Population
In the past, the Amur Leopard used to have a larger population from the1950s – 1990s. However, with each pasing decade their population started to decrease drastically. In the 1950s, the population was 2400, but by the 1990s it had decreased down to 300. Now, there are only around 50 leopards left in the world, this means in 26 years, if looking up to the 90s population, it has decreased by 83%. But from the 1950s to today, the population has decreased by nearly 98%("Save the Amur Leopard", 2015).
WCS has used camera trapping to survey the leopard population over a large portion of its range. This allows them to identify individual leopards by their unique spot patterns, and therefore they are able to monitor individuals over many years, estimate population density and trends over time("Amir Leopard Conservation", n.d.).
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As seen on the graph above, the population of Amur leopards has declined drastically over the last years. Amur leopards years ago would have been found all across northern China, the Korean Peninsula and southern areas of the Russian Far East, but today they are only found in small parts of southwest Primorskii Krai Russia("Amur Leopard Factfile", n.d). Because there is only about 60 Amur leopards left, there is a greater difficulty of track in their distribution patterns. Since 2007, the Amur population has doubled, which is a good sigh because any increase in its population gets it further from becoming extinction(Platt, 2015).
Limiting factors that have contributed to the species 'at risk' status are:
Hunting and poaching, humans are killing the Amur leopards for their beautiful coat. If humans continue to kill leopards, the population of leopards will not be expected to survive. Along with this they also are destroying the leopards habitats by deforestation and other environmental damage which can cause the Amur leopard to lose their home("Amur Leopard", n.d.). Amur leopard also has to deal with the Amur tiger, who it fights for food and other resources. |