Meet The Amur Leopard: The Rarest Big Cat In The World, With Likely Less Than 200 Of Them Left In The Wild
Lions and tigers are the best-known big cat species on the planet. They are prevalent in symbolism throughout the world and have a wide-ranging presence in popular culture.
In total, there are 40 existing wildcat species, but many people aren’t familiar with them all, except for the lions and tigers, of course.
Meet the Amur leopard, which is considered the rarest big cat in the world. This big cat is critically endangered, with likely less than 200 of them left in the wild. It is also known as the Far Eastern leopard and is the rarest of nine leopard subspecies.
Amur leopards live in forested regions along the border of Russia, China, and North Korea. The majority of them are found in the Land of Leopard National Park in Russia, with a few in China.
They are nocturnal animals that live and hunt alone. Their diet primarily consists of roe deer and sika deer, but they also indulge in fish, amphibians, rodents, and wild boar.
These cats have thick, spotted, luscious coats and massive furry tails to keep them warm during harsh winters.
Because they inhabit colder regions, their fur is thicker than other leopard species. The Amur leopard has a tendency to be extremely elusive, so it’s difficult to gauge exactly how many of them are still alive.
Over the years, the Amur leopard has been hunted to the edge of extinction because of poachers and how they endangered reindeer herds.
Their homes have also been destroyed by human activity, such as logging, farming, road construction, industrial development, and forest fires.
Mikhail Semenov – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
A study from 2022 analyzed leopard DNA from droppings gathered at the Land of Leopard National Park to gain a better sense of the surviving population.
It found that fewer than 200 Amur leopards are in existence. At the park, 121 leopards were living there in December 2023.
In 2008, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared the Amur leopard as critically endangered.
Recent research has shown that conservation efforts have led to small increases in the population. In Russia and northeast China, the number of Amur leopards is believed to have reached 120 adults. However, these big cats are still in danger of dying out.
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