European leopard (SciiFii)

The European leopard (Panthera pardus spelaea), sometimes also known as the European Ice Age leopard or Late Pleistocene Ice Age leopard (named after the time it originally lived in), is a leopard subspecies which originally lived in Europe in the Late Pleistocene and was once extinct since between 32,000 - 26,000 years ago, but has since been brought back from extinction by SciiFii and reintroduced throughout Europe to help boost biodiversity. The European leopard is similar in size to most other leopard subspecies found in Africa and Asia. The fur of the European leopard resembles cross between the fur of the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and the Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana) in pattern and coloration, and the fur of the European leopard is thick to keep it warm during the cold winters. In contrast to most other leopard subspecies, the belly of the European leopard is unspotted white in color. Just like other leopard subspecies, however, there is strong sexual dimorphism, with males being larger than females. The European leopard is a carnivore that primarily hunts small and medium-sized prey animals such as ibex, deer and wild boar. Like most leopards, the European leopard is a solitary and territorial animal. Adults associate only in the mating season. Females continue to interact with their offspring even after weaning, and have been observed sharing kills with their offspring when they can not obtain any prey. They produce a number of vocalizations, including growls, snarls, meows and purrs. The roaring sequence in European leopards consists mainly of grunts and is also called "sawing", having been described as resembling the sound of sawing wood. Cubs are known to call their mother with a urr-urr sound. The conservation status of the European leopard is Near Threatened due to some habitat loss and historic poaching, however, thanks to the conservationists, the European leopards are a protected species and hunting European leopards is illegal. Unlike most other leopard subspecies, the population trend of the European leopards are actually increasing due to strong conservation efforts.