The Amur leopard is the rarest big cat in the world, but the species could be coming back, with populations doubling in just eight years.
Land of the Leopard National Park in Russia was home to 30 members of the species in 2007, where naturalists now believe at least 57 of the animals make their homes. Somewhere between eight and 12 more of the ultra-rare leopards are believed to live in China.
Cameras recorded around 10,000 images over 900,000 acres of wildlife habitat, and the images were used to identify almost 60 of the animals. Members of the species were differentiated by their distinctive markings, including spots on their bodies.
"Despite still being on the brink of extinction, the Amur leopard is showing encouraging signs of gradual recovery, demonstrating that dedicated conservation efforts do pay off," Carlos Drews, director of WWF´s global species program, said.
Land of the Leopard National Park was opened in 2012, in part to protect the Amur Leopard. The region contains all known breeding grounds of the big cats, and also protects the Amur tiger, another endangered species. A Sino-Russian international nature reserve could also help preserve the species, biologists recommended.
Panthera pardus orientalis is coming back from the brink of extinction for a number of reasons, wildlife officials stated. One of the main factors contributing to their recovery was the establishment of the wildlife refuge, World Wildlife Federation officials stated. Regulations prevent people from interfering with the animals in any way in regions frequented by the animals.
"Sergey Ivanov noted that after the signing of the Cooperation Agreement between the Land of the Leopard National Park and the neighboring Chinese nature reserves the monitoring of leopard population is carried out jointly with experts from China," WWF-Russia reported on their Web site.
Conservationists want to be able to monitor the animals as they travel through nature reserves within China. That nation has recently released the first footage ever taken of Amur tigers within their country. The establishment of such a zone could help young Amur leopards safely travel between the two nations, which could result in more frequent mating and an increase in population, biologists stated.
"There's still a lot of work to be done in order to secure a safe future for the Amur leopard, but these numbers demonstrate that things are moving in the right direction," Barney Long, US director of species conservation for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US), said.
The Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, The Amur Leopard Center, and WWF-Russia participated in the wildlife survey, along with personnel from the park.
