A new study indicates that Leopards have lost 75 percent of their historical presence across the globe including regions in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and three subspecies in Asia. The three-year review was published in the scientific journal PeerJ, conflicting with the established assumption that the wild cats are numerous in the wild. The report was published in The New York Times.
The report says that leopards have receded throughout China, Southeast Asia, and the Arabian peninsula as the cats face eradication in the northern and western areas of Africa. Particularly, leopards are threatened by developing farmlands, disappearing prey, and trophy hunting with their skins and teeth sold on the black market. Their skins are worn by African chiefs and even South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, as a representation of power.
The study estimates that their habitats have diminished from 35 million square kilometers (13.5 million square miles) to roughly 8.5 million square kilometers (3.3 million square miles). Colonialization of Africa and the diffusion of firearms emerged in 1750, after which leopard populations began to fall.
The study’s results will be included in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s curated endangered species list among other related conservation societies such as the National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative, Panthera and the Zoological Society of London, a wild cat conservation organization.
Guillaume Chapron, associate professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science, said that the study is “the single most authoritative and exhaustive review of this kind,” and its indications are “a shock as leopards were often believed to be more adaptable to human impacts … than other species such as tigers and lions.”