Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae

Genus: Panthera

Species: pardus

Subspecies: orientalis

1

Amur leopard Panthera pardus orientalis

Introduction:

Endangered species are any species of plant, animal, or other organism that is at risk

of extinction because of a sudden rapid decrease in its population or a loss of its

critical habitat. Roughly 99% of threatened species are at risk because of human activities

alone. By the early 21st century it could be said that human beings are the greatest threat to

biodiversity. The principal threats to species in the wild are (cited from Dublin, 2013):

1. Habitat loss and habitat degradation

2. The spread of introduced species (that is, non-native species that negatively affect the

ecosystems they become part of)

3. The growing influence of global warming and chemical pollution

4. Unsustainable hunting

5. Disease

Amur leopard or its scientific name as Panthera pardus orientalis, has been listed by IUCN

(International Union for Conservation of Nature) as critically endangered. In this folio, the

distribution, description, breeding behaviour, diet, special adaptations, threats and

conservation strategies of Amur leopard will be discussed.

Distribution:

Amur leopards are native to Korea, Manchuria and Siberia.

They are named after the Amur River, which run between the Russia and China border.

The Amur leopard has many other names linked to its former habitats, including: the Far

East leopard, Siberian leopard, Manchurian leopard and Korean leopard.

Their range is within rocky mountain woodlands (mountain forest) along the border of

southeastern Russia and northeastern China in the Khasan Region of Primorsky Krai (the

red circle indicate the range in the diagram below).

Part of the territory overlaps with the Amur tiger.

2

Description:

• The Amur leopard has a cream coloured coat that is marked with rosette spots of black

with tan centers. The coat on the underside of the body is lighter with solid black spots.

Their long tails also have solid black spots.

Amur leopard

• They are solitary, except during the mating season and while the mother rears her cubs.

• The female will let the male know she is ready to mate by scent marking.

• They are good climbers, swimmers and jumpers.

• Leopards are skilled climbers, carrying carcasses heavier than themselves up trees

and descending head first.

Amur leopard – the good climber

• They can run at speeds of up to 37 miles per hour and leap more than 6m horizontally and

3m vertically.

• They are nimble-footed and strong.

• They occur in any area that provides reasonable cover in temperate forests.

3

• They communicate through a distinctive rasping bark rather than a growl.

• Males weigh 82 to 198 pounds (generally 32-48 kg, but can weigh up to 75 kg).

• Females weigh 62 to 132 pounds (25-43 kg)

• They are nocturnal (active mainly during the night and dawn) and hence, not easy to spot

them.

• They mark their 30-square-mile territory with urine.

• Males have hunting territories that never overlap with another male’s.

• However, there is sometimes overlap between males and females.

• Lifespan: 10 to 15 years in the wild; up to 23 years in captivity

• The difference between snow leopards or jaguars and Amur leopards is on their rosettes

pattern. Amur leopards have widely-spaced rosettes with thick black borders.

• Amur leopards are carnivore.

Breeding Behaviour:

• Amur leopards can have cubs all year round but there is a peak breeding periods during

January to February

• Amur leopard in zoos show some evidence of breeding seasonality with a peak in

births in late spring/early summer.

• Estrus lasts 12–18 days, and in exceptional cases up to 25 days.

• Gestation period: 90 to 105 days

• Give birth between 1 to 4 cubs per litter.

• The weight of a newborn cub is 500–700g.

• Cubs are weaned at 3 months and leave their mother at 18 to 24 months.

• Sexual maturity: Approximately 3 years and ability to reproduce continues up to 10–15

years of age.

• It has been reported that some males stay with females after mating, and may even help

with rearing the young. Several males sometimes follow a female and fight with another

male over a female.

4

Diet:

• In wild, Amur leopard prey on roe deer, wild boar, sika deer, musk deer, hare (or rodents)

and badgers.

Roe deer Wild boar Sika deer

Musk deer Hare Badgers

• In the captivity, they are fed with feline diet (ground meat fortified with vitamins and

minerals).

• Amur leopards hunt alone. They hunt by stalking, waiting until they are a few meters

away before attacking their prey.

• After catching its prey, they will drag the food into a tree to prevent other animals from

taking it, perhaps because they share their range with tigers. They hide food for later

consumption.

• Amur Leopards tend to avoid living or hunting too close to tiger territory to avoid

direct competition for prey.

5

Special Adaptation:

• They have large, powerful jaws and long pointed canine teeth to help them grab and hold

their prey.

Long pointed canine teeth

• The premolars in the back of their mouth have surfaces specially designed for shearing

and chewing meat and are referred to as ‘carnassial’ teeth. 

• They also have sharp, pointed papillae on their tongue to help them remove meat from

bones.

• Their long, thick coat protects it against the cold. The length of their fur can also vary

between one and three inches, depending on the time of year (summer will be shorter and

winter will be longer).

