Evaluation of threats faced by the Amur leopards in their native habitat and identification of suitable sites for re-introduction into the wild using GIS.

Conservation of the Amur leopards in the wild is essential to maintain the genetic diversity among them and is also essential because they are the rarest of all the wild cats surviving in Earth. It has been found that the co-existence of tigers could have turned into the most dominant threat, thus also making the anthropogenic threat and the resultant inbreeding rank next to it. A more effective conservation could be ensured by re-introducing the Amur leopards from both ex situ and in situ sources into a new locality that meets all the required and favourable conditions. Such a place has to be chosen in such a manner that it fulfils all the following conditions such as by (a) belonging to a forest area, (b) being within the limits of average annual temperature and elevation similar to those that had existed in their original habitats, (c) having water bodies within the reach, (d) having the least possible degree of anthropogenic threats, (e) not having a co-existing tiger population, and (f) having their respective area measurements to be greater than the average home range of a leopard's family during its lifetime. After filtering the entire forest land of both Russia, China, and North Korea, it was combinedly found that there are seven boundaries in Russia and North Korea that met all the conditions mentioned above. Hence, these boundaries could preferably be chosen for the future re-introduction of the Amur leopards to protect it from the danger of extinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]