseudo-melanistic leopard had a tawny orange coat with coalescing rosettes and spots, but white belly with normal black spots (like a black-and-tan dog).
A 1910 description of a pseudo-melanistic leopard:
Another pseudo-melanistic leopard skin was described in 1915 by Holdridge Ozro Collins who had purchased it in 1912. It had been killed in Malabar, India that same year.
In May 1936, the British Natural History Museum exhibited the mounted skin of an unusual Somali leopard. The pelt was richly decorated with an intricate pattern of swirling stripes, blotches, curls and fine-line traceries. This is different from a spotted leopard, but similar to a King Cheetah hence the modern cryptozoology term King Leopard. Between 1885 and 1934, six pseudo-melanistic leopards were recorded in the Albany and Grahamstown districts of South Africa. This indicated a mutation in the local leopard population. Other King Leopards have been recorded from Malabar in southwestern India. Shooting for trophies may have wiped out these populations.
link title
Pumapard, Rothschild Museum, Tring
A pumapard is a hybrid animal resulting from a union between a leopard and a puma. Three sets of these hybrids were bred in the late 1890s and early 1900s by Carl Hagenbeck at his animal park in Hamburg, Germany. Most did not reach adulthood. One of these was purchased in 1898 by Berlin Zoo. A similar hybrid in Berlin Zoo purchased from Carl Hagenbeck was a cross between a male leopard and a female puma. Hamburg Zoo's specimen was the reverse pairing, the one in the black and white photo, fathered by a puma bred to an Indian leopardess.
Whether born to a female Puma mated to a male Leopard, or to a male Puma mated to a female Leopard, pumapards inherit a form of dwarfism. Those reported grew to only half the size of the parents. They have a Puma-like long body (proportional to the limbs, but nevertheless shorter than either parent), but short legs. The coat is variously described as sandy, tawny or greyish with brown, chestnut or "faded" rosettes.
Dionysus and a panther. Crater. The Louvre c. 370 BC
Leopards have been known to humans since antiquity and have featured in the art, mythology and folklore of many countries where they have occurred historically, such as Ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, as well as some where they haven't such as England. The modern use of the leopard as an emblem for sport or coat of arms is much more restricted to Africa, though numerous products worldwide have used the name.
Leopards were kept in a menagerie established by King John at the Tower of London in the 13th century; around 1235 three animals were given to Henry III by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
Despite its size, this largely nocturnal and arboreal predator is difficult to see in the wild. A female leopard in the Sabi Sands of South Africa illustrating just how close tourists can get to these wild cats.The best location to see leopards in Africa is in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where leopards are habituated to safari vehicles and are seen on a daily basis at very close range. In Asia, one can see leopards Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, which has one of the world's highest density of wild leopards, but even here sightings are by no means guaranteed because more than half the park is closed off to the public, allowing the animals to thrive. Another good destination for leopard watching is the recently reopened Wilpattu National Park, also in Sri Lanka. In India the leopards are found all over the country and there is maximum man-animal conflict here only as they are spread everywhere.The best places in India can be national parks in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand.
Coat of arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg
The lion passant guardant or "leopard" is a frequently used charge in heraldry, most commonly appearing in groups of three. The heraldric leopard lacks spots and sports a mane, making it visually almost identical to the heraldric lion, and the two are often used interchangeably. These traditional lion passant guardants appear in the coat of arms of England and many of its former colonies; more modern naturalistic (leopard-like) depictions appear on the coat of arms of several African nations including Benin, Malawi, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon which uses a black panther. The Leopard is also the unofficial national animal of Germany, replacing the Tiger, which was, along with the eagle, the national animal of Nazi Germany. The leopard tank was a German designed tank which entered service in 1965.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society who practised cannibalism. They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.
Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travellers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. There was a superstitious belief that this ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in India, a leopard dubbed "the Leopard of Rudraprayag" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous leopardess called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. The "Leopard of Rudraprayag" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. Man-eating leopards are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating leopards, described them as far more threatening than tigers;
However because they can subsist on small prey and are less dependent on large prey, leopards are less likely to turn to man-eating than either lions or tigers.
Possibly the most famous cinematic leopard is the pet in the film Bringing Up Baby (1938) where its misadventures create madcap comedy for stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn; the movie is one of the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest (American) Films".
* In the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney, a vicious leopard, Sabor, was Tarzan's natural and mortal enemy, although the Mangani name for leopards established in the books is "Sheeta".
* In Passion in the Desert (1997), a French soldier (played by British actor Ben Daniels) while lost in Egypt during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign stumbles upon a leopard and develops a strange relationship with the animal.
Traditionally, the leopard is an uncommon name or mascot for sporting teams, though it has been used in several African soccer teams: the AFC Leopards, formed in 1964, are a soccer club based in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Black Leopards play in South Africa's Premier Soccer League, the Royal Leopards in Swaziland's Premier League, and the Golf Leopards in the Sierra Leone National Premier League. More recently, the leopard emblem has been a part of the English Basketball League since the 1990s with the Essex Leopards and later London Leopards. The New Zealand Rugby League has featured the Otahuhu Leopards and then the Tamaki Leopards.
The use of Leopards by companies is uncommon, though Nissan Leopard was a luxury sports car produced by Nissan in the 1980s and Apple Inc. released Mac OS X version 10.5, nicknamed "Leopard" on October 26th, 2007.
In The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, leopards are seen fighting alongside Peter Pevensie.
* Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116-135. ISBN-13: ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN-10: ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
* Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2005). The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 42, June 2005. pp. 1-8. (in German).
* Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). The Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis, Gray 1862) in Neunkirchen Zoo, Neunkirchen, Saarland, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 60, December 2006. pp. 1-10.
*
* Leopards and spots on ears and tail
* DeRuiter, D.J. and Berger, L.R. (2000) Leopards as Taphonomic Agents in dolomitic Caves - Implications for bone Accumulations in the Hominid-bearing Deposits of South Africa. J. Arch. Sci. 27, 665-684.
*Leopardus, a separate genus of cats
* Center for Animal Research and Education Providing Sanctuary for over 50 big cats
* Pictures and Information on Leopards
* South African Leopard and Predator Conservation
* Leopard: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
* African leopard
* The Nature Conservatory's Species Profile: Leopard
* Images and movies of the South Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) from ARKive
* Images and movies of the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) from ARKive
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Liechtenstein | Is Liechtenstein bordered by Switzerland? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Is Liechtenstein bordered by Switzerland? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Is Liechtenstein the smallest German-speaking country in the world? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Is Liechtenstein the smallest German-speaking country in the world? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Oben am jungen Rhein
German language
Vaduz
Schaan
Parliamentary democracy
Constitutional monarchy
Prince of Liechtenstein
Prince of Liechtenstein
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Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
Prince Alois of Liechtenstein
Otmar Hasler
Independence
principality
Treaty of Pressburg
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Swiss franc
Central European Time
Central European Summer Time
.li
Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked
alpine country
Western Europe
Switzerland
Austria
winter sport
tax haven
German language
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Liechtenstein | Was Liechtenstein part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Was Liechtenstein part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | When was the first factory opened? | 1836 | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | When was the first factory opened? | 1836 | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | How many municipalities is Liechtenstein divided into? | 11 | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | How many municipalities is Liechtenstein divided into? | 11 | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
Related Wikipedia Articles
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Oben am jungen Rhein
German language
Vaduz
Schaan
Parliamentary democracy
Constitutional monarchy
Prince of Liechtenstein
Prince of Liechtenstein
Head of Government of Liechtenstein
Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
Prince Alois of Liechtenstein
Otmar Hasler
Independence
principality
Treaty of Pressburg
1806
Swiss franc
Central European Time
Central European Summer Time
.li
Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked
alpine country
Western Europe
Switzerland
Austria
winter sport
tax haven
German language
Roman Empire
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Liechtenstein | What is the national currency of Liechtenstein? | Swiss franc | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What is the national currency of Liechtenstein? | Swiss franc | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Has Leichtenstein worked to promote the county's image by prosecuting international money-laundering? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What company administers Leichtenstein's railways? | Austrian Federal Railways | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What company administers Leichtenstein's railways? | Austrian Federal Railways | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What percentage of Liechtenstein's population is foreign-born? | two-thirds | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Oben am jungen Rhein
German language
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Parliamentary democracy
Constitutional monarchy
Prince of Liechtenstein
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Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
Prince Alois of Liechtenstein
Otmar Hasler
Independence
principality
Treaty of Pressburg
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Swiss franc
Central European Time
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.li
Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked
alpine country
Western Europe
Switzerland
Austria
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tax haven
German language
