Researchers at Land of the Leopard National Park in Primorye have drawn a genealogical tree of Far Eastern leopards. It is the first research of this kind regarding the subspecies, the scientists say.

“Researchers at Land of the Leopard National Park studied family relationships within the local Far Eastern leopard population and created a genealogical tree of several families. This is the first study of this kind since monitoring of the subspecies began,” says the report.

Scientists systematised data on individual family relationships in the Far Eastern leopard population and created a genealogical tree for 47 leopards. Further analysis showed that the tree ramified to form four separate branches with the largest one including as many as three generations of leopards. The value of this research is that the information obtained makes it possible to monitor changes within the population. For instance, it is possible to get an understanding of the distribution of leopard cubs after they start an independent life.

Photo monitoring data collected at Land of the Leopard from 2013 to 2019 served as the analytical basis for the research. This method was used to count the Far Eastern leopards. The Land of the Leopard protected areas accommodate Russia’s greatest network of camera traps to monitor the endangered wild cats: over 400 motion-sensor cameras are used to observe the animals.