Amur Leopard

Appearance
What does the animal look like?

Note size, shape, colour,

covering, special features.
Include drawings or photos.
The Amur leopard or far eastern leopard is one of the eight subspecies
of leopard.
Thick fur up to 7.5 cm long in winter (adapted
to cool
climate)
Their coat is paler than other subspecies (to
camouflage in snow)
The black dots on it are more widely spaced
and larger than its other subspecies
Its tongue has small hooks called denticles
used to scrape meat of the bones of their prey.
Males weigh around 32-48 kg and weigh up to
75 kg.
Females weigh around 25 43 kg
Habitat
Include information about where
Where did it live in the wild
they shelter, how they find food.
Is the weather hot or cold, wet or
dry?
It is only found in the Russia Far East and
North East China
Lives in temperate forests and harsh
winters of Russia far East
They have territories and do not let other
leopards go onto their territory, even
though they sometimes slightly overlap
territories.
They travel upwards and downwards to
get away from the snow.
Behaviours

What do they eat, how do they

protect themselves, are they a
solitary or pack animal, do they
care for their young, if so how?
Females first breed at around 3-4 years old
The babies take about 12 months to be
born and are born in litters of around 1-4
cubs
Their mother will stay with her kids for
around two years before they get
independent and wonder off by
themselves.
In the wild leopards will live 10-15 years long in the wild and 20 years in
captivity.
Solitary animal
They eat a variety of meats including roe, deer, wild boars,
Cause for loss of numbers
Why did this animal species

become endangered? Is anything

being done to help them survive?
There are only approximately 70 Amur leopards left in the wild
They are illegally hunted for their beautiful patterns of fur by local
villages
Their prey is also illegally poached by the local villages.
There is a lot of habitat left for them to live but not enough prey to
sustain large numbers of Amur leopards
Action
What could have been or is being
done to save them?
The main thing to save the Amur leopards is stopping the poaching of
them and their prey
Prey numbers are not enough to sustain a large population
The WWF created a massive national park where a lot of the Amur
leopards were living
Sustaining habitat by stopping illegal logging
Breed their prey like deer.

The Amur leopard or far eastern leopard is one of the

eight
different subspecies of leopard and is also the rarest
with
only around 70 left in the wild. The Amur leopard has
a
really distinct and beautiful fur compared to its
subspecies resulting in a lot of poaching. Its fur will
grow up to 7.5cm long in winter as it has adapted to
its
cool climate, and is a lot paler than its subspecies. Its
also has bigger and more widely spaced black dots. It
has other distinct features including small hooks on its
tongue called denticles, which it uses to scrape meat
of its
preys bones. Male Amur leopards normally weigh
around 32-48 kg and weigh up to 75kg, while their females only weigh around 25
43 kg.
Amur leopards are only found in Far East Russia, North
East China. They live in the harsh winters of Russia Far
East, and also in temperate forests. Leopards have
learnt over their years to travel upwards and downwards
according to the snow fall and time of year. Leopards
have their own territories and will not let another
leopard cross into their territory, even though their
territories slightly overlap sometimes.

Amur leopards are solitary animals and

roam around south east Russia and china.
They live of a varied diet of mammals
including roe, deer and wild boars. Females
can first breed at around 3-4 years old, and
will create litters of 1-4 cubs. The babies
will take around 12 months to be born and
will stay with their mother for around two
years before they get independent and
wander off by themselves. Amur leopards will live 10-15 years old and 20
years in captivity.

There have been many assumptions and studies done by scientists as to why
these animals are critically endangered and the main point that has repeatedly
come up has been poaching. The local villages are really poor, and will often
hunt Amur leopards for their beautiful patterned fur and the high price that
comes with it. The villagers do not only poach the Amur leopards. They have a
variety of animals they hunt including most of the leopards prey like deer boars
etcetera. The Amur leopards have enough habitat to live but not enough prey to
sustain a large population of leopards.
There are a lot of things that can be done to stop them becoming extinct. The
main thing that definitely has to be done is stopping the local villages from
poaching the Amur leopards and their prey also as if they want to increase their
population they need enough food to go around. Right now the Amur leopards
have enough habitat to survive but this might not be the case in the future

especially if their numbers increase as illegal logging is having massive impacts

on the forests in the area where they live. The WWF has already been working on
preventing this by creating a massive national park in an area where a lot of the
population is living. The last thing that can be done is breeding their prey, for
example deer or boar.

Bibliography
IUCN Red list 2014, Panthera pardus ssp. orientalis, Organization, accessed 1
September 2015, <http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15957/0>.
Alta conservation 2015, Amur Leopard Fact file, Organization, accessed 1
September 2015, <http://www.altaconservation.org/amur-leopard/amur-leopardfactfile/>.
WWF 2015, Amur Leopard, Organization, accessed 1 September 2015,
<http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/amur_leopard2/>.
Amur 2015, Amur leopards, Organization, accessed 1 September 2015,
<http://www.amur.org.uk/leopards/>.
WCS 2015, Amur leopard, Orginization, accessed 1 September 2015,
<http://www.wcs.org/saving-wildlife/big-cats/amur-leopard.aspx>.