Panthera pardus tulliana

Panthera pardus tulliana
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific 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. tulliana
Trinomial name
Panthera pardus tulliana (Valenciennes, 1856)
Distribution of P. p. tulliana, 2016
Synonyms
P. p. ciscaucasica (Satunin, 1914) P. p. saxicolor Pocock, 1927 P. p. sindica Pocock, 1930 P. p. dathei Zukowsky, 1964

Panthera pardus tulliana, also called Persian leopard, Anatolian leopard, and Caucasian leopard in different parts of its range, is a leopard subspecies that was first described in 1856 based on a zoological specimen found in western Anatolia. It is native to the Iranian Plateau and the surrounding region from eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus to the Hindu Kush, where it inhabits foremost subalpine meadows, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and rugged ravines at elevations of 600 to 3,800 m (2,000 to 12,500 ft). It preys mostly on ungulates reliant on these habitats.

Today, the leopard population in this region is estimated at fewer than 1,100 adults. It is threatened by habitat fragmentation due to land use changes, poaching, loss of wild prey species and killing in retaliation for preying on livestock. It is internationally protected under CITES Appendix I and in Appendix II of the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats.