The far eastern leopard is a rare species

Greetings, dear friends!

Today I will tell you about the Far Eastern leopard, the rarest big cat on the planet. Thanks to the work of scientists and the Foundation for protecting Rare animals which set up the "Land of the Leopard" national park in the Far East, there is finally hope for the population of such a rare and very beautiful animal to increase.

 

 

 

Recently there were about 40 individuals in Russia and 10 in China, but last year the number of Amur leopards in Russia increased to 110 adults and 19 cubs. This is a significant achievement of Russian scientists who create all conditions for breeding of these beauties.

 

 

 

Far Eastern leopard usually lives in the territory he likes. It walks around its territory every day. He goes out hunting at night in search of prey. His prey is ungulates: deer, dogs, roe deer, wild boars, hares, badgers, pheasants. If a leopard gets lucky and kills a deer, he'll be fed up for about 10 days and won't hunt anymore.

 

 

 

Leopards like to climb trees, even drag their prey in and eat it leisurely.

Each Amur leopard is a special conservationist. Camera-traps, which capture each animal, are installed in the national park. Each leopard has a distinctive identity and pattern of their spots, unlike any other, just like the fingerprints of a human. That's why they are easy to identify.

It is very important to have reproductive females when breeding animals. More often than not, a male will have several females to fertilise.

 

 

 

And 'as usual', the mother takes care of the offspring, while the father goes off to find another female. For the first few weeks, the mother hides her cubs carefully, going off to hunt and bringing food to 'home' herself. It is very important to preserve and raise the cubs, because the mortality rate of the cubs is high. When they are more than a year old, the "sons" leave the nest and lead independent lives. And the "daughters" usually settle near their mother.

 

 

The Far Eastern leopard is exquisite. Its fur can change depending on the season. Naturally, in winter, its fur is longer, more voluminous and brighter to keep warm from frosts. In summer, it is correspondingly less lush and brighter.

The main reasons for the extinction of the animals were trivial malnutrition. They cut forests down, grass was scorched, small animals - primary prey for leopard, so there were less and less of them. And poaching in China has caused irreparable damage, as the fur and they highly valued their whiskers of leopards to produce medicines. Because of extinction of Amur leopard in the Far East, China has adopted the law that if a person kills this rare animal, he will be sentenced to death.

Scientists from the two countries have now joined forces to expand the boundaries of the national park. Hunting is forbidden there and conditions are created for the breeding and establishment of ungulates, which are an important part of the leopard's diet. And in this connection there is every hope that in the nearest 5-10 years this rare and beautiful species of cat will have a stable population for self-reproduction.

The Far Eastern leopard is a serious predator, but not a single attack on humans has been recorded in their history; they are very loyal to humans. Incredibly beautiful cats can live perfectly well in captivity for a long time, over 30 years, and in the wild for 5-12 years.

What a lucky thing that Russia has such a precious natural treasure - Amur leopard of the Far East!

I hope you enjoyed it?

all photos are from internet