Elusive cats in our backyards: persistence of the North Chinese leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis) in a human-dominated landscape in central China.

ABSTRACT: The North Chinese leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), the least-known big cat, disappeared in most historical range for decades, following the development of modern civilization. Unfortunately, we have scarce knowledge about the status of this big cat so far, apart from anecdotal reports. In this study, we investigated density, distribution, and habitat use of the leopard, the apex predator, in a complex forest landscape in the Loess Plateau. We used a camera-trapping network to obtain population estimates for leopards over 2 years through spatially explicit capture-recapture models. Our results, based on maximum likelihood and Bayesian/MCMC methods, reveal that the largest wild population of the leopard was found widely distributed in remnant forests in central Loess plateau. The popula

SUBMITTER: Yang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7820953 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature