The population of the world's rarest large cat is believed to have doubled in number in recent years.
The number of Amur leopards in Russia's Land of the Leopard National Park jumped from the 30 counted in 2007 to 56 this year, and an additional eight to 12 individuals were spotted in areas of China, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reported.
To make their exciting findings, the researchers set up camera traps over 900,000 acres of primary leopard habitat; the team then used over 10,000 individual photographs to identify almost 60 individual cats. The individual Amur leopards were identified through their unique spot patterns that act as a feline "fingerprint."
"Despite still being on the brink of extinction, the Amur leopard is showing encouraging signs of gradual recovery, demonstrating that dedicated conservation efforts do pay off. The collaboration between Russia and China to protect vast areas of suitable leopard habitat is the next key step to protect this species," said Carlos Drews, director of WWF´s global species program.
Land of the Leopard National Park contains the Amur leopard's only known breeding grounds, and the preservation of this area is crucial for the protection of the critically endangered species. Conservationists are now working toward keeping tabs on leopard populations in neighboring Chinese nature reserves and establishing a Sino-Russian transboundary nature reserve.
"There's still a lot of work to be done in order to secure a safe future for the Amur leopard, but these numbers demonstrate that things are moving in the right direction," said Barney Long, Director of Species Conservation for WWF-US.
The census was carried out by the Land of the Leopard National Park jointly with the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the support of The Amur Leopard Center and WWF-Russia.
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