Berber leopard
The Berber leopard was originally described as a separate subspecies of the leopard in the far north of Africa ( Panthera pardus panthera ). However, in various studies neither genetic nor morphological differences in the skull structure were found that would justify separating the North African population as a separate subspecies. This also applies to all other African forms originally described as a subspecies. Therefore, today all African leopards are usually united within the subspecies of the African leopard ( Panthera pardus pardus ).
The leopard is almost extinct in North Africa today. A small remaining population exists in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco , alleged more recent sightings were also reported for 2007 from the border area between Morocco and Algeria . In addition, the leopard was confirmed in 2006 in the Ahaggar Mountains in the Algerian desert, where the species has never been detected before. There may also be a few leopards left in the eastern desert areas of Egypt .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Miththapala, S. Seidensticker, John O'Brien, SJ (1996). Phylogeographical Subspecies Recognition in Leopards ( Panthera Pardus ): Molecular Genetic Variation. Conservation Biology, 10: 1115-1131, doi : 10.1046 / j.1523-1739.1996.10041115.x .
- ↑ Olga Uphyrkina, Warren E. Johnson, Howard Quigley, Dale Miquelle, Laurie Marker, Mitchel Bush, Stephen J. O'Brien (2001). Phylogenetics, genome diversity and origin of modern leopard, Panthera pardus. Molecular Ecology Volume 10, Issue 11, pages 2617-2633. doi : 10.1046 / j.0962-1083.2001.01350.x .
- ↑ Henschel, P., Hunter, L., Breitenmoser, U., Purchase, N., Packer, C., Khorozyan, I., Bauer, H., Marker, L., Sogbohossou, E. & Breitenmoser-Wursten, C. 2008. Panthera pardus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on July 18, 2011.