Camera traps capture rarest of leopards
14 Jul
Amidst all the doom and gloom, we’ve managed to unearth some positive conservation news to end off the week. And it’s too great not to share:
The Amur leopard in this footage from the WWF is possibly the rarest cat in the world – so critically endangered according to the IUCN that a 2007 census counted only 14-20 adults. With its numbers threatened by poaching and its habitat by fire, logging and human encroachment, it would seem the odds are stacked grimly against this remarkable leopard subspecies. Which is precisely why this new WWF footage has conservationists so excited.
The recordings, made by camera traps in two wildlife reserves in Russia’s Far East, document 12 Amur leopards and suggest that population numbers might be on the rise (camera surveys in previous years turned up much less positive results). The WWF is hoping that more monitoring efforts scheduled for next year will confirm the increase in numbers.
Two hundred years ago, Amur leopards roamed across southeastern Russia, through northeast China and as far as the Korean peninsula. Today they inhabit only a tiny fragment of their former range (remaining range in dark pink):
View Amur leopard distribution in a larger map
Want to help save the Amur leopard? Click here.
We must do something to save this wild cats.
the footage is amazing, poachers should be locked up for life.
the leopards looks angry. i am afraid it very much.