These cats are able to leap 19 feet horizontally and 10 feet vertically. They hide their kills from other predators, so they can eat them later. Amur Leopards live between 10 and 15 years in the wild, and males have been known to help females raise their offspring. Grown Leopards weigh between 70 and 105 pounds and can run up to 37 miles per hour. As an adaptation to their habitat their fur may be as short as an inch ling in summer and as long as 2.75 inches in winter.
Russia is working to protect the Amur Leopard’s habitat. In 2012, it set aside about 650,000 acres for the cat. The refuge is called “Land of the Leopard National Park.” In 2018, the WWF reported that cameras in the refuge monitored about 84 adult cats and 19 cubs. Land of the Leopard also protects about 10 Amur Tigers and the prey that the leopards need to survive.
While Irina and I haven’t yet encountered any of the big cats, we did face a criminal element in the course of finding The Treasure of Nikolai Nikolaevich.