Refers specifically to the leopard (Panthera pardus). In everyday Japanese, the kana spelling ひょう is very common.
I saw a leopard on the African savanna.
She was wearing a leopard-print scarf.
Leopards often rest in trees.
counter for small animals · counter for rolls of cloth · archaic counter for horses · roll of cloth
Standard kanji spelling; commonly used in news and general writing.
Kana spelling is common; usually written in kana.
The kanji 豹 is a phono-semantic compound: the left radical 豸 (beast) and the right phonetic 勺 (shaku), which historically suggested a spotted animal. The reading ひょう is the Sino-Japanese on'yomi.
jaguar