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Panthera pardus
– Least Concern
Taxonomy
Assessment Information
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Red List Category & Criteria:
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LC ver 3.1 (2001)
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Year Assessed:
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2002
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Assessor/s:
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Cat Specialist Group
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Evaluator/s:
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Nowell, K., Breitenmoser, U., Breitenmoser, C. & Jackson, P. (Cat Red List Authority)
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Justification:
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Based on estimates of density and geographic range (Nowell and Jackson 1996), the leopard’s total effective population size is estimated at greater than 50,000 mature breeding individuals, but with a declining trend due to persecution and degradation of its habitat and prey base.
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History:
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| 1986 | - | Vulnerable (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986) |
| 1988 | - | Threatened (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988) |
| 1990 | - | Threatened (IUCN 1990) |
| 1996 | - | Lower Risk/least concern (Baillie and Groombridge 1996) |
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Geographic Range
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Countries:
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Native:
Afghanistan; Algeria; Angola; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Bangladesh; Benin; Bhutan; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cambodia; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; China; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Djibouti; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Gabon; Gambia; Georgia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; India; Indonesia (Jawa); Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Israel; Jordan; Kenya; Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Lesotho; Liberia; Malawi; Malaysia; Mali; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nepal; Niger; Nigeria; Oman; Pakistan; Russian Federation; Rwanda; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Tajikistan; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Togo; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Uganda; Uzbekistan; Viet Nam; Yemen; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Regionally extinct:
Hong Kong; Kuwait; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Singapore; Syrian Arab Republic; Tunisia
Possibly extinct regionally:
Egypt; Korea, Republic of; Lebanon; Morocco; United Arab Emirates
Uncertain presence and origin:
Mauritania; Swaziland
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Population
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Population:
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The Leopard is a good example of an adaptable, widespread species that nonetheless has many threatened subpopulations. While still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats from which the other big cats have disappeared in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, in North Africa leopards are on the verge of extinction, or may already have disappeared. The most recent record from Morocco is from the early 1990s. Across Southwest and Central Asia Leopard populations are small, threatened and widely separated. Leopards are relatively abundant still in India, China, and Southeast Asia, but are Critically Endangered in the northeast of this range. The Amur leopard, characterized by its large rosettes and lush winter coat, has been reduced to very small populations in Russia, China and North Korea. The Leopard is also rare and threatened on the islands of Java and Sri Lanka.
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Population Trend:
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Habitat and Ecology
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Habitat and Ecology:
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In sub-Saharan Africa, they are found in all habitats with annual rainfall above 50 mm and can penetrate areas with less than this amount of rainfall along river courses. The leopard is the only African cat species which occupies both rainforest and arid desert habitats. In Southwest and Central Asia, leopards formerly occupied a range of habitats, but now are confined chiefly to the more remote montane and rugged foothill areas. Through India and Southeast Asia, leopards are found in all forest types, from tropical rainforest to the temperate deciduous and alpine coniferous, and also occur in dry scrub and grasslands (Nowell and Jackson 1996).
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System:
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Terrestrial
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List of Habitats:
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| 1.5 | Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Dry |
| 2.1 | Savanna - Dry |
| 3.5 | Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry |
| 4.4 | Grassland - Temperate |
| 4.5 | Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry |
| 8.1 | Desert - Hot |
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Threats
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Threats:
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Many subspecies or important regional populations of Leopards are seriously threatened. Small populations are the result of habitat loss, depletion of the ungulate prey base, and persecution of Leopards as livestock predators and a danger to people.
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List of Threats:
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| 1 | Habitat Loss/Degradation (human induced) (past, present) |
| 5.1 | Persecution - Pest control (past, present) |
| 8.3 | Changes in native species dynamics - Prey/food base (past, present) |
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Conservation Actions
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Conservation Actions:
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Included on CITES Appendix I. Protected in most of Asian range states: Armenia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Viet Nam. In Africa, most countries also prohibit hunting: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo and Uganda (Nowell and Jackson 1996).
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List of Conservation Actions:
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| 1.2.2.1 | Policy-based actions - Legislation - Implementation - International level (in place) |
| 1.2.2.2 | Policy-based actions - Legislation - Implementation - National level (in place) |
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Bibliography
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Bibliography:
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Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (compilers and editors) 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. Cat Specialist Group. For more information, see the Specialist Group website Hilton-Taylor, C. (compiler). 2000. 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1986. 1986 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1988. 1988 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. IUCN. 1990. 1990 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. Nowell, K. and Jackson, P. (compilers and editors) 1996. Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (online version)
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