Green Options » leopards

‘Extinct’ Leopard Cub Discovered in Bangladesh

Bryan Nelson — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:45:51 +0000

Conservationists in Bangladesh are thrilled after the discovery by local villagers of a clouded leopard cub, a species which was previously thought extinct in that country.

This is the first time a clouded leopard has been spotted in Bangladesh in 20 years. The cub, which was captured by the villagers, was seen with a sibling and their mother while they were eating a dead monkey. That means there may be a small but healthy breeding population surviving in the wild.

10 Animals on the Brink of Extinction

Jake Richardson — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:14:27 +0000

1. Iberian Lynx

The Iberian (Spanish), Lynx lives in very small areas of central and southern Spain (Andalucia). It used to live throughout Spain and Portugal but its numbers have been drastically reduced to the point where it is now one of the most endangered wild cats in the world.

In the early 1950s a virus named Myxomatosis was illegally introduced by a French scientist to wild rabbits on his estate to protect his vegetable patch. Tragically the virus spread rapidly, and killed about 90% of the wild rabbits in France. Spanish rabbits also died in huge numbers even going completely missing in some areas, so thousands of lynx starved to death. Habitat loss, hunting and trapping also have decimated the lynx. They are protected now, but they still get caught in fox traps. Another cause of death recently is getting hit by cars in Donana National Park.

As Tigers Move Towards Extinction, Poachers Target Leopards

Melissa Elliott — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:37:39 +0000

As the number of tigers decline, Indian wildlife authorities believe recent seizures of leopard-skins suggest that poachers are increasingly on the prowl for the country’s other big cat.