Amur Leopard - the Cat That Stalks Alone

Amur Leopard

The Cat that Stalks Alone

With stunning rosettes surrounded by a bold circle, the Amur leopard is facing life or death depending on the actions of us humans. This leopard is graceful and strong. Together with many wild animals of the world today, the Amur leopard is facing the likelihood of extinction. Amur leopards, one of the rarest felines, are turned into critically endangered and solitary hunters due to human deforestation of their habitat and poaching. Only humans' intervention to help and realization of the problem all over the world can hope to save these animals.

This amazing animal has a glorious appearance. It has the most stunning rosette spots surrounded by a bold black ring. Its color in summer is reddish-yellow and lighter in winter. The Amur leopard has long fur and his behavior patterns assist in the conserving of energy and precious heat to sustain the harsh winter conditions. They are also acknowledged to have light, blue-green eyes.

The Amur leopard also has a strong and magnificent body. Male Amur leopards weigh 106-132 lbs and, female Amur leopards weigh 55-95 lbs. They have a longer tail and longer legs than other leopards. In addition to that, they have longer, thicker, and paler skin than other leopards, too. Its skin is so valuable that many were killed to get their skin which is a cause of why it is critically endangered The Amur leopard is so valuable that villagers hunt 100s illegally and then sell them which is another cause for why the Amur leopard is critically endangered..

The Amur leopard has a short but eventful life and has a scarce prey. A leopard will eat a variety of animals such as: Roe and Sika deer, wild boar, badgers, raccoons, and Manchurian hares. The Amur leopard lives for 10-15 years in the wild and 20 years in captivity. The wild population of the Amur leopard has dwindled to estimated 30-40 leopards. The Amur leopard is also endangered because of inbreeding caused by loss of generic diversity in its habitat.

The Amur leopard lives at the border of two of the most powerful countries: China and Russia. The Amur Leopard used to range widely throughout Korea, Manchuria, and Russia, but today due to the carelessness of hunters and the destruction of their habitat and the limited selection of prey they are now reduced to reside in remote areas near the China-Russia border and parts of North