Among the more than 20 subspecies of leopard Panthera pardus (L.) that have been studied, the Far Eastern subspecies P.p. orientalis Schlegel, 1857, belongs to those most clearly defined (Nowell and Jackson, 1996). It is characterized by long, thick fur, especially pronounced in the winter, with a general yellowish-reddish tone and a thick mat of contrasting spots; the circular black spots on the body -rosettes are comparatively large. While the taxonomic and evolutionary link of this subspecies with the neighboring P.p. japonensis Gray, 1862, which lives in the area south of Beijing, needs additional study, there is no doubt that geographically and ecologically they are very sharply different. The Far Eastern subspecies was formed in an area of broad-leafed and coniferous forests in the moderate latitudes of Eastern Asia, with the cold and snowy winters characteristic of that region. Its natural habitat takes in the extreme southern portion of the Russian Far East, the forest lands of the North-Eastern territory and the Korean Peninsula.
The leopard has now retreated from the seashores. But it is near the sea in Primorski Krai that the sika deer Cervus japonensis and goral Nemorhaedus goral, potential leopard prey, have their main habitats. Modern deer-farming enterprises have been organized in these areas.
At the present time the habitat has been ca-tastrophically reduced and now occupies only the extreme south-eastern part of Heilongjiang province and the eastern portion of the Jilin province in China; the extreme south-western portion of the Primorski Krai; and, possibly, the northern portion of the Korean People's Democratic Republic (North Korea). In the Republic of Korea (South Korea) the last time a leopard was seen was in 1969.
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In China, over the past 20 years the number of leopards and their area of habitation in the Jilin province has been steadily shrinking (Yang, Jiang, 1996). A number of leopards still lives in the extreme southern portion of the Heilongjiang province. The total leopard population in China has declined by 70 percent since 1960-70, and according to census data (Yang, Jiang, 1996) now comprises no more than 15-20 individuals, living in the isolated mountainous regions on the border with Russia and North Korea. According to the latest data of an international group of specialists in Feb.-March 1998, in the Jilin province of China the leopard has been seen only in territories bordering Russia. There is no new information on tire leopard population in Heilongjiang province, and there may be no more than 3-5 individuals there now. According to a study of three northern provinces of the Korean People's Democratic Republic (North Korea) bordering on Russia and China, there were no leopards observed at all.
So it turns out that the modern habitat of the Far Eastern leopard comprises only a limited mountainous-forest region with an area of 10,000-15,000 square kilometers at the border of three states: China, Russia, and North Korea. The most optimistic estimates of the world population of the Far Eastern leopard are no more than 40-52 individuals (30-40 in the Primorski Krai, 4-7 in Jilin, 3-5 in Heilongjiang).
