Amur Leopard

Essay by aznXsa2587 June 2005

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Introduction

The Panthera pardus orientalis or commonly known as the Amur leopard or Korean leopard is part of a complex of subspecies that make up the family of the Asiatic leopard, Panthera pardus, commonly called the African leopard. Using the Carolus Linnaeus system of classification the Amur leopard is listed as follows:

Kingdom Animalia Family Felidae

Phylum Chordata Genus Panthera

Class Mammalia Species Orientalis

Order Carnivora

According to an article written by Biologist S. Kutscherenko (1995) the wild population of the Amur leopard has dwindled to an estimated 120 to 140 leopards, 30 of which were counted in Russia.

Along with many wild animals of the world today, the Amur leopard is facing the possibility of extinction. They are threaten not by means of natural selection or a changing world but by man who has deliberately or unknowingly depleted their habitat and community. Only mans' intervention and realization of the problem can hope to save these animals.

Distribution/Range

The Amur Leopard used to range widely throughout Korea, Manchuria and the Primorskaya Oblast of the USSR but today due 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 Korea (cathouse).

If we were to lump all the subspecies together the Amur leopard, with the exception of humans is the most successful naturally occurring land mammal in the Eastern Hemisphere. Here in the Eastern Hemisphere he is the king of adaptation. In the taiga, or boreal forests of Russia, the Amur leopard seems most impressive. It is there, the leopard takes on characteristics that are similar to its cousin the Snow leopard, the Amur leopard has long fur and his behavior patterns assist in the conserving of energy...