The Critically Endangered Amur Leopard
The Critically Endangered Amur Leopard belongs to the following groups:
Wildlife, Landscape, and Nature Photography Online MagazineI was lucky to get to see an Amur Leopard at the Philadelphia Zoo in August 2008. Whilst not strictly ‘Nature Photography’ in that sense, it would be very difficult to see them other than in a zoo, or in a breeding programme, as there are only between 25 to 34 left of these beautiful animals in the wild. This makes them critically endangered, and they face the very real threat of extinction.
They are the most beautiful cat, with a yellowish coat that has widely spaced rosettes with thick, black rings and dark centres. The length of the coat varies between 2.5cm in summer and 7.5cm in winter. They have the most gorgeous light, blue-green eyes, which makes them very striking.
They are found in the mountainous taiga forest and grasslands on the southern tip of the Russian Far East, sharing a border with China and Korea.
The Amur Leopard faces many threats, which include poaching, deforestation, inbreeding, local development projects, and a lack of commitment for conservation from the government.
Poor local villagers and Chinese nationals illegally crossing the border are the main problems when it comes to poaching. Both of the big cats themselves, and of their prey that they eat (deer). Since 2002 at least 9 corpses or skins have been found in Russia, and another two in China. Their body parts are sold to be used in Traditional Chinese medicines, and their skins are highly prized.
Shrinking habitat caused by logging, and both seasonal fires and fires lit by farmers to quickly regenerate ferns, which are a highly prized ingredient used both in local and Chinese dishes, is also a huge problem. Much of their remaining territory is surrounded by farms and villages which makes poaching easier.
There are several groups that have been formed to try and save this big cat from the brink of extinction. The main one is the The Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA) which has been formed by a coalition of 13 international and Russian NGOs. Their volunteers work hard, trying to raise public awareness of the Leopard’s plight through education programmes. They lobby for improvements to conservation policies and regulations, and take part in anti-poaching schemes. They organize fire fighting teams to fight seasonal forest fires which destroy large areas of the leopard’s habitat, and monitor the Leopard’s population by doing snow-track count and camera trapping, and they raise money to give locals compensation for any livestock killed by them.
If you would like to help please visit the Wildlife Alliance Website for further information
dawndavies
fabulous info on this rare cat, a few hours away from me is a park called the Cotswold wildlife park they have two of these and are hoping they will breed, fabulous cats they are,dawnx
Robyn Carter
They are fascinating animals – the eyes are amazing :) Glad you enjoyed hte info :)