The Amur leopard is native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and the Jilin province, in northeastern China, and has been listed as critically endangered since 1996. Only 14 to 20 adults and 5 to 6 cubs were counted in a 2007 census, with a total of 19 to 26 leopards of Love in the wild. The Amur leopard is also known as the Far Eastern leopard. CharacteristicsAmur leopards have a thick coat of fur covered with spots. Leopards in the Amur River basin, the mountains of northeastern China, and the Korean Peninsula have pale cream-colored coats, particularly in winter. Their coat is quite soft with long, dense hair. The winter coat varies from light yellow to dense yellowish-red with a golden tint. In summer it is brighter with more vivid patterns.HabitatHermann Schlegel first described an Amur leopard in 1857 based on a skin from Korea. The Amur leopard is the only leopard subspecies adapted to a cold, snowy climate. Amur leopards were once found in Northeast Asia, probably as far south as Beijing and the Korean Peninsula. In the middle of the 20th century, their distribution in Russia was limited to the extreme south of the Ussuri region. In the 1950s, leopards were sighted 50 km north of Vladivostok and in the Kedrovaya Pad nature reserve. The association of Amur leopards with mountains is quite specific. They are more confined to places where wild sika deer live. In winter, they stay on south-facing snow-free rocky slopes. Leopards cross the Tumen River between Russia, China and North Korea despite a long, high metal fence marking the border. In China, Amur leopards have been photographed by camera traps in Wangqing and Hunchun, in the eastern province of Jilin, China. BehaviorAmur leopards are extremely conservative in their choice of territory...... middle of paper ...... The American and European regions include a considerable contribution of genes from Founder 2, which was not a Amur leopard. The strategy of the European Endangered Species Program (EEP) has been to manage reproduction in such a way as to minimize its contribution as much as possible. All leopards with more than 41% Founder 2 genes have been excluded from breeding since 1999. This policy has resulted in an overall decrease in the prevalence of Founder 2 genes and an increase in the number of leopards with a low percentage of them . As of December 2011, there are 176 Amur leopards in captivity in zoos around the world. Within the EEP, 54 males, 40 females and 7 unsexed individuals are preserved. In U.S. and Canadian zoos, another 31 males and 41 females are kept as part of the population management program. In China, there is another captive population of Amur leopards at the Beijing Zoo, the founders of which were from North Korea..