THE FAR EASTERN LEOPARD PROGRAMME

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

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

The Far Eastern leopard’s biology has already been studied in-depth, yet further efforts are needed to find out more about the species’ capability to adapt to the changing environment

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

Sergei Ivanov visits Leopard Wildlife Preserve

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

Sergei Ivanov delivers the keynote speech on the conservation of the Far Eastern leopard at a St Petersburg session of the Russian Geographic Society’s Board of Trustees

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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 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