A young male Far Eastern leopard known as Leo 76M has been given the name Manchur in honour of a legendary Far Eastern ship. The name was chosen by the animal’s Keeper – the employees of Russia’s Sovcomflot shipping company.

The company received a Leopard Keeper certificate signed by Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov for supporting nature conservation efforts in southern Primorye.

The leopard was named Manchur in honour of the military supply ship which sent a group of soldiers to found the outpost of Vladivostok in 1860. The silhouette of a three-masted ship with a flat bottom is one of the symbols of Russia’s maritime capital; it sits on a rostral column at the entrance to the city. Also, one of the indigenous peoples of the Far East is called the Manchus.

According to scientists, the name suits young Leo 76M in many respects. This predator actively explores his surrounding space. Unlike others, Manchur has been caught on camera traps almost every season since 2014, and gives scientists a rich selection of images.

Manchur knows no scopophobia. In the spring of 2016, the leopard spent more than an hour in front of a motion-sensor camera: sprawled out in the snow, he drifted in and out of a doze, stretched sweetly, scratched behind his ear and licked his spotty fur.