Amur Leopard
Common name | Amur leopard |
Scientific name | Panthera pardus orientalis |
IUCN Red List classification | Critically Endangered |
Fast Facts
- Males generally weigh between 32-48 kg and females between 25-43 kg.
- Their fur is pale yellow with widely spaced rosettes with dark centres.
- Their range size averages between 40 to 100 sq km, but some males have territories as large as 400 sq km.
- Prey species includes sika deer, roe deer and small mammals such as hares, weasels and badgers.
- Their life span is between 10-15 years in the wild, but they can live to be more than 20 in captivity.
- Females first breed between ages 3 and 4. After a gestation period of about 84 days, they give birth to between 1 and 4 cubs, although the average is 2 cubs. The cubs stay with mum for up to 2 years before becoming independent.
- Leopard bone is hard to tell from tiger bone and is often sold into the illegal traditional medicine market as tiger bone.
- Leopards like to take their food up trees and in general they live in the more mountainous areas than the tigers. Leopards try to avoid tigers, because tigers are much bigger and could easily take their prey.
- ZSL manages the Amur leopard EEP (European Endangered Species Breeding Programme) which contains about 100 leopards in zoos across Europe.
Amur Tiger
Common name | Amur tiger |
Scientific name | Panthera tigris altaica |
IUCN Red List classification | Endangered |
Fast Facts
- On average, males weigh 160-190 kg and females 110-130 kg. They are about the same size as Indian tigers, but are much bigger than the other tiger subspecies.
- Their fur is orange or light orange with dark stripes.
- Females have ranges that average 400 sq km, while male ranges can exceed 2000 sq km.
- Prey species include sika deer, roe deer, red deer and wild boar. Tigers have also been known to kill and eat bears. A wild tiger can eat as much as 18 kg of meat at one time and then not need to eat for several days. Because meals may be hard to come by, tigers will feed on rotten or decaying carcasses left over from previous kills.
- They have been known to survive for 14 years in the wild and more than 30 in captivity.
- Females begin to breed around 3 years of age and give birth to an average litter of 2 cubs after a gestation period of about 103 days.
- Tigers mark their territory by rubbing against trees and spraying urine on trees and rocks.
- They can run at speeds up to 20 meters per second over short distances.
- ZSL manages the Amur tiger EEP (European Endangered Species Breeding Programme) which contains about 300 tigers in zoos across Europe.
