---
title: "What the sources say about the Amur Leopard | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "59 claims from the Amur Leopard profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the Amur Leopard (*Panthera pardus orientalis*)

> 59 claims from the Amur Leopard profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Amur Leopard](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/amur-leopard/)

## Amur leopard facts. WildCats Conservation Alliance.

https://conservewildcats.org/resources/amur-leopard-facts/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The rarest big cat in the world | Amur leopard facts / The rarest big cat in the world (note: Tagline and heading. WildCats' own page heading.) |
| fur up to three inches long in winter | thick fur which grows up to 7.5 cm long in winter (note: 3 inches, from 7.5 cm) |
| living alone in the forests of the Russian Far East and northeast China | Amur leopards live in the temperate forests Russian Far East and Northeast China |
| Temperate forests of southwest Primorye in the Russian Far East and along the border in northeast China | Amur leopards live in the temperate forests Russian Far East and Northeast China ... They are found in Southwest Primorye in the Russian Far East, and along the Russian border with Heilongjiang Province and Jilin Province in North East China. |
| Roe deer, sika deer, wild boar, musk deer, hares, badgers, and small mammals and birds | Amur leopards hunt a very wide variety of animals including wild boar, roe deer, sika deer, badgers and hares. |
| Thick fur that grows up to 7.5 centimeters long in winter | thick fur which grows up to 7.5 cm long in winter |
| a census taken in 2017 suggested there were around 100 individuals | the latest population census taken in 2017 suggests there are now around 100 individuals |
| The Amur leopard is only found in the Russian Far East and North East China | It is only found in the Russian Far East and North East China |
| Its range shrank dramatically during the 20th century, mainly due to habitat loss and hunting, and as recently as the 1970s fewer than 30 were left in the wild | As recently as the 1970s, their population in the wild had dwindled to fewer than 30 individuals ... This range shrank dramatically during the 20th century, due primarily to habitat loss and hunting. |
| Its main threats include poaching, forest fires and inbreeding | The main threats to Amur leopards Poaching: ... Forest fires: ... Inbreeding: (note: WildCats' threats list also names Development; 'main threats' is its own heading.) |
| It lives in forests with harsh winters of extreme cold and deep snow, and it is adapted to the cold with thick fur that grows up to 7.5 centimeters long in winter | The Amur leopard is adapted to the cool climate by having thick fur which grows up to 7.5 cm long in winter. ... Amur leopards live in the temperate forests Russian Far East and Northeast China, experiencing harsh winters with extreme cold and deep snow |
| For camouflage in the snow, its coat is paler than other leopard subspecies' coats, and its rosettes are more widely spaced and larger than those of other leopards | For camouflage in the snow, their coat is paler than other leopard subspecies. The Amur leopard's rosettes are widely spaced and larger than those seen on other leopards. |
| Built for Far Eastern Winters | Amur leopards live in the temperate forests Russian Far East and Northeast China, experiencing harsh winters with extreme cold and deep snow (note: Heading.) |
| It lives in temperate forests in the Russian Far East and northeast China, where winters bring extreme cold and deep snow | Amur leopards live in the temperate forests Russian Far East and Northeast China, experiencing harsh winters with extreme cold and deep snow |
| It is adapted to that cold with thick fur that grows up to 7.5 centimeters long in winter | The Amur leopard is adapted to the cool climate by having thick fur which grows up to 7.5 cm long in winter. |
