The Leopard in the Arabian Peninsula - Distribution an Subspecies Status

Cat News Special Issue No. 1: 4-8- IUCN Cat Specialist Group. ISSN 1027-2992.

Abstract:

Historically it was considered that there were four subspecies of leopards in the Arabian region. Today P. p.jarvisi no longer occurs and the ranges of P. p. tulliana and P. p. saxicolor have severely contracted north. Only P. p. nimr, the Arabian leopard, remains. Morphological data suggests nimr to be the smallest of the leopards and a distinct subspecies but this has yet to be conclusively confi rmed by genetic evidence. Recent records give a bleak picture of the status of P. p. nimr. A few individuals survive in the Judean Desert and Negev Highlands while in the Arabian Peninsula leopards are known from just one location in the Republic of Yemen and one in the Sultanate of Oman. In Yemen the leopards of the Al Wada’a area are under great pressure from killing and from capture for trade. In Oman the situation is much more hopeful and the leopards of the Dhofar Mountains have benefi ted from comprehensive conservation measures. While the possibility, however remote, of the existence of other relict populations cannot be ruled out the need for urgent conservation action across the region is obvious given the reality that the Arabian leopard may soon be reduced to two, or even just one population in the wild.

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23.12.2014 - 694