It is native to the Iranian Plateau and the surrounding region from eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus to the Hindu Kush, where it inhabits foremost subalpine meadows, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and rugged ravines at elevations of 600 to 3,800 m (2,000 to 12,500 ft).

Felis tulliana was the scientific name proposed by Achille Valenciennes in 1856, who described a skin and skull from a leopard killed near Smyrna, in western Anatolia.

[16] A phylogenetic analysis indicates that P. p. tulliana matrilineally belongs to a monophyletic group that diverged from the African (P. p. pardus) and the Arabian leopard (P. p. nimr) in the second half of the Pleistocene.

[18] P. p. tulliana has a grayish, slightly reddish fur with large rosettes on the flanks and back, smaller ones on the shoulder and upper legs, and spots on the head and neck.

[20] Biometric data collected from 25 female and male individuals in various provinces of Iran indicate an average body length of 259 cm (102 in).

[22] In northern Anatolia, zoologists found evidence of leopards in the upper forest and alpine zones of the Pontic Mountains during surveys carried out between 1993 and 2002.

[25] A camera trap photograph obtained in Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region in September 2013 is said to show a leopard.

[23] In the Caucasus, leopards were sighted around the Tbilisi area and in the Shida Kartli province in Georgia, where they live primarily in dense forests.

[31] Leopard signs were also found at two localities in Tusheti, the headwaters of the Andi Koysu and Assa rivers bordering Dagestan.

[33] Between October 2000 and July 2002, tracks of 10 leopards were found in an area of 780 km2 (300 sq mi) in the rugged and cliffy terrain of Khosrov State Reserve on the southwestern slopes of the Gegham mountains.

[41] During surveys in 2013–2014, camera traps recorded leopards in seven locations in Zangezur National Park, including two different females and one male.

Most leopards were recorded in habitats with temperatures of 13 to 18 °C (55 to 64 °F), maximum 20 days of ice cover per year and an annual rainfall of more than 200 mm (7.9 in).

[48] The Central Alborz Protected Area covering more than 3,500 km2 (1,400 sq mi) is one of the largest reserves in the country where leopards roam.

[49] Evidence for breeding of leopards was documented in six localities inside protected areas in the Iranian part of the Lesser Caucasus.

[50] Camera trapping surveys in summer 2016 documented the presence of 52 leopards in Sarigol, Salouk and Tandooreh National Parks.

These included 10 cubs in seven families, thus highlighting that the Kopet Dag and Aladagh Mountains are important leopard refugia in the region.

[56] In Bamu National Park in Fars province, surveys carried out from autumn 2007 to spring 2008 revealed seven individuals in a sampling area of 321.12 km2 (123.99 sq mi).

[63] Stone traps for leopards and other predators dating to the Roman Empire still exist in the Taurus Mountains in southern Turkey.

In addition, inadequate baseline data and lack of monitoring programmes made it difficult to evaluate declines of mammalian prey species.

[73] Leopards also survived in northwestern Azerbaijan in the Akhar-Bakhar section of Ilisu State Reserve in the foothills of the Greater Caucasus, but in 2007 numbers were thought to be extremely low.

The long-lasting conflict in the country badly affected both predator and prey species, so that the national population is considered to be small and severely threatened.

[76] In southern Armenia and Iran, it preys mostly on wild goat (Capra aegagrus), mouflon (Ovis gmelini), wild boar (Sus scrofa), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), Indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) and European hare (Lepus europaeus).

But the combined impact of poaching, disturbance caused by livestock breeding, gathering of edible plants and mushrooms, deforestation and human-induced wild fires was so high that the tolerance limits of leopards was exceeded.

[94] Leopards injured 30 people and killed one in the country between 2012 and 2020, mostly thought to be defensive reactions by animals surprised by livestock herders.

[1] It is listed as a strictly protected species in Appendix II of the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats.

[47] In 2001, hunting leopards was banned in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and anti-poaching activities were regularly conducted in southern Armenia since 2003.

[104] Conservationists hope that it will encourage people to protect, connect and restore suitable habitat, including international Wildlife corridors.

[108] Three core habitats and suitable corridors between protected areas in the Zagros Mountains were identified along the international border between Iran and Iraq.

[109] In 2021, several authors suggested that there is enough suitable habitat in the Caucasus as a whole for over 1,000 leopards, but a metapopulation will only be viable if persecution is reduced and prey restored.

[114] Representations of the Anatolian leopard found in the ancient city of Thyatira in Anatolia date from the Neolithic period to the end of the 6th century BC.