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Liechtenstein | What percentage of Liechtenstein's population is foreign-born? | 67% | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Is there an airport in Liechtenstein? | No. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Is there an airport in Liechtenstein? | No | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Is Liechtenstein heavily urbanized? | No. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Is Liechtenstein heavily urbanized? | No | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Is Liechtenstein doubly landlocked? | Yes. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
Related Wikipedia Articles
Europe
Oben am jungen Rhein
German language
Vaduz
Schaan
Parliamentary democracy
Constitutional monarchy
Prince of Liechtenstein
Prince of Liechtenstein
Head of Government of Liechtenstein
Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
Prince Alois of Liechtenstein
Otmar Hasler
Independence
principality
Treaty of Pressburg
1806
Swiss franc
Central European Time
Central European Summer Time
.li
Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked
alpine country
Western Europe
Switzerland
Austria
winter sport
tax haven
German language
Roman Empire
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Liechtenstein | Is Liechtenstein doubly landlocked? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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|
Liechtenstein | Does Liechtenstein have an army? | No. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Does Liechtenstein have an army? | No | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | When was Liechtenstein's current constitution adopted? | October 1921. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | When was Liechtenstein's current constitution adopted? | October 1921 | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What is the official language of Liechtenstein? | German. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
Related Wikipedia Articles
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Oben am jungen Rhein
German language
Vaduz
Schaan
Parliamentary democracy
Constitutional monarchy
Prince of Liechtenstein
Prince of Liechtenstein
Head of Government of Liechtenstein
Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
Prince Alois of Liechtenstein
Otmar Hasler
Independence
principality
Treaty of Pressburg
1806
Swiss franc
Central European Time
Central European Summer Time
.li
Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked
alpine country
Western Europe
Switzerland
Austria
winter sport
tax haven
German language
Roman Empire
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Liechtenstein | What is the official language of Liechtenstein? | German | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What countries border Liechtenstein? | Switzerland and Austria. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What countries border Liechtenstein? | Switzerland and Austria | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What Roman province was Liechtenstein part of? | Raetia. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What Roman province was Liechtenstein part of? | Raetia | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | How many municipalities are within Oberland? | 6. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
Related Wikipedia Articles
Europe
Oben am jungen Rhein
German language
Vaduz
Schaan
Parliamentary democracy
Constitutional monarchy
Prince of Liechtenstein
Prince of Liechtenstein
Head of Government of Liechtenstein
Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
Prince Alois of Liechtenstein
Otmar Hasler
Independence
principality
Treaty of Pressburg
1806
Swiss franc
Central European Time
Central European Summer Time
.li
Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked
alpine country
Western Europe
Switzerland
Austria
winter sport
tax haven
German language
Roman Empire
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Liechtenstein | How many municipalities are within Oberland? | 6 | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What is the smallest German-speaking country in the world? | Liechtenstein | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | The Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill in what year? | 1861 | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living? | Liechtenstein's population | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Does the state court rule on the conformity of laws? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What do most recognizable international company and largest employer have in common? | They are Hilti. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Europe
Oben am jungen Rhein
German language
Vaduz
Schaan
Parliamentary democracy
Constitutional monarchy
Prince of Liechtenstein
Prince of Liechtenstein
Head of Government of Liechtenstein
Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
Prince Alois of Liechtenstein
Otmar Hasler
Independence
principality
Treaty of Pressburg
1806
Swiss franc
Central European Time
Central European Summer Time
.li
Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked
alpine country
Western Europe
Switzerland
Austria
winter sport
tax haven
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ÃBB
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List of Liechtensteiners
European microstates
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New York Times
25 March
2003
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Liechtenstein | Is Liechtenstein heavily urbanized? | No | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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|
Liechtenstein | Was Liechtenstein completed in November 2000? | No | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | What completed in November? | the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | The State Court rules what? | on the conformity of laws with the constitution | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays what? | a role in preserving the culture and history of the country. | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Is the museum collection also the national art collection of Liechtenstein ? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Oben am jungen Rhein
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Parliamentary democracy
Constitutional monarchy
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Prince Alois of Liechtenstein
Otmar Hasler
Independence
principality
Treaty of Pressburg
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.li
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alpine country
Western Europe
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Austria
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tax haven
German language
