Good leopard news from China

This 2016 video says about itself:

First ever video footage of snow leopards and common leopards using the exact same location. Filmed in Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve, China.

Footage by Shan Shui Conservation Center, Panthera, Snow Leopard Trust, Government of Zadoi County, Qinghai, and SEE Foundation.

From the University of Copenhagen in Denmark:

Surprised researchers: Number of leopards in northern China on the rise

October 26, 2020

Most of the world’s leopards are endangered and generally, the number of these shy and stunning cats is decreasing. However, according to a recent study, leopard populations in northern China are on the mend.

Leopards are fascinating animals. In addition to being sublime hunters that will eat nearly anything and can survive in varied habitats from forests to deserts, they are able to withstand temperatures ranging from minus 40 degrees Celsius during winter to plus 40 degrees in summer.

Despite their resilience, the majority of leopard species are endangered. Poaching and the clearing of forest habitat for human activities are among the reasons for their global decline.

But in northern China — and specifically upon the Loess Plateau — something fantastic is occurring.

Numbers of a leopard subspecies called the North Chinese leopard have increased according to a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Copenhagen and their colleagues in Beijing.

“We were quite surprised that the number of leopards has increased, because their populations are declining in many other places. We knew that there were leopards in this area, but we had no idea how many,” says Bing Xie, a PhD student at UCPH’s Department of Biology and one of the researchers behind the study.

Together with researchers at Beijing Normal University, she covered 800 square kilometers of the Loess Plateau between 2016 and 2017.

The just-completed count reports that the number of leopards increased from 88 in 2016 to 110 in 2017 — a 25 percent increase. The researchers suspect that their numbers have continued to increase in the years since.

This is the first time that an estimate has been made for the status of local population in North Chinese leopards.

Five-year reforestation plan has worked

The reason for this spotted golden giant’s rebound likely reflects the 13’th five-year plan that the Chinese government, in consultation with a range of scientific researchers, implemented in 2015 to restore biodiversity in the area.

“About 20 years ago, much of the Loess Plateau’s forest habitat was transformed into agricultural land. Human activity scared away wild boars, toads, frogs and deer — making it impossible for leopards to find food. Now that much of the forest has been restored, prey have returned, along with the leopards,” explains Bing Xie, adding:

“Many locals had no idea there were leopards in the area, so they were wildly enthused and surprised. And, it was a success for the government, which had hoped for greater biodiversity in the area. Suddenly, they could ‘house’ these big cats on a far greater scale than they had dreamed of.”

Leopards are nearly invisible in nature

The research team deployed camera equipment to map how many leopards were in this area of northern China. But even though the footage captured more cats than expected on film, none of the researchers saw any of the big stealthy felines with their own eyes:

“Leopards are extremely shy of humans and sneak about silently. That’s why it’s not at all uncommon to study them for 10 years without physically observing one,” she explains.

Even though Bing Xie has never seen leopards in the wild, she will continue to fight for their survival.

“That 98 percent of leopard habitat has been lost over the years makes me so sad. I have a great love for these gorgeous cats and I will continue to research on how best to protect them,” she concludes.

How male, female leopards live in Tanzania

This 2019 video says about itself:

Pula, a female leopard, hunts and takes down an impala for a meal.

From the University of Copenhagen in Denmark:

The surprising rhythms of Leopards: Females are early birds, males are nocturnal

September 10, 2020

Summary: After 10 months of camera surveillance in the Tanzanian rainforest, researchers have concluded that female and male leopards are active at very different times of the day. The discovery contradicts previous assumptions and could be used to help protect the endangered feline, whose populations have dwindled by 85 percent over the past century.

Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains are carpeted by dense rainforest, making the area impossible to reach by jeep or other vehicles. As such, the leopards in this area have never been subject to the prying eyes of researchers. Until now.

