Tell tale signs of critically endangered Amur Leopard in China

Wed, Nov 5th, 2014

By Agencies

Beijing: It is heartening to note that the Chinese authorities believe they have found traces of the rare Amur leopard also called Far Eastern Leopard in the country’s Northeast.

Amur leopard is a leopard subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and Jilin

The Amur leopard is a leopard subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and Jilin Province of northeast China, and is classified as Critically Endangered since 1996 by IUCN.
Forestry officials in Shulan city in Jilin province confirmed the existence of the leopard after analysing hair samples collected at a site where a domestic animal had been mauled to death. “After comparing DNA, we concluded it was an Amur leopard,” Bi Jingji, division head of Shulan’s forestry bureau said on Wednesday.

In late October, Sun Jianwen from Badao village discovered that one of his cattle had gone missing. The cattle’s carcass was found in a nearby ravine the next day with one of its hind legs completely ripped off and injuries to a foreleg. It was this information that sparked an investigation into the existence of the leopard in the area, Bi said.

Amur leopards differ from other subspecies by a thick coat of spot covered fur. The Amur leopard is the only leopard subspecies adapted to a cold snowy climate. Due to the small number of reproducing Amur leopards in the wild, the gene pool is so reduced that the population is at risk from inbreeding depression. There are believed to be less than 50 wild Amur leopards left, mostly in the Far East area of Russia, China’s northeast and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. China has around 10 of the leopards in the wild.

It was the first time the threatened big cat has been spotted in Jilin province which administers Shulan city, in almost 20 years. Tang Jingwen, deputy secretary-general of the wildlife conservation association of Jilin city, said the ban on hunting in recent years has helped such leopards to multiply in Jilin province.

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