• The spots on the coat help to camouflage, so they can sneak up on their prey and hide

from predators.

• Their fur colour changes from reddish yellow in summer to light yellow during winter.

• Amur leopards have longer legs than other leopards, allowing them to walk in snow with

greater ease. 

• The tail of the Amur leopard is thicker and furrier than other leopards and serves as a

“scarf” to place in front of the nose, warming the air for breathing in winter.

6

Threats:

• Loss and fragmentation of habitat (major factor)

• Conversion of forest to agricultural land

• Illegal and unsustainable logging

• Forest fire deliberately set each spring to improve fertility for livestock grazing,

killing ticks and other insects, making scrap metals visible so that they can be

easily collected, culling vegetation along train tracks and stimulating fern growth.

• Repeated fires have created open "savannah" landscapes with grass, oak bushes

and isolated trees that leopards seem to avoid, probably because of low ungulate

densities.

Forest fire

• Poaching and illegal trade for coats and body parts.

• The Amur leopards are poached for their beautiful, spotted fur.

• In 1999, an undercover investigation team recovered a female and a male Amur

leopard skin, which were being sold for $500 and $1,000 respectively in the

village of Barabash, not far from the Kedrovaya Pad reserve in Russia.

• The leopard internal parts (especially their bones) go to China for use in

Traditional Chinese Medicine.

• Amur leopards are most often killed by local Russians from small villages in and

around the leopard habitat.

• Conflict with people where Amur leopard venture into deer farms in search of

food, which can result in leopards being shot by farmers protecting their

livelihood.

• Poachers can sell a dead Amur leopard for up to $37,000. If caught, they risk

a fine of just $800.

7

Poaching for skin Illegal trade for coat

Trading demands

• Depletion of prey base

• Roe deer, sika deer and hare are over-hunted by the villagers both for food and

cash.

• Chinese hunters are coming across the border to poison the rivers to collect frogs

and to collect other wildlife and this ultimately has a threat on the health of the

whole eco-system.

Depletion of prey

• Economic Development

• The habitat area is an important one for Russia, containing many ports.

• Oil pipeline and road building

8

• Genetic diversity/variation low

• The Amur leopard is vulnerable to inbreeding depression. The remaining

population could disappear as a result of genetic degeneration.

• As the population of Amur leopards dwindles, genetic diversity also dwindles,

weakening the species.

• The Amur leopard was found to have the lowest levels of genetic variation of any

leopard subspecies.

• Such levels of genetic reduction have been associated with severe reproductive

and congenital abnormalities that impede the health, survival and reproduction of

some but not all genetically diminished small populations.

• Disease

• As with all small populations, the risk of extinction due to disease is greater. Any

disease or serious health issues may wipe out the entire remaining wild Amur leopard

population. Inbreeding may lead to genetic defects and/or weakened immune systems,

which makes animals more vulnerable and prone to disease.

• Canine Distemper Virus which is an emerging disease in wild endangered Amur

Tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) has been found transmissible to and among wildlife

species, including Amur Leopard.

Conservation Status:

The Amur leopard is the most endangered member of the cat family. They are among the

rearest of all the leopards.

IUCN Red List listed The Amur leopard as critically endangered, meaning that the

species is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. 

Studies have shown that fewer than 35 Amur leopards remain in the wild.

It's estimated that 80% of its range was lost between 1970 and 1983

Conservation & Preservation:

• The Amur leopards are important ecologically, economically and culturally.

• Conservation of their habitat benefits other species, including Amur tigers and

prey species like deer.

• North American and European zoos are participating in coordinated Amur leopard

breeding programs to help preserve this leopard subspecies. 

9

ALTA (Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance)

• ALTA is an international coalition of organizations working for the conservation of

Amur tigers and leopards in the wild (conservation organization).

• Protect Amur leopards from illegal hunting and habitat destruction.

• Awareness programmes with local villages and compensation schemes for deer farmers.

• There are plans in the works to try to reintroduce animals into their natural habitat.

• ALTA intends to increase prey in areas proposed for reintroduction, ensure that

conditions exist conducive for reintroduction in the selected area, and ensure

survival of the existing population.

• There are two sources of leopards for reintroduction: leopards born and raised in

zoos and leopards raised in a special reintroduction center passed through a

rehabilitation program for life in the wild.

• Three necessary behaviours of Amur leopards should be acquired prior to release:

hunting and killing of live natural prey; avoidance of humans and avoidance of

tigers.

• In March 2009, the Minister of Natural Resources of Russia during his meeting

with Vladimir Putin reassured that the ministry is planning to introduce new

"imported" Amur leopards into the area and creating suitable and safe habitat for

them. The government already allocated all required funds for the project.

WWF (World Wildlife Fund)

• Restoring and linking areas of forest, so leopards can move between habitats.

• Gaining government agreement to safeguard existing nature reserves.

