Panthera pardus ssp. adersi (Zanzibar Leopard)

[Peter]

Thanks for telling us, just downloaded it!

[Peter]

I've added some photographed at Wikimedia Commons. I've photographed the Zanzibar Leopard specimen in the Zanzibar Natural History Museum (Zanzibar City, Zanzibar, Tanzania).

It is hard to photograph the specimen in its glass cabin. The museum is old and dark, but luckily I managed to take some (most I've made are too blurry).

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Panthera_pardus_adersi

[Melanie]

Mar 7, 2013 17:18:11 GMT Peter said:

I've added some photographed at Wikimedia Commons. I've photographed the Zanzibar Leopard specimen in the Zanzibar Natural History Museum (Zanzibar City, Zanzibar, Tanzania).

It is hard to photograph the specimen in its glass cabin. The museum is old and dark, but luckily I managed to take some (most I've made are too blurry).

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Panthera_pardus_adersi

Great photographes. Thanks for sharing.

[Melanie]

Yesterday I've seen the Zanzibar episode from Richard Kirby's recommended BBC documentary series Wildest Islands. There was also a short footage of a leopard but I don't know whether this was really the Zanzibar leopard.

[surroundx]

Walsh, Martin T. and Goldman, Helle V. (2017). Cryptids and Credulity: The Zanzibar Leopard and Other Imaginary Beings, pp. ?-?. In: Hurn, Samantha (ed.). Anthropology and Cryptozoology: Exploring Encounters with Mysterious Creaturs (Multispecies Encounters). [Google preview]

[surroundx]

Prendergast ME, Rouby H, Punnwong P, Marchant R, Crowther A, Kourampas N, et al. (2016). Continental Island Formation and the Archaeology of Defaunation on Zanzibar, Eastern Africa. PLoS ONE 11(2): e0149565.

[surroundx]

Walsh, Martin T. and Goldman, Helle V. (2017). Cryptids and Credulity: The Zanzibar Leopard and Other Imaginary Beings, pp. 54-90. In: Hurn, Samantha (ed.). Anthropology and Cryptozoology: Exploring Encounters with Mysterious Creatures (Multispecies Encounters). Routledge. 246 pp.

[another specialist]

Zanzibar Leopard Captured on Camera, Despite Being Declared Extinct

www.insideedition.com/zanzibar-leopard-captured-camera-despite-being-declared-extinct-43962

[thomassn]

Jun 9, 2018 5:53:37 GMT another specialist said:

Zanzibar Leopard Captured on Camera, Despite Being Declared Extinct

www.insideedition.com/zanzibar-leopard-captured-camera-despite-being-declared-extinct-43962

Interesting :-)

[surroundx]

Goldman, Helle V. and Martin T. Walsh. (2019). Classifying, Domesticating and Extirpating the Zanzibar Leopard, a Transgressive Felid. Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift 30(3-4): 205-219.

[surroundx]

Rossi, L., Scuzzarella, C. M. and Angelici, F. M. (2020). Extinct or Perhaps Surviving Relict Populations of Big Cats: Their Controversial Stories and Implications for Conservation, pp. 393-417. In: Angelici F., Rossi L. (eds.). Problematic Wildlife II. Cham: Springer.

[Peter]

Jul 22, 2020 11:57:20 GMT surroundx said:

Rossi, L., Scuzzarella, C. M. and Angelici, F. M. (2020). Extinct or Perhaps Surviving Relict Populations of Big Cats: Their Controversial Stories and Implications for Conservation, pp. 393-417. In: Angelici F., Rossi L. (eds.). Problematic Wildlife II. Cham: Springer.

I see that they used my photograph of the Zanzibar leopard specimen.

[koeiyabe]

"Atlas of Extinct Animals (in Japanese)" by Radek Maly (2022)

[Sebbe]

A genomic exploration of the possible de-extirpation of the Zanzibar leopard.

The recently extirpated Zanzibar leopard was the only known African leopard (Panthera pardus spp.) population restricted exclusively to a major island habitat. Although its demise was driven through habitat change and conflict with humans, given its role as a keystone species for the Zanzibar Archipelago, its potential reintroduction might offer a means for helping preserve the natural biodiversity of its former habitat. Whether this is feasible, however, would be contingent on both whether closely related source populations can be identified on mainland Africa, and whether the Zanzibar form exhibited any special adaptations that might need to be considered when choosing such a source. In light of these questions, we genomically profiled two of the six known historic specimens, to explore whether they represent a realistic candidate for de-extirpation through reintroduction. Our analyses indicate that despite its geographic separation, the Zanzibar leopard shared a close genetic relationship with mainland East African individuals. Furthermore, although its uniqueness as an island population was emphasised by genomic signatures of high inbreeding and increased mutation load, the latter similar to the level of the critically endangered Amur leopard (P. p. orientalis), we find no evidence of positive selection unique to Zanzibar. We therefore conclude that should attempts to restore leopards to Zanzibar be planned, then mainland East African leopards would provide a suitable gene pool, whether using genetic engineering or conventional rewilding approaches.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.25.550323v1