| for camouflage in the snow its coat is paler than other leopard subspecies' coats | For camouflage in the snow, their coat is paler than other leopard subspecies. |
| are more widely spaced and larger than those of other leopards | The Amur leopard's rosettes are widely spaced and larger than those seen on other leopards. |
| Males generally weigh 32 to 48 kilograms but can reach 75; females are smaller, at 25 to 43 kilograms | Males generally weigh 32-48 kg, but can weigh up to 75 kg. Females are smaller than the males at 25-43 kg. |
| In the wild an Amur leopard lives 10 to 15 years, and it may reach 20 in captivity | In the wild, leopards live for 10-15 years and they may reach 20 years in captivity. (note: Line sits in WildCats' Amur-leopard Biology/Longevity section; Brookfield's Amur page also lists Life Span 10 - 15 years.) |
| An Ambush With a 20-Foot Leap | ambush them using a burst of energy (note: Heading.) |
| An Amur leopard normally hunts at night | Amur leopards normally hunt at night |
| Its prey includes roe deer, sika deer, wild boar, musk deer, hares and badgers | Amur leopards hunt a very wide variety of animals including wild boar, roe deer, sika deer, badgers and hares. |
| It carries off and hides unfinished kills, sometimes up trees, so other predators do not take them | They then carry and hide unfinished kills, sometimes up trees, so that they are not taken by other predators. |
| The Amur leopard's range shrank dramatically during the 20th century, mainly due to habitat loss and hunting | This range shrank dramatically during the 20th century, due primarily to habitat loss and hunting. |
| as recently as the 1970s fewer than 30 were left in the wild | As recently as the 1970s, their population in the wild had dwindled to fewer than 30 individuals |
| A census taken in 2017 suggested there were around 100 | the latest population census taken in 2017 suggests there are now around 100 individuals |
| Poaching of leopards and their prey is a serious threat | Poaching of both leopards and prey species is a serious threat. |
| Forest fires shrink their forest habitat and replace it with grassland that leopards prefer to avoid | Forest fires:  These are a direct threat to Amur leopards as they reduce the animals’ natural forest habitat, replacing it with grasslands that leopards prefer to avoid. |
| Inbreeding, when close relatives breed, is a big concern after the population dwindled to a few dozen, and trail-camera photos have occasionally shown wild leopards with white paws and short tails that could reflect genetic mutation | Inbreeding: With a population that dwindled to 35 individuals only a few decades ago, this is a big concern and occasional camera trap evidence of white paws and short tails have been seen in the wild population that could reflect genetic mutation (note: 'a few dozen' paraphrases the source's 35 individuals (it also gives fewer than 30 for the 1970s).) |
| Several Russian reserves are home to the largest population, including Land of the Leopard National Park, created in 2012 | In Russia, several nature reserves are home to the largest population of Amur leopard including The Land of the Leopard National Park, gazetted in 2012 |
| China established the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park in 2021 | The Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park was established in 2021 |
| In zoos, a global breeding program held 217 Amur leopards across 88 institutions as of July 2018, a population that descends from 14 animals | As of July 2018, the captive population under the Global Species Management Plan (GSMP) comprised 217 individuals housed across 88 institutions. This population, originating from 14 individuals |
| The Rarest Big Cat in the World | Amur leopard facts / The rarest big cat in the world (note: Heading.) |

