Leopards have lost 75 percent of their historic range across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, with three Asian subspecies in danger of eradication, a new study says. Their rangelands have shrunk from 35 million square kilometers (13.5 million square miles) in 1750 — before the colonization of Africa and the spread of firearms — to about 8.5 million square kilometers (3.3 million square miles) now, the study estimates. It finds leopards have almost disappeared from vast ranges in China, Southeast Asia and the Arabian peninsula while African leopards confront mounting challenges in the north and west. He pointed to Kenya, which bans all hunting, and neighboring Tanzania, which devotes more land to hunting than preservation. Others include the National Geographic Society's Big Cats Initiative, the wild cat conservation organization Panthera and the Zoological Society of London.

Source: ABC News May 07, 2016 05:54 UTC