After covering 2,500 square kilometers on foot, setting up 164 game camera traps and collecting more than 5000 days worth of footage from the area, the Natural History Museum of Denmark’s Rasmus W. Havmøller has discovered new and surprising knowledge about these spotted predators.

“I’m the first person to study leopards in this area, simply because it is so inaccessible. It took several pairs of good hiking boots, let me put it that way,” says Havmøller, who never actually got to see one of the shy leopards with his own eyes. Instead, he had to “settle” for buffalo and elephants.

While Havmøller never caught a glimpse of a leopard himself, his 164 camera traps most certainly did. Using motion sensors, the cameras captured the leopards, as well as forest antelopes, baboons and other leopard prey on film. Camera observations revealed leopard behaviour that contradicts previous assumptions.

“In the past, leopards were thought to be most active at dusk. Very surprisingly, the study shows that leopards hunt and move around at very different times of the day depending on whether they are females or males,” says Rasmus W. Havmøller, who adds:

“Females are typically active from early through late morning, and then a bit before sunset, while males only really wake up at night.”

This is the first time that differences in activity patterns between male and female leopards have been studied.

Differences between male and female leopards have only recently begun to be studied, so there is still much to learn about the animal. But researchers need to hurry. Rapidly growing human populations in Africa and India are the greatest threat to these animals, which are forced from their habitats and shot when they near livestock.

“Globally, things are going awfully for leopards, with sharp declines in their populations over the past 100 years. Furthermore, these animals aren’t monitored all that well. In part, this is because it is difficult. But also, because there has been a greater focus on species that are even more endangered, including lions, tigers and cheetahs. Therefore, it might be that the leopards in Udzungwa present the last chance to study these creatures in a diversified environment, one that has only been lightly impacted by humans, before they end up becoming highly endangered” explains Rasmus W. Havmøller.

The researcher believes that the results will provide a better understanding of the lives of wild leopards — an understanding that may help prevent their complete extinction.

“The fact that female leopards are active well into the morning makes them more vulnerable to human activities, since this is when we as humans are most active. To protect something, one needs to have some knowledge about it. During my study, we also discovered that a leopard from the rainforest doesn’t move into semi-arid areas or onto the savannah, or vice versa. It’s very strange. Why they don’t is the next big question,” concludes Havmøller.

Leopards of Serengeti, Tanzania, new research

This 11 June 2019 video is called Leopard kills Warthog – Safari Serengeti.

From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau in the USA:

Serengeti leopard population densities healthy but vary seasonally, study finds

Camera-trap study yields insights into what drives leopard population density

August 31, 2020

A study of camera-trap data from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania found that leopard population densities in the 3.7-million-acre park are similar to those in other protected areas but vary between wet and dry seasons. The fluctuations appear to be driven by the abundance of prey and how this affects interactions with other large carnivores like lions, researchers report.

Despite the long history of wildlife research in the Serengeti, this is the first peer-reviewed study of leopard densities in the park, said Max Allen, a carnivore ecologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign who led the research. Allen and his team analyzed data from Snapshot Serengeti, a large collaborative effort that uses hundreds of camera traps to collect data on large cats and other wildlife in the Serengeti. The team published the new findings in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation.

“In the wet season, when potential prey species like Thomson’s gazelle and impala are available in abundance, leopards appear at higher densities,” Allen said. “In the dry season, leopards seem to work harder to avoid other large carnivores that compete with them for less abundant food.”

The team used advanced analytical techniques called Bayesian statistics to estimate leopard densities for each camera-trap site and for the study area overall.

“We found 5.72 and 5.41 leopards per 100-square-kilometers in the wet and dry seasons, respectively,” Allen said. “These densities suggest the leopard populations are at moderately healthy levels in the Serengeti. This reflects the importance of large conservation areas for large carnivores, as leopard populations are generally declining across their range.”

The results also highlight the importance of citizen-scientist projects for the conservation of wild species, Allen said. Snapshot Africa is one of the most effective citizen science projects in the world, he said.

