Usually people think that leopards arerepresentatives of the savanna of Africa, although a rare subspecies of leopards can be found in the Far East of our country, as well as in the north of China. This subspecies was named the Far Eastern Amur leopard. It is also known as the Amur leopard.
This predator was listed in the Red Book. It refers to a subspecies that is on the verge of extinction. The population of the Far Eastern leopard is in critical condition today.
At the same time, the moment that the Amur tiger is hisknown "cousin" - the number of its population increased, gives hope and the preservation of this subspecies. There is an opinion that the Amur leopard, whose photo is presented in this article, can be saved by implementing various environmental projects.
This leopard has many distinctivefeatures from the rest of the feline. In the summer, wool reaches 2.5 centimeters in length, and in winter 7 centimeters are replaced. In frosts, the Amur leopard has a light color of wool with a reddish-yellow tinge, in the summer, more intense and bright tones predominate.
Far Eastern Amur leopard (photo of an animalpresented in this article) has long legs, allowing him to walk freely in the snow. At the same time, the weight of males reaches 48 kg, although there are also larger representatives of the breed - 60 kg. Females weigh up to 43 kg.
In the early 20th century, the leopard was found in the southSikhote-Alin, as well as in the south-western part of Lake Khanka, although in recent years it has not been reliably recorded there. At the present moment the Amur leopard lives in the mountain-forest areas of the southwestern part of Primorsky Krai, where it gives a clear preference to cedar-black-birch-broad-leaved forests. It less readily inhabits broad-leaved forests, especially pyrogenic oak forests, whose areas are increasing due to annual fires.
This member of the Cat family choosesterritory with steep slopes of hills, crossed terrain, watersheds and rock outcrops of rocks. Its area has now shrunk to a critical size and covers only a 15,000 km² limited-area forest area (in Primorye, from Posyet Bay to the Razdolnaya River, as well as on the border with the DPRK and PRC).
Today, the distribution of the subspecies has decreased toa small fraction of its historical initial range. Initially, the Far Eastern leopard lived throughout the northeastern part of Manchuria, in the provinces of Heilongjiang and Jirin, including, in addition, on the Korean peninsula.
In the Amur leopard, puberty occurs inthe age of 3 years. In the wild, life expectancy is about 15 years, while in captivity - 20 years. In the Amur leopard, the marriage period falls on the spring. Litter includes 1-4 calves. At the age of three months, they are weaned from the breast, while the cubs gain independence at 1.5 years, leaving their mothers to lead a solitary life.
Amur leopard (pictures with his imagepresented in this article) prefers a single nocturnal lifestyle. But some males after mating can stay with their females, and also help in the upbringing of the young. It often happens that several males simultaneously pursue one female, and also struggle for the possibility of mating with it.
The basis of its diet is roe deer, raccoon dogs, hares, small wild boars, badgers, spotty deer.
The Far Eastern Amur leopard from 1970to 1983 lost more than 80% of its habitat. The main reasons were: fires, forest industry, as well as the transformation of land for agriculture. But not everything is lost yet. At the present moment there are suitable for living an animal forest massifs. There is an opportunity to protect the territory from the harmful influence of man, in addition, to increase the population.
It should be noted that there arelarge areas that are a suitable habitat, while the level of the food base is not sufficient to support the population at the desired level. The volume of production can grow due to the regulation of the use of forests by the population, as well as the adoption of measures to protect ungulates. The Far Eastern leopard needs to fill in its original habitat for survival.
Amur leopard is constantly exposedThe illegal hunting because of its spotty and beautiful fur. The investigation team in 1999 was under the cover of an experiment: they were able to recreate the skin of a male and female Far Eastern leopard, and then sold it for $ 500 and $ 1000.
This experiment demonstrates that there isillegal markets for such products and they are located near the animal habitats. Villages and agriculture are surrounded by forests where these animals live. Thanks to this, access to forests arises, and poaching here is a more serious problem than in regions remote from people. This applies to both leopards and other animals that are being destroyed for money and food.
It should be noted that the Amur leopard (photoanimals are fascinated by beauty) is particularly vulnerable, as part of its diet is made up of deer. The contribution of man to the overall decrease in the number of deer, related to the value of his horns, prevents the leopard from getting enough food.
Due to the reduction in the deer population, leopards often go to reindeer husbandry in search of food. The owners of these lands often kill animals, protecting their investments.
The Amur leopard is also under threatextinction due to a small population that makes it vulnerable to a variety of disasters, including diseases, forest fires, changes in mortality and fertility rates, sex ratios, inbreeding depression. It should be noted that in nature, there were also family ties, which means that it can lead to various genetic problems, among them the lowering of the birth rate.
Similar matings occur in certainpopulations of large cats, although small populations are not allowed to create outbreeding. Studies have shown that the average number of calves in an adult female has decreased significantly.
Unfortunately, at the present moment the situation with theAmur leopard can be considered truly catastrophic - for example, over the past twenty years its habitat in our country has decreased almost by half, while the number has decreased by several dozen times. Due to this, the Amur leopard is guarded today.
The Red Book of the Russian Federation classified the animal as the firstcategory as the rarest, which is on the verge of extinction, with a very limited range, whose main population is within our country. At the same time, the leopard was included in the Appendix of the First CITES Convention and in the Red Book of the Union for Conservation of Nature.
