Not surprising, as there are so few of them, but a shame considering how beautiful they are. Thick, luscious, black-ringed coats and a huge furry tails they can wrap around themselves to keep warm. The good news is, having been driven to the edge of extinction, their numbers appear to be rising thanks to conservation work - we're also able to survey more areas than before and use camera traps to estimate population changes.
The Amur leopard is a nocturnal animal that lives and hunts alone — mainly in the vast forests of Russia and China. During the harsh winter, the hairs of that unique coat can grow up to 7cm long. Over the years the Amur leopard hasn't just been hunted mercilessly, its homelands have been gradually destroyed by unsustainable logging, forest fires, road building, farming, and industrial development.
But recent research shows conservation work is having a positive effect, and wild Amur leopard numbers are believed to have increased, though there are still only around 90 adults in the wild, in Russia and north-east China.
The next few years are really critical for them. Together with governments and other organisations, I feel hopeful that we help populations to increase as we look to the future.
Conservationists are working to stop poaching and grow rhino populations. These efforts have included flying rhinos to new homes where they can thrive.
The Sumatran rhino is also on the critically endangered list — along with a number of other animals that live on Sumatra, a large island located in western Indonesia. In the past, poaching posed the biggest threat to this rhino — but today, habitat loss is an even bigger danger, according to activist organization Save The Rhino. Humans destroying forest for palm oil and paper pulp, and the resulting fragmentation of rhino populations hurts breeding patterns. Sumatran rhinos have a number of distinct traits: They are the smallest rhino species and the only Asian rhino to have two horns.
There are only 80 individuals left in the wild, according to the WWF. Conservationists are working to stop poaching, grow rhino populations, and protect the animals' habitat.
The WWF has even moved some Sumatran rhinos to consolidate populations in areas that are better protected, and is working on breeding rhinos in captivity. Their tiny population makes their chances at bouncing back lower than most. The species is also particularly sensitive to natural disasters and disease, Save The Rhino reports , both of which are expected to increase with climate change.
Javan rhinos are smaller than their cousins, Indian rhinos, averaging about 10 feet long and four to six feet tall, according to Rainforest Alliance. These rhinos are happy to eat a a particularly broad range of plant food — shoots, twigs, fruit.
Javan rhinos are the "most adaptable" feeders among rhinos. Their big requirement is having salt in their diet, and they're not alone there — the Sumatran rhino requires the same. There are just 72 Javan rhinos left, according to Save The Rhino. The International Rhino Foundation and the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia are working to expand the Javan rhinos' protected habitats, and stop poaching. The primary reason orangutans are in trouble is the destruction of their habitat, reports the Orangutan Foundation International.
Legal and illegal logging, destroying forest to create forest to palm oil and timber operation, and mining are high on the list of threats. Orangutans live in only in Borneo and Sumatra, islands in Southeast Asia. There are about 41, Bornean and 7, Sumatran orangutans left in the wild. In just the past 60 years, the Bornean orangutan has seen its numbers cut in half , according to WWF. Logging and hunting threaten its habitat and survival. Both types of orangutan have their signature shaggy, orange-red fur.
But Borneans differ in that they're more likely to climb down from their treetop habitat to spend some time on the ground. There are about 41, Bornean orangutans left in the wild. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is working to reintroduce these animals from captive populations back to the wild, protect their habitat, and educate nearby communities to help protect the species.
Rapid deforestation and illegal pet trade are causing these orangutan populations to suffer. Sumatran orangutans' facial hair is longer than that of Borneans, and the group has closer social bonds, WWF reports. They usually rest up in trees during the heat of the day, but may also lay in dense vegetation or among rocks.
Hunting is accomplished mainly by stalking, stealthily approaching their prey as close m before making a final explosive rush. Their diet is extremely varied and consists of anything available, from dung beetles to adult antelope to carrion.
Over 90 species have been recorded in their diet in Africa. They are known for preying on domestic stock, occasionally entering corrals and settlements, and readily take domestic dogs. Leopards often store carcasses in the forked branches of trees, dragging prey more than two or three times their own body weight out of the reach of other carnivores. Breeding can occur throughout the year in Africa and India, but is mainly confined to January and February in China and southern Siberia.
The oestrous cycle averages about 46 days, and heat lasts for six or seven days. Males and females are known to form hunting pairs during the mating season, and may even stay together for a short period of time after mating. One to four, usually two or three, cubs are born in a cave, rock crevice, or hollow tree after a gestation period of 90 — days. They weigh between and grams at birth, and are covered with dark, woolly fur peppered with indistinct spotting.
Their eyes open between seven and ten days, and they begin to walk around two weeks of age. Weaned at three or four months, the young separate from their mother between 18 — 24 months.
Females reach sexual maturity at an average of 33 months, while males take 24 — 36 months. The answer to how many Amur leopards are left in the world is, sadly, only around in the wild. The encouraging part of this statistic is that their numbers have begun to rise over the last decade due to conservation efforts.
Yet this beautiful animal remains critically endangered and is the rarest big cat you can see in its natural environment. The Amur leopard lives the furthest north out of the sub-species of leopards, having adapted to the colder climates of the area it inhabits. The bulk of the population of Amur leopards resides in south-west Primorye in Far East Russia, with a smaller number found across the border in China.
There are also unsubstantiated reports of sightings in North Korea. The Amur leopard is a nocturnal animal which usually hunts and lives alone, with individual territories ranging from 20 to miles in size.
Although smaller than its African cousins, the Amur leopard can still reach speeds of 37mph when hunting its prey - usually deer, moose or wild pigs. Away from the wild, the numbers of Amur leopards in captivity within the Global Species Management Program are , according to figures from the Zoological Society of London, with over half that number in the European breeding program.
The answer to this question is twofold. Sadly, the beautiful and distinctive spotted fur of the Amur leopard makes it a target for poachers who can sell the fur on the black market for large sums of money.
The animal is also hunted and killed for its bones, which are used in traditional medicinal practices on the Asian continent. The second major threat is habitat loss. From , around 80 percent of the habitat of the Amur leopard was lost in under 15 years due to forest fires, logging and conversion to agricultural land.
As well as depriving the Amur leopard of its natural forest habitat, such loss also depletes the numbers of the wildlife which the Amur leopard depends on as a food source.
Poachers and hunters also kill the animals which the Amur leopard prey on for food, and therefore this also has a knock-on effect on Amur leopard numbers. Conservation efforts involving groups such as the World Wildlife Fund are gradually having a positive effect on reversing the decline in Amur leopard numbers.
Even just a decade ago, Amur leopard numbers in the wild were believed to be as low as 30, so the current count of around is a sizeable improvement in such a short period of time. One of the primary areas focussed on by charities and local groups looking to raise Amur leopard numbers has been the introduction of anti-poaching teams in the region.
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