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25 March
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Liechtenstein | Is there a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights ? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Are nationals referred to by the plural : Liechtensteiners ? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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Liechtenstein | Is it a winter sports resort , although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven ? | Yes | data/set2/a1 | Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein ( ( , ( ) is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized. Many cultivated fields and small farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Unterland) and in the south (Oberland). It is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore, searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honor of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the prince of Liechtenstein
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From July 25 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on October 19 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (June 20 1815 â August 24 1866, which was presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois, however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the nineteenth century, as in 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866 new pressure was placed on Liechtenstein as, when peace was declared, Prussia accused Liechtenstein of being the cause of the war through a miscount of the votes for war with Prussia. This led to Liechtenstein refusing to sign a peace treaty with Prussia and remained at war although no actual conflict ever occurred. This was one of the arguments that were suggested to justify a possible invasion of Liechtenstein in the late 1930s.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein first was closely tied to the Austrian Empire and later, to Austria-Hungary; however, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbor, Switzerland. (Their Army had been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations.) At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state, which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
The Prince of Liechtenstein owns vineyards in Vaduz (in the foreground)
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, eighty-four year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his thirty-one year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbor, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia â the princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, also including several family castles and palaces. Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden from entering Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately five hundred soldiers of the First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to permanently resettle the asylum seekers. In contrast, the British repatriated the Russians who fought on the side of Germany to the USSR, and they all perished in the GULAG.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as its economy modernized with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
The Government building in Vaduz
Liechtenstein's current constitution was adopted in October 1921. It established in Liechtenstein a constitutional monarchy ruled by the reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It also established a parliamentary system, although the reigning prince retained substantial political authority.
The reigning prince of the Princely House of Liechtenstein is the head of state and, as such, represents Liechtenstein in its international relations (although Switzerland has taken responsibility for much of Liechtenstein's diplomatic relations). The prince may veto laws adopted by the parliament. The prince can call referendums, propose new legislation, and dissolve the parliament, although dissolution of parliament may be subjected to a referendum.
Executive authority is vested in a collegial government (government) comprising the head of government (prime minister) and four government councilors (ministers). The head of government and the other ministers are appointed by the prince upon the proposal and concurrence of the parliament, thus reflecting the partisan balance of the parliament. The constitution stipulates that at least two members of the government be chosen from each of the two regions. The members of the government are collectively and individually responsible to the parliament; the parliament may ask the prince to remove an individual minister or the entire government.
Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral "Landtag" (parliament) made up of 25 members elected for maximum four-year terms according to a proportional representation formula. Fifteen members are elected from the "Oberland" (Upper Country or region) and ten members are elected from the "Unterland" (Lower Country or region). Parties must receive at least eight percent of the national vote to win seats in the parliament. The parliament proposes and approves a government, which is formally appointed by the prince. The parliament may also pass votes of no confidence against the entire government or against individual members. Additionally, the parliament elects from among its members a "Landesausschuss" (National Committee) made up of the president of the parliament and four additional members. The National Committee is charged with performing parliamentary oversight functions. The parliament can call for referendums on proposed legislation. The parliament shares the authority to propose new legislation with the prince and with the requisite number of citizens required for an initiative referendum.
Judicial authority is vested in the Regional Court at Vaduz, the Princely High Court of Appeal at Vaduz, the Princely Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the State Court. The State Court rules on the conformity of laws with the constitution. The State Court has five members elected by the parliament.
Note: In March 2003 the results of a national referendum showed that nearly two-thirds of Liechtenstein's electorate agreed to vote in support of Hans-Adam II's proposal of a renewed constitution which replaced the version of 1921. The implications of the referendum, the actual changes to the governance of Liechtenstein, and the repercussions of the vote in the wider context of Europe, are yet unknown.
On July 1, 2007, the Liechtenstein Ruling Prince, H.S.H Hans-Adam II, and Liechtenstein Prime Minister, Otmar Hasler, appointed Dr. Bruce S. Allen and Mr. Leodis C. Matthews, ESQ., both in the United States of America, as the first two Honorary Consuls in history for the Principality of Liechtenstein.
