Amur leopard

Amur leopard
A captive Amur leopard at the Colchester Zoo, England
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species:
P. pardus
Subspecies:
P. p. orientalis
Trinomial name
Panthera pardus orientalis
(Schlegel, 1857)
Historic and present distribution of the subspecies (excluding northern China to the west of Manchuria)
Synonyms[3]
  • P. p. japonensis? (Gray, 1862)
  • Felis villosa[2]
  • Panthera hanensis

The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is a leopard subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and northern China. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as in 2007, only 19–26 wild leopards were estimated to survive in southeastern Russia and northeastern China.[1]

As of 2015, fewer than 60 individuals were estimated to survive in Russia and China.[4] Camera-trapping surveys conducted between 2014 and 2015 revealed 92 individuals in an 8,398 km2 (3,242 sq mi) large transboundary area along the Russian-Chinese border.[5] As of 2023, the population was thought to comprise 128–130 sub-adult and adult individuals.[6]

Results of genetic research indicate that the Amur leopard is genetically close to leopards in northern China and Korea, suggesting that the leopard population in this region became fragmented in the early 20th century.[7] The North Chinese leopard was formerly recognised as a distinct subspecies (P. p. japonensis), but was subsumed under the Amur leopard in 2017.[3]

  1. ^ a b Jackson, P.; Nowell, K. (2008). "Panthera pardus ssp. orientalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T15957A5333757. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T15957A5333757.en.
  2. ^ "Mammals Collected in the Maritime Province of Siberia by the Modern-Graves North Asiatic Expedition, with the Description of a New Hare from the Amur River" (PDF). American Museum Novitates. American Museum of Natural History. 1933. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b Kitchener, A. C.; Breitenmoser-Würsten, C.; Eizirik, E.; Gentry, A.; Werdelin, L.; Wilting, A.; Yamaguchi, N.; Abramov, A. V.; Christiansen, P.; Driscoll, C.; Duckworth, J. W.; Johnson, W.; Luo, S.-J.; Meijaard, E.; O'Donoghue, P.; Sanderson, J.; Seymour, K.; Bruford, M.; Groves, C.; Hoffmann, M.; Nowell, K.; Timmons, Z.; Tobe, S. (2017). "A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group" (PDF). Cat News (Special Issue 11): 73–75.
  4. ^ Qi, J.; Shi, Q.; Wang, G.; Li, Z.; Sun, Q.; Hua, Y. & Jiang, G. (2015). "Spatial distribution drivers of Amur leopard density in northeast China" (PDF). Biological Conservation. 191 (191): 258–265. Bibcode:2015BCons.191..258Q. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2015.06.034. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  5. ^ Vitkalova, A. V.; Feng, L.; Rybin, A. N.; Gerber, B. D.; Miquelle, D. G.; Wang, Tianming; Yang, H.; Shevtsova, E. I.; Aramilev, V. V.; Ge, J. (2018). "Transboundary cooperation improves endangered species monitoring and conservation actions: A case study of the global population of Amur leopards". Conservation Letters. 11 (5): e12574. Bibcode:2018ConL...11E2574V. doi:10.1111/conl.12574.
  6. ^ Stein, A.B.; Gerngross, P.; Al Hikmani, H.; Balme, G.; Bertola, L.; Drouilly, M.; Farhadinia, M.S.; Feng, L.; Ghoddousi, A.; Henschel, P.; Jhala, Y.; Khorozyan, I.; Kittle, A.; Laguardia, A.; Luo, S.-J.; Mann, G.; Miquelle, D.; Moheb, Z.; Raza, H.; Rostro-García, S.; Shivakumar, S.; Song, D. & Wibisono, H. (2024). "Panthera pardus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2024: e.T15954A254576956. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  7. ^ Uphyrkina, O.; O'Brien, S. J. (2003). "Applying molecular genetic tools to the conservation and action plan for the critically endangered Far Eastern leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis)". Comptes Rendus Biologies. 326 (Supplement 1): S93–97. doi:10.1016/s1631-0691(03)00044-1. PMID 14558456.