Leopard populations have decreased significantly. A new study reveals a fact the world has overlooked until now — and disproves the belief that this animal is at less risk than others.
The common assumption that leopard populations worldwide are faring better than other big cat species has been disproved. The leopard (Panthera pardus) has lost 75 per cent of its natural habitat, according to a new study published in the scientific journal PeerJ. The findings are the result of three years of work and represent the first comprehensive assessment of the conservation status of the nine existing leopard subspecies.
Among big cats, the leopard is the most widespread species in the world: it is found in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In the past, its habitat covered an area of 35 million square kilometres across these regions, whereas today it has shrunk to just 8.5 million.
On average, the extent of areas inhabited by leopards has decreased by 25–37 per cent, with figures reaching 98 per cent in the Arabian Peninsula, China and South-East Asia. Here the leopard is as threatened as the tiger, one of the big cats most at risk of extinction in the world.
Leopards live in tropical forests and grasslands, but also in deserts and alpine zones. They can even be found in the vicinity of urban centres. "The occasional and bold appearance of individuals in megacities such as Mumbai and Johannesburg encourages the mistaken belief that these cats continue to thrive in the wild," explained Luke Dollar, co-author of the study and director of the National Geographic Society's Big Cats Initiative.
Comprising 6,000 documents drawn from 1,300 sources dating back as far as 1750, the study debunks the myth that "leopards are numerous enough and are not severely threatened," as reported by the study's author Andrew Jacobson of the Zoological Society of London (Zsl), University College London and the Big Cats Initiative.
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature (Iucn) classifies the leopard as a vulnerable species and three of its subspecies as critically endangered. Furthermore, the study suggests that the conservation status of two other subspecies should be reassessed, reclassifying them as endangered and critically endangered respectively.
The threats leopards face are numerous. Although they are capable of surviving in close proximity to human settlements, ever larger portions of their habitat are being converted to farmland. This means that the areas in which leopards live are fewer, ever smaller and increasingly isolated from one another.
This solitary animal is also subject to persecution. Given that areas dedicated to livestock farming are expanding to meet the food needs of a constantly growing world population, farmers kill leopards out of fear that their livestock will become prey. Yet if leopards are forced to hunt livestock, it is precisely because humans have also jeopardised the availability of the wild species on which this big cat would naturally feed.
To all of this must be added sport hunting, still absurdly permitted in some countries, and the illegal trade in parts of the animal (such as skins and teeth) sold as trophies. The effects of these practices are often overlooked and have led South Africa to introduce a moratorium on leopard hunting for the whole of 2016.
What emerges from the study conducted by the Big Cats Initiative, Zsl, the wild cat conservation group Panthera and Iucn is a highly complex picture. The survival of the species faces challenges on multiple fronts, and research on the subject remains scarce. "The leopard is famous for being an elusive animal, and it is probably for this reason that it has taken so long to recognise its decline," said Jacobson. Moreover, existing studies focus on the most populous subspecies rather than the most threatened, such as the Javan leopard (P. p. melas) and the Sri Lankan leopard (P. p. kotiya).
The study also yields something approaching good news. In the Caucasus mountains, in Russia's far east and in north-eastern China, leopard populations are stabilising and even growing, despite having been in decline in the past. However, this remains an isolated positive finding, set within a context of severe, complex and poorly understood decline in leopard populations worldwide.
Translated by Camilla Soldati
