A Gorgeous Leopard from South Africa!

Ever since I was a child I have been an animal lover. I recall always being so excited to go to the zoo and see all the exotic animals. Growing up we lived in a fairly rural location and had all sorts of pets over the years. We always had dogs, some cats, rabbits, ducks, a turkey (once, they are mean), and even a pygmy goat. Even as adult with my son growing up we always had a dog in the house, but that's about as far as I was willing to go on pets! We did, however, frequent zoos and Sea World on a fairly regular basis...

I guess that's always been part of why I have enjoyed collecting animal coins over the years as well. Unfortunately, here in the United States they haven't produced very many. But while living abroad I began collecting more when I found them. However, I've always been a silver and gold lover, so if they weren't precious metals I wouldn't buy them unless I loved the design. I has happened every now and again!

When I moved back to the US I began getting more seriously into gold prospecting and spent a lot of time outdoors. It was always fun to come across wild animals, although preferably from a distance. Bears I have seen on occasion but from a very safe distance, and a couple of times I have seen cougars and bobcats. Sadly one animal I never got to see in the wild was the jaguar as they were hunted into extinction here in the US in the 1940's.

So, where am I going with this diatribe? I recently saw the latest coin from the Big Five Series from South Africa featuring the leopard. When I first saw it I almost mistook it for a jaguar. That got me wondering how closely the two were related, turns out not very closely despite appearances. But back to the coin, this is a really nice coin they produced this year that comes in a quarter ounce and full Troy ounce of pure gold. Have a look:

From APMEX.com

What a pretty coin! Of the quarter ounce they are producing 2,000 of them and they start at $1,895. A little bit expensive, but much more affordable than the full ounce variety! Micro gold in smaller quantities is being produced more and more around the world these days. Gold is down in price quite a bit at the moment, the Iran conflict has driven down the prices significantly. So it may be a great time to buy! But that may not much last too much longer, once oil drops in price the investors will flock back to gold and silver. Here's gold over the last month:

Kitco.com

So now that I shared that nice new coin, it gives me a great excuse to talk about the animal! I need to do more animal posts!

Leopard

wallpapers.com

wall.alphacoders.com

I wish I could say I took those myself, but never having been to anywhere they natively live would limit my photography to the zoo. And oddly while looking through many of the old zoo pictures from when my son was younger, there were none of leopards. Not sure why, but oh well... Aren't they gorgeous predators, from a distance that is. I'll pass on the up close and personal experience! Hive account@papilloncharity , who lives in South Africa, once mentioned to me that his uncle had once been mauled by a leopard and lived to tell about it. I still can't wait to hear the details of that story!

I learned something new today, I had assumed there was only one species of leopard. Boy was I wrong! Turns out there are eight subspecies living from Africa, the Middle East, Asia and all the way into Indonesia. It's an opportunistic ambush predator just like the jaguar and cougar here in the Americas. There characteristic spots provide camouflage making the sneak attack more effective and the prey often never sees it coming. What's even more interesting is that the spotting pattern in each individual is different, making an individual identifiable by it's spot pattern! Just like a fingerprint.

Like most big cats they are solitary creatures and shy away from human populations. So catching one on film must be a rare treat! Sadly, the leopard populations are declining worldwide and most species are considered vulnerable or endangered due to habitat loss, poaching, and fragmentation caused by human populations. While many people fear them, they rarely attack people unless they feel threatened or are too ill to hunt it's regular game.

Has anyone ever seen one in the wild, just out of curiosity?

That will do it for this Thursday! I do hope you enjoyed seeing the gold and learning a little more about the leopard. If you are interested I am leaving the link to Wikipedia on the subject in my references. Big cats are fascinating animals, as long as they are a safe distance away! Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below, and as always thank you for all of the support. It's deeply appreciated! Have a great day everyone! The weekend is almost upon us!

References:

https://www.apmex.com/product/327721/2026-south-africa-1-4-oz-proof-gold-big-five-leopard-box-coa

https://www.kitco.com/charts/gold

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard

Disclaimer

I am not a financial planner and this isn't financial advice. Please always do your own research before investing your money. You worked hard enough to earn it!