China and the End of the Deng Dynasty | STRATFOR. Like a leopard, China is powerful and skillful. What's the difference between LEOPARD, PANTHER and BLACK PANTHER?

Please read: China and the End of the Deng Dynasty | STRATFOR

Like a leopard, China is powerful and skillful.

"The species' success in the wild is in part due to its opportunistic hunting behavior, its adaptability to habitats, its ability to run at speeds approaching 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph), its unequaled ability to climb trees even when carrying a heavy carcass,^[3] and its notorious ability for stealth. The leopard consumes virtually any animal that it can hunt down and catch. Its habitat ranges from rainforest to desert terrains."

Maximum card created for me by my partner/friend Xia, from PR China.

"The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), also known as the Manchurian leopard and the Far Eastern leopard, is a wild feline predator native to the mountainous areas of the taiga as well as other temperate forests in Korea, Northeast China and the Russian Far East. 

It is one of the rarest felids in the world with an estimated 30 to 35 individuals remaining in the wild.^[2] 

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has deemed the Amur leopard critically endangered, meaning that it is considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.^[1]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amur_leopard}

What's the difference between LEOPARD, PANTHER and BLACK PANTHER?

In common(ers') language, Panther is the same as a Leopard.

A Black Panther is just a Panther with black dots on the black background color of the fur.

Melanistic.

"Black on black, I want my panther black"...

"The leopard ( /ˈlɛpərd/), Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. 

The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its range of distribution has decreased radically because of hunting and loss of habitat. 

It is now chiefly found in sub-Saharan Africa; there are also fragmented populations in Indonesia,Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Malaysia, and China. 

Because of its declining range and population, it is listed as a "Near Threatened" species by the IUCN.^[2]

Compared to other members of the Felidae family, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. 

It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, but is smaller and more slightly built. 

Its fur is marked with rosettes similar to those of the jaguar, but the leopard's rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and do not usually have central spots as the jaguars do. 

Both leopards and jaguars that are melanistic (completely black or very dark) are known as black panthers."

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

Let's see a famous fictional black panther, Bagheera:

In case you wonder: yes, it's legal for USPS to postmark foreign stamps, as long as proper US stamp(s) are postmarked in the same stroke.

Learn that, Royal Mail from UK. You should do it, too, with UK stamps and foreign ones.

No animal was harmed in the process.

:)

Let's pretend that the tree in the above image is reddish enough to qualify for Ruby Tuesday meme, shall we?

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Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

Cat's amazingly cute encounter with dolphins becomes Internet sensation. Also, I show you a cover with dolphin stamp and pictorial postmark from Monterey, California, USA

Cat's amazingly cute encounter with dolphins becomes Internet sensation

Dolphins, and other mammals, on stamps:

The Stamp Collecting Round-Up. New prices, starting today, for some of your mail pieces

The Stamp Collecting Round-Up