A new Caucasian Leopard has been identified for the first time in camera trap footage from Armenia’s Caucasus Wildlife Refuge (CWR), the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) reported. 

According to the source, the latest arrival becomes just the fifth individual leopard to be recorded here since 2013, when our in-country partner, the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC), began tracking the big cats.

It is noted that there is a chance this latest discovery could gain even greater importance, as according to FPWC the new leopard may be a female. However, more footage is needed before their experts can be completely certain, but the prospect of a future breeding population in this vast protected area has caused much excitement in recent weeks.

“If true, this would mean there’s a real hope for leopards in Armenia,” says Ruben Khachatryan, FPWC’s Director. “The existence of a healthy reproductive population of leopards [would be] the cornerstone of the subspecies’ survival.”

The evidence at present is compelling. In the space of a month, this new leopard was spotted in the same area of the CWR as a known male leopard, Neo. According to FPWC, it is unlikely two males would be in such close proximity to each other.

Neo, like the potential female, is a young leopard – raising hopes that cubs may be on the horizon.  Both leopards have also been photographed by WWF Armenia in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve, adjacent to the CWR, said the source.