The principality of Liechtenstein is divided into 11 municipalities called gemeinden (singular gemeinde). The gemeinden mostly consist only of a single town. Five of them fall within the electoral district Unterland (the lower county), and the remainder within Oberland (the upper county).
Satellite image faintly delineating Liechtenstein - enlarge to full page for clarity
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about fifteen miles (24 km) long. In its eastern portion, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 ). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein comparatively mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. "Tiny Liechtenstein gets a little bigger," December 29, 2006 Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and they measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map, BBC News, December 28 2006
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the worldâbeing a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countriesâthe other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Looking northward at Vaduz city-centre
City-centre with Kunstmuseum (Liechtenstein Art Museum)
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein currently is one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector as well as a living standard which compares favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxesâthe maximum tax rate is 18%âas well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. Liechtenstein also generates revenue from the establishment of stiftungs or foundations, which are financial entities created to increase the privacy of nonresident foreigners' financial holdings. The foundation is registered in the name of a Liechtensteiner, often a lawyer.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995 . The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion CIA World Factbook ( link) and $25,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein also is the home of the Curta calculator.
Liechtensteiners have an average life expectancy at birth of 79.68 years (76.1 years for males; 83.28 years for females). The infant mortality rate is 4.64 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to recent estimates. An estimated 100 percent of the population, age 10 and older, can read and write. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Liechtenstein's education as the 10th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
A woman wearing the traditional Liechtenstein Tracht.
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, although its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other Swiss, Italians, and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those dialects spoken in neighbouring regions. In Triesenberg a quite distinct dialect, promoted by the municipality, is spoken. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious affiliation for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% .
Road: There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein.
Rail: 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway connect Austria and Switzerland through Liechtenstein. The country's railways are administered by the Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, namely Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregularly stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations.
Bus: The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
Bike: There are 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths in the country.
Air: There is no airport in Liechtenstein (the nearest large airport is Zürich Airport). There is a small heliport at Balzers in Liechtenstein available for charter helicopter flights.
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the museum of modern and contemporary art in Vaduz and the national gallery of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
As a result of its small size Liechtenstein has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
The largest museum is the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, an international museum of modern and contemporary art with an important internationl art collection. The building by the Swiss architects Morger, Degelo and Kerez is a landmark in Vaduz. It was completed in November 2000 and forms a âblack boxâ of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. The museum collection is also the national art collection of Liechtenstein.
The other important museum is the Liechtenstein National Museum (Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum) showing permanent exhibition on the cultural and natural history of Liechtenstein as well as special exhibitions. There are also a Stamp and a Ski Museum.
The most famous historical sites are Vaduz Castle, Gutenberg Castle, the Red House and the ruins of Schellenberg.
Music and theatre are an important part of the culture. There are numerous music organisations such as the Liechtenstein Musical Company, the annual Guitar Days and the International Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society; and two main theatres.
The Private Art Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, one of the world's leading private art collections, is shown at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1â1 and 4â2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0â4 and 0â3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author, Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team, headed by Patrick Nikodem, managed a 2â2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most, however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows". In the qualification stage of the European Championship 2008, Liechtenstein beat Latvia 1-0, score which prompted the resignation of the Latvian coach. They went on to beat Iceland 3-0 (October 17, 2007), which is considered one of the most dramatic losses of the Icelandic national soccer team.
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation . The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics .
Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the world to have no army; defense is the responsibility of Switzerland.
In June 2003 the state tourism agency decided to give a boost to the country's tourism by offering to rent out the country to businesses and other organizations for conference hosting, weddings, or other such events. The company will be given keys to the capital city and be offered team-building/tourist activities and attractions, such as wine-tasting, tobogganing, and full access to one of the country's royal castles.
Karl Schwarzler, along with the entire nation of Liechenstein, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics in 2003 for this unique enterprise. /ref>
*List of Liechtensteiners
*European microstates
*Liechtenstein â A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
* www.liechtenstein.li - Official site by the Principality of Liechtenstein
* Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein - The national Gallery of Liechtenstein
* Hochschule Liechtenstein - University of Applied Sciences Liechtenstein
* History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
*
* Photos of Liechtenstein
* "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
* Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
* Harry's Mountain Walks in Liechtenstein The only English language guide to routes up and among Liechtensteins fabulous Alpine peaks; also available in German.
*Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, March 25 2003
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