• Establishing a programme to increase prey numbers.

• Restoring and linking areas of forest, so leopards can move between habitats.

• Gaining government agreement to safeguard existing nature reserves.

• Establishing a programme to increase prey numbers.

• Equipping and training local firefighters to reduce the impact of forest fires.

• Increasing fines for poaching and illegal trade of leopards and prey species.

• Amur leopards received a safe haven in 2012 when the government of Russia declared a

new protected area called Land of the Leopard National Park, this marked a major effort

to save the world’s rarest cat.

10

• The national park extending nearly 650,000 acres it includes all of the Amur

leopard’s breeding areas and about 60 percent of the critically endangered cat’s

remaining habitat.

• The park is also home to 10 endangered Amur tigers.

The colour in light green is the protected area; the dark green is the recreational area.

• Together with TRAFFIC, the world’s largest wildlife trade monitoring network, WWF

help governments enforce domestic and international trade restrictions on Amur leopard

products.

• Amur leopards are listed on CITES Appendix I, prohibiting all commercial trade in the

species.

• Monitoring Amur leopard populations and habitat using camera traps.

• Releasing prey such as roe deer, sika deer and wild boar into new reserves in China to

rebuild prey populations.

• Increase protected land in both Russia and China

• Reducing illegal and unsustainable logging practices

• Facilitating trade between companies committed to responsible forestry practices.

• Lobbied the Russian government to reroute a planned oil pipeline that would have

endangered the leopard’s habitat in 2007.

11

ZSL (Zoological Society of London)

• organizing a reintroduction plan which aims to have a second population of Amur

leopards established in a reserve where they used to live, north of Vladivostok and away

from the cities.

Individual effort:

• Spread the word

• Send a free e-card, featuring animals and places, to friends and family to show

that we care about wildlife and the planet.

• Adopt an Amur Leopard

• Make a symbolic Amur leopard adoption by donation to the conservation

organization.

• Become a partner in conservation

• Annual contribution of $1,000 or more.

• A comprehensive education program for school children and students in the leopard

range.

• Media campaign to create awareness about the Amur leopard's plight.

12

Conclusion:

After the conservation and preservation efforts made to the critically endangered Amur

leopards, report from Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has shown an increase in the

number of Amur leopard captured in wild using CamTraker and Panthera camera within the

year 2002 – 2011. In 2011, the researcher recorded 17 different leopards which are the most

ever in nine years of monitoring. While most of these likely represent transients, it is still a

positive sign that the population is reproducing and at least maintaining itself. Table below

shows the results of this surveillance.

Number of leopard photographs, captures, and the minimum

number of leopards in the study area from 2003-2011

As conservation and preservation efforts shown a positive impact, these activities should be

continued to ensure a better future of these critically endangered species.

13

Bibliography

AMUR – Russian Amur Tiger and Leopard Conservation. Cited from

http://www.amur.org.uk/leopards/

Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA) - Amur Leopard Factfile (March, 2013). Cited

from http://www.altaconservation.org/amur-leopard/amur-leopard-factfile/

Asley Clayton. Animal Fact Sheet - Amur leopard. Cited from

https://www.eriezoo.org/PDFS/Animal%20Fact%20Sheets%20for%20Website/Amur

%20Leopard.pdf

Audubon Animals – Amur leopard. Cited from

http://www.auduboninstitute.org/animals/asian-domain/amur-leopard-1951

Camporeale, V., Kurtz, S. & Pintek, M. (2011). Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis).

Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo. Cited from http://beardsleyzoo.org/node/686

Dublin, H. (2013). Encyclopedia Britannica – Endangered species. Cited form

http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/186738/endangered-species

Edinburgh Zoo – Amur leopard. Cited from

http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/animals/individuals/AmurLeopard.html

Saint Louis Zoo – Amur leopard. Cited from

http://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/mammals/carnivores/amurleopard/

The Oregon Zoo Foundation – Amur leopard. Cited from

http://www.oregonzoo.org/discover/animals/amur-leopard

Twycross Zoo - Amur leopard. Cited from http://www.twycrosszoo.org/amur-leopard.aspx

Wikipedia – Amur leopard. Cited from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amur_leopard

14

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – Monitoring Amur Leopards and Tigers in the

Russian Far East. (March 2012). Cited from

http://www.altaconservation.org/assets/alta/pdf/documents_for_website/

WCS_Report_%20Monitoring_Amur_Leopards_and%20_Tigers_in_the_Russian_

%20Far_%20East_March_2012.pdf

WWF - Adopt an Amur leopard. Cited from http://www.wwf.org.uk/adoption/amur-leopard/

WWF – Amur leopard. Cited from http://worldwildlife.org/species/amur-leopard

Zoological Society of London. Cited from

http://www.zsl.org/conservation/regions/asia/amur-leopard/amur-leopard-

conservation-in-russia,468,AR.html

15