Amur Leopard – The most rare cat on earth!


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Amur leopard is one of the 7 sub-species of leopards which includes Javan,Sri-Lankan, African, Indian, north Chinese, Persian and  Arabian leopards. It is considered the most critically endangered cat in the world and the most rare cat on earth today. This is could be easily determined by the fact that only 40-50 individuals exist in the wild today which has become double the number from 2017 when there were only 20-25 leopards left in the wild.

                                         
Image Source-  Google | Image by - commons.wikimedia

Description and Habitat

These used to be found in the entire region of the dense forest of Russia and China but today their habitat is only confined to small regions in south eastern part of Russia. Despite constant conservation efforts, the population has not increased significantly in recent years which has raised serious concerns making it the more rare cat present on the planet.

Amur leopards are smaller in size as compared to other leopard species and are covered with a dense fur coat to bear extreme climatic conditions right from severe cold to hot climate during summers in the region.

The spots are somewhat darker with rusty yellow colour which help them to camouflage in the jungle thereby making them an efficient predator and at the top of the food chain.

                                           
Image Source-  Google | Image by -pxfuel
                                         
Diet and Habits 

Amur leopards mainly hunt for Roe deer, sika deer, wild boar, Badgers or anything which they can fit in their mouth as finding prey is a tough task in extreme temperatures.

These are nocturnal creatures that mostly come out of their hidden spots during the night only when they can hunt and have an edge over their prey because of their exceptional night vision. In general, they prefer to be away from human habitation and there hasn't been any case of an attack on humans mostly because of their such low numbers in the wild.
                                           
Image Source-  Google | Image by -wallpaperflare
                                            

These are soo rare that the scientists and conservationists working for their protection has never seen an Amur leopard in the wild apart from glimpses and pictures captured by the camera track.

Moreover, these camera traps have been very helpful in determining the count if these leopards in the wild. Although human intervention has been the main cause of the decline of the Amur leopards in the region but since amur leopards have expanded their region and the count of individuals is too low, it has raised serious issues for the conservation program for their breeding in the wild.
                                             
                                             
Image Source-  Google | Image by -wallpaperflare
                                            

Conservation of the breed 

The main culprit behind the fall of amur leopard population is hunting of the leopards along with their prey such as sika deer which had led to fall in numbers of the leopards in the wild.

Moreover some Chinese medicines claim that by use of skin and bones of leopards, they can create medicines that have magical powers to cure several diseases. Illegal logging activities, deforestation, construction projects, etc have caused severe damage to leopards habitat.

Recently after being added in the critically endangered species list of IUCN, conservation efforts have increased which has caused the population to increase by double in the past 3 years.

Furthermore seeing a drastic drop in leopard numbers in the wild which would cause the collapse of the entire ecosystem in the region as leopards are on top of the food chain has made the authorities to realize that the last left amur leopards need protection and so development of a new wildlife sanctuary is proposed in the region which would act as the last destination of left amur leopards in the world.

                   Save the Animals|Amur leopard| Save the Species| Protect the Animals