The Great Leopard Rescue: Saving the Amur Leopards

by Sandra Markle Narrated by Book Buddy Digital Media

Overview

In 2007 only thirty Amur leopards remained in the wild. Scientists knew they needed to do more to help these big cats. However, details of the leopards' wild lives in their high-altitude forest home were still a mystery. With the help of new technology and the cooperation of scientists and governments around the world, people have learned more than ever before about these rare cats. An innovative plan is under way to give Amur leopards a more secure future. Can these cats rebound from the brink before it's too late?

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Excellent writing and documentation distinguish Markle's latest."—starred, Kirkus Reviews

School Library Journal

08/01/2016
Gr 3–6—Amur leopards, native to eastern Russia and parts of northern China, are at risk of becoming extinct. Markle, a former science teacher, was inspired to write this work after learning about the dire state of these creatures. The narrative begins from the perspective of a young male Amur leopard on the hunt for his next meal. Markle segues into a brief history of these once well-established big cats and emphasizes the importance of their natural habitat, the taiga (a type of high-altitude forest), to their survival. Large-scale deforestation, made possible by advances in farming technology in the 1950s, began a chain of events (after the lumber industry cut down much of the taiga, the mining industry came in) that would push the Amur leopards to the brink of existence. The text then goes on to thoroughly cover the ways in which scientists, zookeepers, antipoaching teams, and other groups like the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA) are working to protect and reestablish Amur leopard populations. In the end, the author returns to the young male from the beginning, only to reveal that the Phoenix Fund, part of ALTA, has been watching over him the whole time. Clear, beautiful photos will keep readers turning the pages, while maps, sidebars, and the main text keep them informed. VERDICT Libraries will definitely want to add this title for all of their animal-loving patrons, especially those with an interest in conservation efforts.—Jennifer Pope, La Grange Independent School District, TX

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2016-07-20
Markle introduces the critically endangered Amur leopard, detailing current strategies to augment its numbers using temporarily relocated, zooborn cats.From a 1950s population of around 2,400, the leopard dwindled to about 30 by 2007, despite increasing conservation efforts by such international groups as the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance. Markle presents the Amur leopard’s native habitat, eastern Russia's taiga, or boreal forest. She shows the effects of modern logging, mining, farming, and hunting on a rugged region that previously favored the leopard’s large, solitary home ranges and ample access to prey. In 2010, an international coalition began planning for a second, backup population of Amur leopards, recognizing that the remaining cats could be wiped out by disease or disaster. Russia protected the leopards’ last natural habitat in 2012, later designating separate taiga land for the spare population. Markle’s crisp prose conveys the extensive scientific and technological steps needed to ensure that zooborn adult leopards could mate in large enclosures, with mothers teaching their young to hunt. After two years, cubs would enter their wild habitat, with mothers returned to their zoos. Clear, often riveting stock photos show adult cats and cubs in natural habitats as well as zoos, and maps are effectively utilized. Markle invites readers to track the evolving progress of the plan to help the Amur leopard survive. Excellent writing and documentation distinguish Markle’s latest. (author’s note, additional facts, timeline, glossary, quotation sources, annotated list of web and print resources, index, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177565002
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/01/2020
Series:	Sandra Markle's Science Discoveries
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

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