|
Range and Habitat: Amur leopards once inhabited a range extending from Korea through northern China and just over the border to Russia. The small remaining population is currently trapped at the northern end of its historic range.
The Amur leopard, also called the Russian or Far Eastern leopard, gets its name from the 2,700 mile-long Amur River in Asia.
Amur leopards are typically found in mixed conifer and hardwood forests where there are rocky faces to climb for protection.
The remaining Amur leopard range overlaps with that of Amur (formerly “Siberian”) tigers.
Habits and Adaptations: Leopards are generally solitary, except for breeding and rearing cubs. Like other leopards, Amur leopards are excellent climbers and spend the majority of their time sleeping or eating on rocky faces where their main competition—tigers—doesn’t go. They hunt alone and rarely share their prey with other leopards, unless the captor is a female with cubs.
These leopards have longer coats in winter and longer legs than most leopards. The long legs help move in snow. However, this seems to be one limiting factor in their range: they may not live further north in part because the snow gets too deep for their legs.
Diet: Includes wild boar, roe, sika and musk deer, goral, badgers, raccoon dogs and Manchurian hares. Zoo diet: meat-based carnivore diet, horse knuckle bones, and whole prey food items.
Breeding and Maturation: Leopards from the northern latitudes have defined breeding and birthing seasons. Tropical subspecies breed throughout the year. Litter size averages 2 – 3, but may include up to six cubs. Gestation is 90 – 112 days. The cubs are weaned at about one year of age, and reach sexual maturity at 2 – 3 years. The life span is 10 – 12 years.
Conservation: All races of leopards are classified as almost extinct by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Appendix I of CITES. There are believed to be only 30 Amur leopards remaining in the wild. The Amur leopard population depends heavily on the availability of its prey. Reduced population of prey, loss of habitat, and poaching have brought the Amur population to crisis. However, hope remains. The MN Zoo and other organizations are working to protect habitat and prey. The MN Zoo manages captive populations in N. America to minimize genetic inbreeding. Together, these programs may result in a future re-introduction to parts of their former wild range.
Miscellaneous: Are leopards as strong as lions and tigers? Answer: It is often said that, pound for pound, leopards are the strongest of all cats. They are able to kill considerably large prey (of a similar weight to the leopard) and hoist them up a tree. Some researchers have said that if a leopard was as large as a lion, it would be 10 times more dangerous.
|