Amur leopard

How it was counted

The estimate comes from camera traps in the protected areas of southwest Primorsky Krai, Russia, and it counts animals, with a range around the most likely figure. It covers that survey area only: China's share is not included.

A survey estimate with a range, for the Russian survey area only: about 118 animals is the most likely figure, and 115 to 121 is how far either way the true number could sit.

What moves it

Marchenkova and others name the threat of poaching. They also raise, as possibilities only, rising tiger numbers in Land of the Leopard National Park, which may push females with cubs to the park's edges, and ongoing inbreeding and health problems, which may mean fewer cubs.

• poaching. Camera trap monitoring data are not publicly shared due to the threat of poaching. Source: Marchenkova et al. 2025, Wildlife Letters 3(4): 152-160.
• possibly, a growing tiger population in the same park pushing females with cubs to its edges (raised by the authors as a possibility). Given that tiger numbers are increasing in LLNP concurrently with leopards Source: Marchenkova et al. 2025, Wildlife Letters 3(4): 152-160.
• possibly, ongoing inbreeding and health problems (raised by the authors as a possible cause of fewer cubs). the cumulative effects of ongoing inbreeding Source: Marchenkova et al. 2025, Wildlife Letters 3(4): 152-160.

Who is helping

Marchenkova and others credit Land of the Leopard National Park (Russia) with federal-level habitat protection over most of the leopard's current range in Russia, uniting and expanding earlier regional protected areas. They also credit anti-poaching work inside the protected area, without naming who carried it out: "With strong antipoaching efforts within the protected area, the population began to gradually recover."

The next count

No date for the next estimate is known as of 12 November 2026. The schedule is irregular (camera traps run every year; robust estimates are published rarely).

Sources

• Marchenkova et al. 2025, Wildlife Letters 3(4): 152-160 Last checked 12 November 2026.

What changed

• 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): 118, between 115 and 121 (Estimate, with range, 2022).

Every change on the site