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With only around 30 left in the wild and around 100 left in captivity, the Amur leopard is the rarest big cat on our planet. Even at this critical level, there is still hope. In conjunction John Lewis of Wildlife Vets International we are working on a breeding programme that will ultimately lead to reintroducing Amur leopards into the wild.
Snow leopards inhabit the mountainous regious of Central Asia. In the summer, they live above the tree line at an altitude of 8,900 to 20,000 feet. As winter approaches, they retreat to the forests at an altitude of 3,900 to 6,600 feet. They have an amazing leaping ability of over 40 feet. They are considered an endangered species.
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Marwell:
(www.marwell.org.uk/zoo/explore/animal-stars/snow-leopards)
Snow Leopards at Marwell
Snow leopards are perfectly adapted to the snow covered mountains of central and southern Asia.
Our Roof of the World exhibit close to Tropical World will give you a sense of this terrain.
Designed to mimic the snow leopards’ natural habitat, it contains several caves and hides and is also planted with rhododendrons and alpine meadow plants similar to those found in the Himalayas.
We lay various scents throughout the enclosure to stimulate the snow leopards’ sense of smell which range from herbs, spices & essential oils to new branches, faeces or urine stained bedding from prey species. Even washing up liquid bubbles spark their interest.
Marwell has had snow leopards as part of its animal collection for 33 years and throughout this time they have bred well, producing many cubs for the European Endangered species breeding Programme (EEP). Our current pair has had two sets of cubs - two in 2011 and two in 2013.
Snow leopard adaptations include thick, insulating fur and an incredibly long tail – up to 1 metre in length! This balances the leopard when jumping across rocks and also wraps around the body and face to create extra warmth when the animal is resting. Their dappled grey coat gives excellent camouflage against rocks and snow – perfect when sneaking up on prey.
Kanika the beautiful Amur Leopard cub at Marwell Wildlife. I wanted to emphasise her gorgeous blue eyes on this one - hope you like it :-)
The Amur leopard, Panthera Pardus Orientalis, is the rarest big cat in the world and yet is still a relatively unknown species of leopard outside of its homeland in Russia. Also known as the Far Eastern leopard the approximate population stands at about 35 individuals remaining in the wild. These leopards now only exist in the southern most tip of the Russian Far East along the borders with China in the Khasan Region of Primorsky Krai.
With its long winter coat the Amur leopard is well adapted to the harsh climate of the Amur-Ussuri region. The hairs of its summer coat are 2.5 cm long whereas in the winter they grow to 7 cm long when it also lightens to a pale cream colour. Its fur has larger and more widely spaced rosettes than other leopards, with thick dark borders. It also has longer legs, probably an adaptation for walking through snow. The male Amur leopard weighs between 32-48 kg, with exceptionally large males up to 60-75 kg. Females are smaller than the males weighing between 25-43 kg.
Amur Leopards tend to avoid living or hunting too close to tiger territory to avoid direct competition for prey. They normally hunt at night using the silent stalk and ambush technique, one that is also used by the tiger. During the attack phase the leopard may reach speeds of up to 35 miles per hour but this is sustainable only for a very short time. The main prey species of the Amur leopard are roe deer, red deer, musk deer, sika deer, wild boar, hares and badgers. Leopards are adapted for their carnivorous diet. They have large, powerful jaws and long pointed canine teeth to help them grab and hold their prey. The premolars in the back of their mouth have surfaces specially designed for shearing and chewing meat and are referred to as ‘carnassial’ teeth. They also have sharp, pointed papillae on their tongue to help them remove meat from bones.
Deforestation, the use of animal parts for traditional medicine and conflict with humans has had a devastating effect on the Amur leopard population. There has also been a drastic reduction in the number of prey species, and further disruption due to mineral extraction and extensive road building. The Amur leopard has been a protected species in Russia since 1956, but still there is a problem with poaching.
There are nearly 200 Amur leopards in the captive population worldwide, many of which are in European zoos. The European population is managed by Europaeisches Erhaltungszucht Programme an organized captive breeding program. Unfortunately the captive population of Amur leopards comes from only 9 wild-born founders, and therefore, several of the animals are considered highly inbred. There is a proposal to capture some wild Amur leopards to place in zoos to provide additional founders from the wild. The Amur leopard in captivity may live for 20 years or more while in the wild they are believed to survive for anything up to 12 years.
Leopard We almost drove over this beautiful young leopard chasing puku from the bushes next to the Luangwa river.
For me, this just turned out to be the best Leopard sighting yet. After a day long safari and after all the flora and fauna we were treated to at Yala, among them was a female Leopard and her two cubs, from a distance ofcourse, we saw her trying to hunt but the squirrel was just too fast. However satisfied at having witnessed that atleast, a close-up would've seemed greedy. Our greed paid off, we turned a corner and this stud was resting on a rock not more than 4 mtrs from us. 20 mins spent and we scooted after he growled at us!
More about Yala times at ramyaravi63.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/my-spirits-are-weari...
leopard (panthera pardus /macan tutul /macan dahan) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Leopards that are melanistic, either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known colloquially as black panthers.
@ salah satu murid asuhan sdri. golda dari perguruan bali safari and ocean park.
I shoot periodically at the Kirshner Wildlife foundation in Butte County, California. The woman who owns the facility is a renowned animal handler and has been on shows like Jay Leno, animal planet etc. I started helping her with photos two year ago and have been allowed in cages with unbelievable cats and bears, lemurs, lynx, ligers and more. This one I had to shoot through the chain link fence which was difficult as it kept pacing and jumping.
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