The average weight of a male leopard is the same as the weight of a 14-year-old boy.
Note: we are discussing the weight of the common leopard, Panthera pardus. It isn’t very useful to know the average weight of a leopard because “the leopard shows a great deal of size variation over its broad geographic distribution”. And the variation in weight is quite profound. I have therefore presented some averages by region and an overall average.
Based on the data presented below (averaging the regional data) the average for male leopards is 52 kg or 114 pounds. The average weight of females from the data is 29.5 kg or 65 pounds.
The average weight of 27 male leopards in Cape Province (1981) was 30.9 kilograms (68 pounds). Their weights varied from 20-45 kg. Nine females weighed an average of 21.2 kilograms (47 pounds). For me these are surprisingly low weights but some of the smallest leopards come from Cape Province in South Africa. Similar weights are found in Israel (Judean Desert) if there are any left in that country in 2017.
Male leopards from the mountainous regions of Iran and Central Asia are large at 90 kg.
However, in Kruger National Park eight males leopards weighed an average of 60.6 kg and for 11 females the average was 37.4 kg.
In Zambia nine males weighed an average of 49 kg and nine females averaged 34 kg.
In Zimbabwe, 13 males weighed an average of 59.6 kg and seven females averaged 31.5 kg.
In Sri Lanka, the average weight of eleven males was 56.3 kg and seven females, 29 kg.
In Thailand three males averaged 56.7 kg while two females averaged 23 kg.
You can see that the distribution of the leopard is indeed very wide (the widest of all wild cat species) which accounts for the wide spectrum of weights. The weights are from studies generally conducted in the 1980s and 90s and referred to in the excellent book, Wild Cats of the World by Mel and Fiona Sunquist. The quote is also from this book.
Adult males are always larger than females by 30-50%. The largest males are three times heavier than the smallest. One kilogram = 2.20462 pounds. Kg = kilograms.
