Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The North Chinese Leopard



The North Chinese Leopard

The North Chinese leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis) lives just south of the Amur Leopard (see below) in northern China, but has a much larger population--somewhere around 2,500. Only 100 live in captivity to be used in captive breeding programs, but this is enough to maintain genetic diversity for at least two generations, and possibly three. An opportunity for a new influx of genetic material lies in individuals removed from the wild due to their actions in close proximity to humans endangering humans or livestock; if they are put in captivity rather than put down, they can help their species without hurting humans, economically or otherwise.

They have many apparent jaguar-like characteristics, such as large rosettes (spots) which on some occasions have a second dot inside. They have dark orange background fur, unlike all leopards, and are medium-large. Also, they have the longest coat of any leopard species. North Chinese Leopards eat rodents, deer, wild goats, wild pigs, and of course any livestock that it comes across could be considered prey.

Cubs are born in litters of two or three, but infant mortality is high, and usually one or two cubs die from each litter. They can fend for themselves around one year of age, but stay with their mother until they are eighteen months to two years old. one captive male, Cheung Chi, who lived at the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound, sired fifteen cubs up to 1988, and now has more than forty descendants. This could pose a problem for genetic diversity in captivity, since 40% of all captive North Chinese leopards are related.

Kelsey

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I thought you might like a link to this blog with images taken in Oman and links about the Arabian Leopard ( panthera pardus nimr ) http://blog.omanholiday.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/8/2/3820950.html