Rarest big cats in the world battle back from edge of extinction

The world’s rarest big cat, the Amur leopard, has reached a significant milestone in a battle against extinction – with 100 of the animals now living in the wild in a nature reserve in Russia.

Ten years ago, the number of wild Amur leopards had fallen to 30, and scientists feared the species was on the brink.

The species remains highly endangered, but scans by experts in Russia’s Land of the Leopard Nature Reserve in 2017 showed 100 animals, with 84 adults, living wild in the area.

A network of 400 automatic cameras in the park have captured images of the growing community of Amur leopards.

There are 200 Amur leopards in captivity in zoos around the world, including two which were born in the UK’s Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire in 2016.

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The Amur leopard has longer legs and fur than other leopard species, allowing it to hunt in the snows of Siberia.

Native to eastern Russia and China, the creatures live for up to 15 years, and can run at up to 37mph, and leap 10 feet from a standing start.

Logging, building, farming and poaching had reduced numbers of the animals to a critical level – but the Russian government stepped in to protect the animals.