• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.353-359
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• 2010

Nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 19 leopard cats (Prionailurus bangalensis euptilura) obtained from Seoul grand park zoo in South Korea were determined for analysing genetic diversity. In the leopard cats, 3 haplotypes of the partial cytochrome b sequences (603 base-pairs, bp) were identified. Haplotypes obtained from those genes showed existences of at least 3 maternal lineages of leopard cats in Korea. Tamura-Nei nucleotide distance among 3 haplotypes were 0.00. Molecular phylogenetic tree showed the similar clustering of haplotypes for genes. Meanwhile, no individual variations within the leopard cats in S. Korea. Genetic surveillance system of leopard cats in S. Korea is warranted for maintaining biological conservation.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2009

A habitat model was developed to delineate potential habitat of the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) in a mountainous region of Kangwon Province, Korea. Between 1997 and 2005, 224 leopard cat presence sites were recorded in the province in the Nationwide Survey on Natural Environments. Fifty percent of the sites were used to develop a habitat model, and the remaining sites were used to test the model. Fourteen environmental variables related to topographic features, water resources, vegetation and human disturbance were quantified for 112 of the leopard cat presence sites and an equal number of randomly selected sites. Statistical analyses (e.g., t-tests, and Pearson correlation analysis) showed that elevation, ridges, plains, % water cover, distance to water source, vegetated area, deciduous forest, coniferous forest, and distance to paved road differed significantly (P < 0.01) between presence and random sites. Stepwise logistic regression was used to develop a habitat model. Landform type (e.g., ridges vs. plains) is the major topographic factor affecting leopard cat presence. The species also appears to prefer deciduous forests and areas far from paved roads. The habitat map derived from the model correctly classified 93.75% of data from an independent sample of leopard cat presence sites, and the map at a regional scale showed that the cat's habitats are highly fragmented. Protection and restoration of connectivity of critical habitats should be implemented to preserve the leopard cat in mountainous regions of Korea.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.353-361
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• 1998

Genetic analysis of body pigmentation pattern has been conducted by the reciprocal monohybrid and back crosses using the wild type zebrafish, Danio rerio, and its aquarium morphs (mutants), leopard danio. Also, the effect fo pigmentation mutation was investigated with regard to the survival rates of eggs and larvae for the first 15 days after fertilization. As a result, the pattern pigment distribution was inherited by a single gene having two alleles, and which was basically followed by the principle of dominace and segregaion in Mendelian inheritance. A locus for pigment pattern turned out to be located on an autosomal chromosome. Average survival rates estimated from the various crosses between, and within, wild type zebrafish and leopard danio were as follows ; they were 80.6${\pm}$4.8% from the crosses within leopard danios ($L{\times}L$), 70.6${\pm}$4.2% between leopard female and wild type male ($L{\times}Z$), 73.2${\pm}$2.0% between wild type female and leopard male ($Z{\times}L$), and 83.8${\pm}$6.7% within wild type zebrafish ($Z{\times}Z$). These results indicated that the leopard danio, which were reported as an "aquarium morph" several decades ago and also known as a mutant in pigmentation pattern of the wild type zebrafish, seemed to be genetically stable like the wild type of zebrafish.zebrafish.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.46-49
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• 2018

This study aims to explore the knowledge structure of the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) research during the period of 1952-2017. Data was collected from Google Scholar and Research Information Service System (RISS), and a total of 482 author keywords from 125 papers from peer-reviewed scholarly journals were retrieved. Co-word analysis was applied to examine patterns and trends in the leopard cat research by measuring the association strengths of the author keywords along with the descriptive analysis of the keywords. The result shows that the most commonly used keywords in leopard cat research were Felidae, Iriomte cat, and camera trap except for its English and scientific name, and camera traps became a frequent keyword since 2005. Co-word analysis also reveals that leopard cat research has been actively conducted in Southeast Asia in conjugation with studying other carnivores using the camera traps. Through the understanding of the patterns and trends, the finding of this study could provide an opportunity for the exploration of neglected areas in the leopard cat research and conservation.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.245-250
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• 2011

The aim of this study was to evaluate the post-thawed characteristics of leopard cat semen. In this experiment, semen was collected from two leopard cats (A and B) at wild animal center in Seoul Grand Park in Korea. After collection, the sperms were washed with D-PBS and diluted by the freezing medium (Irvine science, USA) and stored in liquid nitrogen. The post-thawed concentration was $357{\times}10^6sperms/ml$ for A and $97{\times}10^6sperms/ml$ for B. The viability of post-thawed sperm from A and B individual was 24.0% and 19.0%, respectively. Pre-freezing motility of A and B individual semen was 68.54% and 56.65. Leopard cat A had more normal sperm than that of B (69.5% vs. 54.5%). Acrosome integrity analysis detected live (14.5% vs. 9.0%), damage (39.0% vs. 44.0%) and dead (46.0% vs. 47.0%) in leopard cat A and B, respectively. The present results concluded that leopard cat semen can be collected successfully by electro-ejaculation method and cryopreserved successfullyfor future use in different assisted reproductive technologies. The cryopreservation protocol needs to be modified for increasing post-thawed viability of leopard cat spermatozoa.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.385-389
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• 2019

