One of the world’s rarest big cats is hiding in this picture, with its camouflage making it almost impossible to spot.
There are reportedly less than 120 of the Amur leopards (aka Siberian leopards) left living in the wild, but its amazing camouflage gives conservationists hopes for the survival of the species.
Their natural habitat is in Siberia (the name gives it away, doesn’t it?). These photos were snapped at the Land of the Leopard Nature Reserve in the Far East of Russia. The area is a natural park which was set up by the Kremlin in order to try to save the species.
Senior state inspector of the reserve, Andrey Troyanov, took the impressive photos
There are only 86 adults and 21 young leopards known to be living in their natural habitat, with the future of the species as a wild – rather than zoo – animal depending on them.
Although the leopards are still highly endangered, two decades ago there were only 30 known adults after years of poaching during the Soviet era.
Some of them still exist in zoos around the world, but about 100 years ago, the big cat was seen roaming the Korean peninsula, in several provinces in China, as well as regions of eastern Russia.
Today though, they are pretty much only found in Russia’s Primorsky region.
photo credits: east2west news
source ladbible.com
