Leopard Panthera Pardus Populations In Africa

The leopard, Panthera pardus, is on CITES Appendix I. The species, found in Asia and Africa, inhabits 31 sub-Saharan range States. Resolution states that whenever the CoP has set an export quota for a species listed on Appendix I, this satisfies the requirements of Article III regarding the finding that the export and the import will not be detrimental to the survival of the species, provided that the quota is not exceeded. In accordance with Resolution proposals for quotas must provide “supporting information including details of the scientific basis for the proposed quota”. Resolution: establishes annual export quotas for leopard skin hunting trophies and for personal use for eleven range States, recommends that importing Parties approve permits if the skins are from States with quotas, creates a skin tagging system, and provides that increased or new quotas must be approved by the CoP in accordance with Resolution. Annually, up to 2560 leopard skins and trophies may be exported under quotas.

Leopard

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group, 2002), “based on estimates of density and geographic range (Nowell and Jackson, 1996), the leopard's total effective population size is estimated at greater than 50,000 mature breeding individuals, but with a declining trend due to persecution and degradation of its habitat and prey base.”

The model provides an indirect estimate of 714,000 leopards, but this is “generally considered to be an overestimate” (Nowell and Jackson, 1996). According to Nowell and Jackson (1996), the model has been criticized for “failure to account adequately for persecution and reduction of wild prey as factors lowering leopard density” and the questionable “universality of the correlation of leopard density and rainfall a variable representing preyprey density should be incorporated into the regression linking leopard density to rainfall”, and “while the link between herbivore density and rainfall may be generally valid, a herbivore biomass increase does not necessarily equate to increased leopard prey biomass.

The herbivore biomass could be in the form of very large species (elephant, buffalo, hippopotamus) or herd-forming species  (elephant, buffalo, hippopotamus) or herd-forming species (zebra and wildebeest), which provide little food for leopards.” Nowell and Jackson (1996) also provide information on how the model grossly overestimates the actual numbers of leopards determined by field studies:

Leporad Panthera Pardus

“The rainfall/density regression used by Martin and de Meulenaer (1988) suggest that Zaire would hold some 33% of sub-Saharan African leopards, a figure resulting from presumed very high densities in tropical rain forest (up to 40 leopards, including young and transients, per 100 km2). However, Baily (1993) is among several authorities who have argued that since terrestrial mammalian prey biomass is lower in rain forest than in savannah environments, as the bulk of productivity is locked up in the tree canopy, therefore leopard density should be correspondingly lower. D. Jenny (in litt. 1994) provides a preliminary estimate of five adult leopards in his 80 km2 study area in Taï NP, or 6.25 leopards per 100 km2. J. Hart (in litt. 1994) offers a preliminary estimate of one adult leopard per 8-12 km2 in Zaire’s Ituri forest, or 8.3-12.5 leopards per 100 km2. These estimates are considerably lower than the 40 leopards per 100 km2 suggested by Martin and de Meulenaer’s rainfall/density regression.”

Regarding the Martin and de Meulenaer (1988) model, Norton (1990) warned, “Results of ecological studies on leopards in the Cape Province, South Africa, carried out by the Chief Directorate: Nature and Environmental Conservation, suggest that some of the assumptions on which the population estimates are based are highly suspect, and that the population figures may be unrealistically high. The recommendations for leopard conservation and management should therefore be viewed with caution, especially hunting quotas based on a proportional offtake from the "estimated total" population.”