A female Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) at Jungle Cat World gives pause within a play of shadows and light.

Her surroundings are quite befitting of a leopard, whose spots are thought to have arisen to help in camouflage. Indeed, spotted cats can often be found in forests or forest edges where sunlight sneaking in through trees creates dappled pockets of light amidst the dark. Through the poor eyesight of a leopard’s prey, the spotted pattern may become indistinguishable from its surroundings, giving the leopard a key advantage in its stalk and ambush style of hunting. In the unforgiving wilds every advantage counts and over millions of years the crucible of nature has forged this amazing predator at home within shadows and light.

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There are only approximately 30-40 of these cats left in wild, fighting for survival in a tiny section of land in the Russian Far East; some of this land is shared with the Amur tiger. The threats that face these cats include poaching, habitat loss, reduction of prey and inbreeding depression. The future of Ursula’s kin remains in serious doubt.

For information, photos and video of Amur leopards, please visit http://Amur-Leopard.org