Knowledge of abundance, or population size, is fundamental in wildlife conservation and management. Camera-trapping, in combination with capture-recapture methods, has been extensively applied to estimate abundance and density of individually identifiable animals due to the advantages of being non-invasive, effective to survey wide-ranging, elusive, or nocturnal species, operating in inhospitable environment, and taking low labor. We assessed the possibility of using coat patterns from images to identify an individual leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), a Class II endangered species in South Korea. We analyzed leopard cat images taken from Digital Single-Lense Relfex camera (high resolution, 18Mpxl) and camera traps (low resolution, 3.1Mpxl) using HotSpotter, an image matching algorithm. HotSpotter accurately top-ranked an image of the same individual leopard cat with the reference leopard cat image 100% by matching facial and ventral parts. This confirms that facial and ventral fur patterns of the Amur leopard cat are good matching points to be used reliably to identify an individual. We anticipate that the study results will be useful to researchers interested in studying behavior or population parameter estimates of Amur leopard cats based on capture-recapture models.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.68.1-68.6
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• 2023

Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus) is a small wild cat assessed as an endangered wildlife in Korea. There have been very few reports of their diseases. Herein, we describe fibrinous pleuritis caused by Streptococcus canis infection with excessive pleural effusion, hydropericardium, mild ascites, and liver fibrosis in a leopard cat. S. canis is a commensal microflora in domestic cats and often affects the upper respiratory tract inducing chronic and severe respiratory diseases. However, there is no literature regarding the S. canis in leopard cats. Therefore, we first report fibrinous pleuritis associated with an S. canis infection in a leopard cat.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.239-242
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• 2017

Although camera traps have been widely used to understand the abundance of wildlife in recent decades, the effort has been restricted to small sub-set of wildlife which can mark-and-recapture. The Random Encounter Model shows an alternative approach to estimate the absolute abundance from camera trap detection rate for any animals without the need for individual recognition. Our study aims to examine the feasibility and validity of the Random Encounter Model for the density estimation of endangered leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis) in Maekdo riparian park, Busan, South Korea. According to the model, the estimated leopard cat density was $1.76km^{-2}$ (CI 95%, 0.74-3.49), which indicated 2.46 leopard cats in $1.4km^2$ of our study area. This estimate was not statistically different from the previous leopard cat population count ($2.33{\pm}0.58$) in the same area. As follows, our research demonstrated the application and usefulness of the Random Encounter Model in density estimation of unmarked wildlife which helps to manage and protect the target species with a better understanding of their status.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.70-74
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• 2022

A 14-year-old intact male captive leopard (Panthera pardus) first presented with a focal alopecic lesion on the dorsal aspect of the distal one-third of its tail. Although itraconazole was administered, the lesion progressed deeper and became ulcerated due to self-trauma. Due to the wild nature of the leopard, daily dressing of the wound and replacing the bandages without anesthesia became too dangerous, and amputation became necessary. A postoperative tissue sample was submitted for histopathological examination, and tramadol, amoxicillin/clavulanate, and gabapentin were administered. In the days following the amputation, the leopard's appetite significantly decreased, and the patient passed away 18 days later. Histopathological examination of the specimen revealed well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). In hindsight, had more cells been collected by a fine-needle aspirate (FNA) biopsy or had additional FNA biopsies been performed, SCC might have been diagnosed based on its cytological features rather than delayed histopathological findings. The current study highlights the critical reasons why clinicians may often misdiagnose SCC and the importance of being more aware of potential tumors in ulcerative lesions, which are often incorrectly treated as infectious skin diseases. This is also the first report of cutaneous SCC in a leopard.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.72-78
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• 2023

The leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of the most widespread felids worldwide. Despite their wide distribution, reliable data on leopard population densities are still inadequate for conservation and management strategies in different landscapes. In the present study, we estimated leopard density using camera traps in the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (RTR), Rajasthan, India, between December 2010 and February 2011, where leopards coexist alongside a high density of tigers (Panthera tigris), a larger predator (RTR). A sampling effort of 4,450 trap days was made from 178 camera trapping stations over 75 days, resulting in 46 suitable photo captures (25 right flanks and 21 left flanks). In total, 18 individuals (7 males, 8 females, and 3 unknown sexes) were identified using the right flanks, and the estimated leopard density was 8.8 (standard error=2.8) individuals/100 km². Leopard density appeared to respond to small prey (<50 kg weight) richness. As this is the first systematic study to provide baseline information on leopard density in RTR, it could form a baseline for comparison in future investigations.