Leopards sexually mature at 3 years. They can live up to 12 years in the wild. The males have large territories that are often connected with several smaller females' territories. The male has breeding rites with these females. Territorial boundaries are regularly marked off with urine, feces, facial marking, and scraping on the ground and trees.
Leopards are solitary, nocturnal, and secretive cats.
They spend a lot of time up in the trees, resting far above lions and hyenas, which can easily overpower the leopard. They eat, sleep, mate, and stalk prey from the trees. Lions and hyenas in Africa, and tigers in Asia take their toll on the leopard population, if they can catch them. Leopards have claws that are retractable, hooked, and very sharp. This enables them to climb trees almost effortlessly.