## Amur Leopard. Brookfield Zoo Chicago.

https://www.brookfieldzoo.org/animals/amur-leopard

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| living alone in the forests of the Russian Far East and northeast China | They live alone. |
| Roe deer, sika deer, wild boar, musk deer, hares, badgers, and small mammals and birds | Their diet consists of roe deer, sika deer, wild boar, musk deer, elk, and small mammals and birds. |
| a leap of 20 feet across or 10 feet high | they are able to leap 20 feet across and 10 feet high |
| An Amur leopard can leap 20 feet across and 10 feet high | they are able to leap 20 feet across and 10 feet high |
| It stalks its prey carefully, trying to get as close as possible before it leaps, and its diet includes roe deer and sika deer | Amur leopards carefully stalk their prey, trying to get as close as possible before leaping. ... Their diet consists of roe deer, sika deer |
| is the northernmost subspecies of leopard | Amur leopards are the northernmost subspecies of leopard |
| Amur leopards often wrap their long tails around themselves to keep warm | Amur leopards often wrap their long tails around themselves to keep warm in the snowy mountains. |
| A male's body is 42 to 54 inches long, not counting the tail, and tails typically measure 32 to 35 inches | The body length ranges from 42 to 54 inches for a male (not including tail) ... while tail length is typically 32-35 inches long. |
| Amur leopards live alone | They live alone. |
| A female's territory covers about 15 to 40 square miles and a male's about 100 to 150, and they mark their areas with urine, droppings and scratch marks | Females’ territories cover about 15–40 square miles, and males’ about 100–150. They mark their areas with urine, droppings, and scratch marks. |
| An Ambush With a 20-Foot Leap | they are able to leap 20 feet across and 10 feet high (note: Heading.) |
| Its prey includes roe deer, sika deer, wild boar, musk deer, hares and badgers | Their diet consists of roe deer, sika deer, wild boar, musk deer |
| It stalks carefully, trying to get as close as possible before leaping, and it can leap 20 feet across and 10 feet high | they are able to leap 20 feet across and 10 feet high ... Amur leopards carefully stalk their prey, trying to get as close as possible before leaping. |
| Because it is active at night, its eyes reflect light in a way that produces a better image in low light, which lets it see about six times better than a person in the same light | Since they are nocturnal (active at night), their eyes have adapted to reflect light in a way that produces a better image in low light. This enables them to see approximately six times better than a human can in the same light. |
| It is also a strong swimmer and climber | They are strong swimmers and climbers. |
| Brookfield Zoo Chicago puts the Amur leopard's entire estimated range at only 965 square miles | Their entire estimated range is only 965 square miles. (note: Current institution page (2026) preferred over the 2016 study's 8,100 km2 extant range, which the writer had used.) |
| a cat that lives alone | They live alone. (note: vibe.reason) |
| stalks as close as it can before it leaps | Amur leopards carefully stalk their prey, trying to get as close as possible before leaping. (note: vibe.reason) |

## Jacobson et al. (2016). Leopard (Panthera pardus) status, distribution, and the research efforts across its range. PeerJ.

https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1974

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| One Patch Left | The number of extant patches varied from one for P. p. orientalis to 53 for pardus (note: Blockquote lead-in.) |
| A 2016 study of leopards across their range found that this subspecies had lost as much as 98 percent of its historic range | three ( P. p. orientalis, nimr, and japonensis ) have each lost as much as 98% of their historic range (note: 2016 is the reference's publication year (Jacobson et al. 2016).) |
| What remained was a single habitat patch with the lowest human population density of any leopard subspecies (6 people per square kilometer) | The number of extant patches varied from one for P. p. orientalis to 53 for pardus ... P. p. orientalis had the lowest population density in extant range (6 people/km 2 ). |

## Leopard. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/leopard

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Its rosettes, the flower-shaped spots on a leopard's back | covered with flower-shaped spots on their backs called rosettes (note: Species-wide definition of the term, stated of leopards generally.) |
| conservation scientists identify individual leopards by their unique spot patterns in trail-camera photos | In 2002, trail cameras were added to allow conservation scientists to identify individual leopards by their unique spot patterns (note: SDZ paragraph on the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance's monitoring of Amur leopards.) |

## Jackson & Nowell (2008). Panthera pardus ssp. orientalis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T15957A5333757.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2008.rlts.t15957a5333757.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Critically Endangered | Critically Endangered C2a(ii); D (note: iucnredlist.org refuses scripts; read by hand in Chrome 2026-09-16, assessed 30 June 2008, annotation "Needs updating". Crossref lists no newer assessment for taxon 15957 and GBIF has no category for it, so verify:quotes cannot confirm this automatically (reported as a hand check). Do not confuse with the 2023 species-wide Panthera pardus assessment (Vulnerable), which is a different taxon.) |

## Parchizadeh & Belant (2021). Brown bear and Persian leopard attacks on humans in Iran. PLOS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255042

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| dangerLevel: Deadly | leopard incidents resulted in 97% ( n = 30) injuries and 3% ( n = 1) fatalities (note: Species-level (Persian leopard, Iran): no cached Amur-specific source mentions people. The tier is a capability, and a leopard attack killed a person.) |
| dangerLevel: Deadly | leopards attack humans as a defensive reaction when wounded, trapped, or cornered, with mauling much more common than death |