The Far Eastern leopard prefers areas of high relief, with steep hill slopes, rock outcrops and watersheds

The Far Eastern leopard is the northernmost leopard subspecies, found north of the 45th parallel. These days, it can be found only in the southwest of the Primorye Territory

Sergei Ivanov is the curator of the Far Eastern leopard preservation programme; he also chairs the board of trustees of the Eurasian Centre for the Study, Preservation and Rehabilitation of the Leopard Population, an independent non-profit organisation

The maximum body length is 136 centimetres in males and 112 centimetres in females; the length of tails is 90 and 73 centimetres, respectively; the maximum weight is 60 kilogrammes

Leopard newborns are blind, and have thick, long fur. Their skin is covered with small, solid brownish and black spots, with no rosettes. At birth, they weigh 500 to 700 grammes, on average, and measure 15 centimeters in length

September 8, 2011, saw a long-awaited event – high-tech satellite collar was placed on a local leopard for future tracking

Following the tagging, Vyacheslav Rozhnov spoke about some of the Far Eastern leopard surveying methods employed at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution he heads. He said the first results were likely to come in 2-2.5 years

Sergei Ivanov offering watches to Wildlife Preserve personnel, along with encouragement for their conservation efforts. He then spoke with the preserve’s head, Sergei Khokhryakov, about projects aimed at promoting tourism, including through the creation of special tourist trails and proper infrastructure

Wildlife Preserve personnel talk about some of the most acute problems, particularly poaching

Far Eastern leopards become sexually mature by the age of 2.5 to 3, males usually a bit later than females

In the past decade of the Far Eastern leopard surveying, the main attention has been paid to population monitoring using various approaches based on traditional methods such as track counts and camera traps

Leopards are at their most active at night. They normally set out for their daily hunting an hour or two before sunset and spend the first half of the night on it. And it’s at dusk that they usually come out to drink

The Far Eastern leopard programme has entered a new phase after two months of exploration across southwestern regions of the Primorye Territory, with existing camera traps checked and new ones installed

This leopard, named Slavyanka, has been tagged with a Glonass/GPS/Argos satellite transmitter, allowing researchers to track the animal in real time using satellite maps

Coniferous and broadleaf Manchurian forests are the Far Eastern leopard’s typical habitat

According to the most optimistic estimates, the world’s Far Eastern leopard population is 40, with 30 leopards presumably dwelling in the Primprye Territory, and the remaining ten in China

Unless emergency conservation measures are taken, the leopard population will go extinct. With this in mind, a strategy was enacted in Russia in 1999 to save the Far Eastern leopard

Leopard Wildlife Preserve was set up in 2008. It incorporated two old preserves, Barsovy and Borisovskoye Plato, with the grounds totaling more than 169,000 hectares

A young Himalayan bear got caught in a trap on September 6. Local scientists sedated her for a medical evaluation and then sent her back into the wild

Leopard hunting was officially banned in 1956, but the expansion of agriculture, especially reindeer breeding, in leopard-populated areas destabilised the population

Russia’s Nikolai Przhevalsky and Mikhail Yankovsky are the first researchers to have provided information about the Far Eastern leopard. They mentioned this species in their expedition notes

China plans to set up nine frontier preserves for the Far Eastern leopard and the Amur tiger in the next few years

Leopards’ life expectancy in the wild is 10 to 15 years, while in captivity they can live up to 20 years

Far Eastern leopard arrives at Barnaul Zoo

Leopards prey mostly on ungulates, such as roe deer, boar, axis deer, and red deer. Their diet may also include hare, badger, raccoon, pheasant, hazel grouse, and various insects

Kedrovaya Pad and Leopard wildlife preserves are two major participants in the leopard conservation effort in the Primorye Territory