Panthers?

[Ima Pseudonym]

a lot of chinese arts i have heard of or researched that are based in animal principles include either a panther or jaquar in their lexicon. what i have always wondered, are there panthers or jaguars in china? with my limited knowledge of nature i believe they mostly hang out in south america, but i could be wrong. anybody have any insight on whether these animals exist in the wilds of china or how they came to be included in styles like Bak Mei and others? just curious....

thanks,
D

[red5angel]

Panthers are pretty common and widely spread. For instance here in america we have the Mountain Lion, which is actually a panther.

[Ima Pseudonym]

thanks for the reply red5. i know mountain lions and such are related, but it still seems most of the panther type cats are in north and south america. if they have chinese mountain lions then i guess it is a moot point, i'll have to find some time and check out some zoo sites or something ;)

D

[red5angel]

I would be surprised if Jaguars were present in Asia. I was always under the impression they were pretty much in south and central america.

[norther practitioner]

One of the most endangered big cats in the world, they are on the IUCN Critically Endangered Red list. They lost 80% of their range in the wild just between 1970-1983. Also called the Manchurian or Korean leopard, they occupy a remote area of the China-Russia border (the Amur River valley) and China-North Korea (the Ussuri River valley). In China and Korea they are on the verge of extinction, and in Russia they are estimated to number 30-50 adults. Efforts to save the Siberian (Amur) tiger will also help this cat, as the larger range protected for the tiger will also make room for the leopard. However, with the breakup of Russia and widespread illegal trade of tiger and leopard products in Asian countries, both of these cats could be extinct in the wild in a few short years. The Amur leopard is the type of cat EFBC/FCC is concentrating on with our breeding programs. We have several adults we imported from European zoos (Tallin, Helsinki, Moscow, and Berlin) to spread out the captive bloodlines and minimize inbreeding. For more information visit the Amur leopard page. The Tigris foundation is working to protect these rare cats in the wild.

[GOLDEN ARMOR]

Is the Amur Leopard the Snow Leopard?

Has anyone seen the black leopard?

[premier]

Ah. Snow leopards are beautiful animals. But hey, how about south China? There has to be some tropical leopard living there?

[guohuen]

Golden leopard I believe.