Panthera Pardus, Leopard
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The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ ISSN 2307-8235 (online) IUCN 2008: T15954A5329380 Panthera pardus, Leopard Assessment by: Henschel, P., Hunter, L., Breitenmoser, U., Purchase, N., Packer, C., Khorozyan, I., Bauer, H., Marker, L., Sogbohossou, E. & Breitenmoser- Wursten, C. View on www.iucnredlist.org Citation: Henschel, P., Hunter, L., Breitenmoser, U., Purchase, N., Packer, C., Khorozyan, I., Bauer, H., Marker, L., Sogbohossou, E. & Breitenmoser-Wursten, C. 2008. Panthera pardus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T15954A5329380. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T15954A5329380.en Copyright: © 2015 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. 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THE IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES™ Taxonomy Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Animalia Chordata Mammalia Carnivora Felidae Taxon Name: Panthera pardus (Linnaeus, 1758) Synonym(s): • Felis pardus Linnaeus, 1758 Regional Assessments: • Mediterranean Infra-specific Taxa Assessed: • Panthera pardus ssp. kotiya • Panthera pardus ssp. melas • Panthera pardus ssp. nimr • Panthera pardus ssp. orientalis • Panthera pardus ssp. saxicolor Common Name(s): • English: Leopard • French: Léopard, Panthère • Spanish: Leopardo, Pantera Taxonomic Notes: According to genetic analysis, nine subspecies are recognized, with all continental African Leopards attributable to the nominate form (Miththapala et al. 1996, Uphyrkina et al. 2001). These include: Panthera pardus pardus (Linnaeus, 1758): Africa Panthera pardus nimr (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833): Arabia Panthera pardus saxicolor Pocock, 1927: Central Asia Panthera pardus melas (Cuvier, 1809): Java Panthera pardus kotiya Deraniyagala, 1956: Sri Lanka Panthera pardus fusca (Meyer, 1794): Indian sub-continent Panthera pardus delacourii Pocock, 1930: southeast Asia into southern China Panthera pardus japonensis (Gray, 1862): northern China Panthera pardus orientalis (Schlegel, 1857): Russian Far East, Korean peninsula and north-eastern China The recognition of P. p. melas and P. p. nimr was based on very small sample sizes and is considered tentative. Based on morphological analysis, Khorozyan et al. (2006) recognize P. p. tulliana (Valenciennes, 1856) in western Turkey and P. p. sindica (Pocock, 1930) in Pakistan, and possibly also parts of Afghanistan and Iran. They also consider P. p. ciscaucasica (Satunin, 1914) as the senior synonym for P. p. saxicolor. Assessment Information © The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Panthera pardus – published in 2008. 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T15954A5329380.en Red List Category & Criteria: Near Threatened ver 3.1 Year Published: 2008 Date Assessed: June 30, 2008 Justification: Leopards have a wide range and are locally common in some parts of Africa and tropical Asia. However, they are declining in large parts of their range due to habitat loss and fragmentation, and hunting for trade and pest control. These threats may be significant enough that the species could soon qualify for Vulnerable under criterion A. Previously Published Red List Assessments 2002 – Least Concern (LC) 1996 – Lower Risk/least concern (LR/lc) 1990 – Threatened (T) 1988 – Threatened (T) 1986 – Vulnerable (V) Geographic Range Range Description: The leopard occurs across most of sub-Saharan Africa, as remnant populations in North Africa, and then in the Arabian peninsula and Sinai/Judean Desert (Egypt/Israel/Jordan), south-western and eastern Turkey, and through Southwest Asia and the Caucasus into the Himalayan foothills, India, China and the Russian Far East, as well as on the islands of Java and Sri Lanka (Nowell and Jackson 1996; Sunquist and Sunquist 2002; Hunter et al. in press). In sub-Saharan Africa, leopards remain widely, albeit now patchily, distributed within historical limits (see Hunter et al. in press, and references therein). Ray et al. (2005) estimated that leopards have disappeared from at least 36.7% of their historical range in Africa. The most marked range loss has been in the Sahel belt, as well as in Nigeria and South Africa. They have been locally extirpated from areas densely populated with people or where habitat conversion is extreme (Hunter et al. in press). They are likely extinct on Zanzibar, where there have been no confirmed records since 1996 (Hunter et al. in press). In North Africa, a tiny relict population persists in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco (Cuzin 2003), and there was a probable observation on the Morocco-Algerian border in Figuig in 2007 (F. Cuzin pers. comm.), while a population was recently found in the Ahaggar of south-eastern Algeria, a region from which they had not previously been recorded (Busby et al. 2006). Leopard are likely extinct in Egypt, although they may occur in the Eastern Desert (Hunter et al. in press). A 2006 Arabian Fauna Conservation Workshop estimated there were fewer than 200 leopards remaining on the Arabian peninsula, in three confirmed separate subpopulations: the Negev desert, the Wada'a © The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Panthera pardus – published in 2008. 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T15954A5329380.en mountains of Yemen, and the Dhofar mountains of Oman. Presence in Saudi Arabia is uncertain (Breitenmoser 2006, Spalton and Al Hikmani 2006). I. Khorozyan (pers. comm. 2008) compiled detailed country information on the distribution of the Endangered Persian leopard as follows: Russian North Caucasus: mountain ridges in the headwaters of the Avarskoe Koisu and Andiiskoe Koisu rivers (Republic of Dagestan). Possibly exists in the Chegem River canyon (Kabardino-Balkarian Republic); Erzi Reserve, Assa River valley (Republic of Ingushetia); Armkhi River basin (Republic of North Osetia- Alania), headwaters of the Sharoargun and Argun rivers (Chechen Republic) (Akkiev and Mokaev, 2006; Khorozyan and Abramov, 2007; Lukarevsky et al., 2007). Georgia: Vashlovani Reserve in the south-east; Arkhoti River canyon in the upper part of the Assa River basin and the headwaters of the Andiiskoe Koisu River in the north-east (Lukarevsky et al., 2007). Some anecdotal records from south-western Georgia are either unreliable or can be attributed to individuals coming from north-eastern Turkey (Arabuli, 2006; Khorozyan and Abramov, 2007). Armenia: south-western and southern parts of the country from Khosrov Reserve to the Armenian- Iranian state border throughout the Geghama, Zangezur, Aiotsdzor, Bargushat and Meghri ridges. The range boundaries are the Azat River in the north-west; Vardenis Ridge in the north; semi-desert of the Ararat Valley in the west; state border with Azerbaijan and the alpine meadow/nival belt transition zone in the south-west and east; Arax River basin along the Armenian-Iranian border in the south. Until the early 1970s it lived also in north-eastern parts of Armenia (Khorozyan et al., 2005; Khorozyan and Abramov, 2007). Azerbaijan: Talysh Mts. in the extreme south-east, Akhar-Bakhar Ridge of the Iori-Mingechaur Highland in the north-west and the Zangezur Ridge in the Nakhichevan Republic along the state border with Armenia in the west (Lukarevsky et al., 2007). Nagorno-Karabakh Republic: distribution in Shushi, Mardakert and Hadrut districts and in the adjoining Kelbajar district was recorded in 1941-1967 (Alekperov, 1966; Sludsky, 1973). Up-to-date information on leopard status is impossible to obtain for the political tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan over this republic, even though it plays a vital role as a corridor between the southern (Armenia, Azerbaijan's Nakhichevan Republic), central (Iori-Mingechaur Highland in Azerbaijan and Vashlovani Reserve in Georgia) and northern (Russian North Caucasus) parts of the Caucasus (Khorozyan and Abramov, 2007). Iran: virtually all country, except the vast deserts of Desht-e-Kevir and Desht-e-Lut in central and eastern parts. Particularly common in the Alborz Mts. along the southern fringe of the Caspian Sea. Quite common in protected areas (e.g., Tandooreh, Sarigol, Bafgh, Golestan, Kolah'ghazy, Touran, Kavir, Khojir, Khabr and Bamu national parks; Kiamaki and Naybandan wildlife refuges; Jahan Nama, Central Alborz, Varjin, Arasbaran, Dena and Bahram'gur protected areas) and some unprotected lands (Chapur- Ghoymeh, Safee Abad-Dozain or Minoo Dasht, Ramsar, Khaeez and Darestan-Rudbar) (Joslin and Shoemaker 1988; Kiabi et al., 2002; Farhadinia et al. 2007; Abdoli et al. 2008; M Farhadinia and A. Ghoddousi pers. comms., 2008). Turkey: north-east (around the Artvin city), east (vicinities of Mt.