Rarest Big Cat On Earth Sees Its Numbers Start To Recover
Things are certainly starting to look up for the critically endangered Amur leopard which is the rarest big cat on Earth. The Amur leopard is indigenous to parts of North-eastern China and South-eastern Russia and since 2007 has seen its population double according to WWF. According to the latest census data from a part of Russia which covers 60 per cent of the Amur leopard’s habitat, the population is estimated as being 57 which is up from the 30 that were counted during the previous census in 2007.
“Such a strong rebound in Amur leopard numbers is further proof that even the most critically endangered big cats can recover if we protect their habitat and work together on conservation efforts. 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, director of species protection and Asian species conservation for WWF, said in a statement.
10,000 photos taken
In order to count these big cats which by nature are extremely solitary, researchers and rangers from the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences placed a number of camera traps in an areas covering over 3,600 square kilometres. There were over 10,000 photographs taken which were then used to identify roughly 60 individual Amur leopards. Experts had to identify each individual through their distinctive spots on their fur according to WWF.
Siberian tiger numbers make an impressive recovery
Siberian tigers used to be in a similar situation to what the Amur leopards are in now, with only 56 tigers remaining in the wild as recently as 2009. Ten Siberian tigers were then introduced into the Land of the Leopard National Park in 2012 and now there are approximately another 350 Siberian tigers living in other parts of the Russian Far East. The tigers have begun to make in-roads into North-eastern China as well so it just goes to show that conservation efforts can make a big difference.
The Russians and Chinese are collaborating
Russian conservationists are now working with their Chinese colleagues to more closely monitor Amur leopard populations in China as well. WWF officials say the next step will be to create a new nature reserve that spans both countries. Let’s hope that efforts to keep this great species of big cat that is so elusive are successful and we see a large scale recovery in their numbers.
