WildView™

An Eye on Wildlife

Wildlife Conservation Society Menu
The Most Endangered Big Cat in the World

May 4, 2015

The Most Endangered Big Cat in the World

- as seen by -

Dale Miquelle Dale Miquelle

Guided by the last bit of sunlight on a cold autumn evening, a lone leopard traverses a Russian ridgeline. Although leopards are usually associated with African and Asian jungles, this one, captured by French nature photojournalist Emmanuel Rondeau, is one of the few representatives of the Amur, or Far Eastern subspecies. Once common across the Korean peninsula, northeast China, and the southernmost reaches of the Russian Far East, rapid development in China and Korea eliminated nearly all its populations, leaving a remnant group clinging to survival along a sliver of the Russian-Chinese border.

The Wildlife Conservation Society has been researching and working to conserve these rare leopards for 20 years. While surveys had consistently estimated roughly 22–30 of them remained, we found a slightly higher number by setting up dozens of camera traps across their habitat. In 2014, we collected photographs of 56 leopards frequenting Land of the Leopard National Park in Russia, plus more on the Chinese side of the border.

The Amur leopard is still the most endangered big cat in the world, but, as our camera traps confirmed, there is hope for the future.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Help Rondeau’s outstanding Amur leopard photo win this photo contest with your vote at Por el Planeta.

CANON 350D, Sigma 10-20mm, 2 external flashes


, Russia Map It

subscribe

Leave a Comment

9 comments

Leave a Reply to ernestene Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Nancy Smith
May 5, 2015 at 4:20 pm

Dale Miquelle rocks.

GABRIELA VARGAS MARTÍNEZ
September 11, 2015 at 4:09 pm

ME ENCANTA Y DISFRUTO ENORMEMENTE VER A LOS ANIMALES EN LA VIDA SALVAJE LIBRES Y PROTEGIDOS DE TODA PERTURBACIÓN. NUNCA PODRÉ ENTENDER POR QUÉ EL SER HUMANO TAN INSANO QUIERE VER DESTRUCCIÓN Y MUERTE. VER LA VIDA Y DISFRUTARLO ES UN SUBLIME SENTIMIENTO DE PAZ, AMOR Y PLENITUD. ME PREGUNTO SI AL SER HUMANO TAN FRUSTRADO LE GUSTA Y DISFRUTA DEL DOLOR, EL CAOS Y EL TERROR??? NO PUEDO CREERLO. CUÁNDO SERÁ EL TIEMPO QUE EL SER HUMANO APRENDA Y COMPRENDA LO VALIOSO DE LA VIDA.

s a healy
October 20, 2015 at 11:21 pm

Please don’t let these majestic animals go extinct.

ernestene
April 24, 2016 at 8:59 pm

help save them before they r gone

david health
June 19, 2016 at 10:06 am

Thank you! It was a wonderful chance to visit this kind of site. I hope you will publish more on this topic. Thanks a lot for sharing with us!

Anonymous
January 14, 2017 at 8:03 pm

Extremely amazingly neat web site. Fairly good toward read through and exceptionally a great deal exciting articles. Yes year contains not nevertheless occur again and greet.

Catt conservation
May 19, 2019 at 6:55 am

These animals do not deserve this, they have done nothing wrong and we should do everything to help them not go extinct.
Endangered species we should definitely also help survive: Turtle, panda, Tiger, polar bear, pangolins e.t.c

that cat is adorable
November 1, 2019 at 1:22 pm

it is so cute i cant believe they are endangered they look like they would cuddle up to you on a winter night and would eat cat food please save the amur leopard

no
March 11, 2020 at 8:55 am

put more pictures noob