“Large carnivores at the top of the food chain play important roles in ecosystem regulation, and disease and population control,” Allen said. “The human-induced changes to habitat availability and quality are accelerating the decline of large carnivores, which are already vulnerable because they have naturally low population densities at birth.”

Understanding how carnivore populations are faring and what factors contribute to their success is essential to conserve them and the other wildlife in their ecosystem, Allen said. Capturing data about their habits through unobtrusive camera traps can lead to better management of the wild areas on which they depend.

The INHS is a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the U. of I. The INHS, U. of I. and Slovenian Research Agency supported this research.

Jackal-leopard conflict in South Africa

This 22 June 2020 video from South Africa says about itself:

Jackals bark at the wrong leopard

Two [black-backed] jackals from Kgalagadi park were barking at a leopard for being too close to their den. This only angered the leopards and they ended up hunting down one of the jackals.

Female leopard defends her meal

This 28 May 2020 video from Africa says about itself:

A leopardess catches a puku and quickly drags it up a tree to evade the clutches of a nearby hyena. But she’s not out of the woods yet – a male leopard has spotted her and he wants in.

Leopard and hyena quarrel about food

This 31 May 2020 video from South Africa is called Show of strength between Leopard and Hyena, who’s stronger?

Leopard family reunion, video

This 23 May 2020 video says about itself:

Leopard Family Reunion | Jungle Animal Rescue

Wildlife SOS tries to reunite a leopard cub with its mother after the two were separated in the sugar cane fields.

Leopard Teaches Cubs to Cross a Road

This 21 April 2020 video from South Africa says about itself:

Leopard Teaches Cubs How to Cross the Road

There is no need to go to Oklahoma to see cute cubs, GO TO AFRICA INSTEAD! There, you will watch these magnificent big cats how they should be viewed – in the wild. This video is in honor of all the animals that are locked up in cages when they should be in the wild.

Watch the unbelievably cute moment filmed on camera when a leopard mother is seen helping her cute newborn leopard cubs cross the road in the Kruger National Park. The heart-warming cuteness of these little ones is almost unbearable and all we can do is watch. When you get the opportunity to capture it on film, it makes the sighting even more special.

64 Year old, Thinus Delport, had the opportunity to see this incredible sighting of a mother leopard and her two very tiny cubs crossing a road 6km from Lower Sabie towards Crocodile Bridge. Thinus tells LatestSightings.com of the excitement to have been able to witness such a rare sighting.

“Early morning, my daughters and I left the camp looking for leopards. They were convinced that there are no leopards in the Kruger, as neither of them had ever seen one. As we drove, I jokingly convinced them to start singing in the car, to draw the leopards out, and so they did – and to my surprise – it actually worked!”

“We hit a traffic jam where a few cars were stationary. It seemed like visitors were looking at a pride of lions. My daughter noticed that in the thicket behind our vehicle, there was a mother leopard trying to move her cubs!!”

“It was my daughter’s first visit to the Kruger and she was the first to whip out her video camera. I’m glad she did because I would have been shaking so much from excitement, that the footage might have just been ruined. We stayed and watched as the mother crossed the road first to make sure that all was safe, before returning to encourage her cubs to cross to safety.”

“This was an extremely rare sighting, and you don’t often get to see a leopard mother relocate her cubs when they are still so young. We’ve been visiting the Kruger for over 50 years, and not once have we seen something like this. This just came to show that patience really does pay off.”

Indian peafowl don´t fear young leopard

This 27 March 2020 video from India says about itself:

A leopard cub’s afternoon nap is interrupted by a curious flock of peafowls. Normally, these birds wouldn’t go anywhere near a predator – but she’s too young to pose a serious threat.

Hungry leopardess risks death by stealing food

This 26 February 2020 video from Africa says about itself:

A Leopard Risks Her Life to Steal Food

A female leopard is risking life and limb by trying to steal food from another, male, leopard. One wrong move and the male, a third bigger than she is, could make her pay.