I ❤️ Big Cats 🐈‍⬛ 🐆 and so as many different cultures around the world. On my continent of Asia, you see a lot of lions guarding Hindu and Buddhist temples, and when you think of the symbol of #Africa, we think of the King of the Jungle, the #Lion ( even tho lions don’t live in the jungle) 🦁 👑 Traveling through West Africa, I see more leopards guarding my hotel lobbies mimicking ancient African Art and how the leopards would be guarding palaces, temples in ancient time . The leopard was once the emblem of power for the exclusive use of the Oba or King of #Benin, representing triumph of people over the wild. It was symbol of fear as well as a leader in the animal kingdom. Leopards are brave and tough, sleek and dangerous, unlike most animals that run away and hide when wounded, leopards become more vicious and dangerous. The leopard is the most versatile of all the big cats, while tigers live in the forest of Asia, lions live in the Savanna of Africa ( and India) but the leopards can live in either forests or Savanna and can be found on many continents, they’re very elusive and hard to spot in the wild. A very fascinating animal with string jaws that can drag up their prey that weight more than their body weight up the tree. A #BlackPanther is basically a leopard ( and its South American cousin, the Jaguar) with the melanistic colour variant, 🐈‍⬛🐆 #Leopards #panther #BigCats #AnimalKingdom #Inspo #Art #panthera #AfricanArt #ArtOfAfrica #BeninBronze @pantheracats