M. Pittet
Prey
The Javan leopard preys on a variety of species. It takes small to medium-sized prey species such as barking deer, wild boar, banteng, water buffaloes, Javan deer, barking deer, primates (e.g. long-tailed macaque, leaf monkey, Javan slow loris and Javan gibbon, green peacock, flying lemur, domestic dog and leopard cat. The ecological plasticity of the Javan leopard regarding its prey allows it to also persist also in degraded and human-dominated landscapes.
Habitat
The Javan leopard inhabits a wide range of habitats such as primary rainforest, secondary forest, mixed agriculture, production forest, plantation and shrub. Javan leopards have been recorded in pines, teak and mixed plantations, coastal and mangrove forest as well as in lowland dry deciduous forests and savanna ecosystem to mountainous habitats up to 2,540 m. Primary forest mainly remains in protected areas wherefore production and secondary forests are especially important habitats for the Javan leopard outside protected areas.
B. Cranke
Javan Leopard
Panthera pardus melas
Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia, SINTAS Indonesia, and PT Djarum
Javan Leopard - Panthera pardus melas
The Javan Leopard (Panthera pardus melas), occurring in Java, Indonesia, is considered a distinct leopard subspecies based on craniometric and genetic analysis. It might has diverged from other Asian leopards at approximately 600 Kya.
Status and Distribution
The Javan leopard is classified as Endangered (but very close to Critically Endangered) on the IUCN Red List based on a small population size, small subpopulation sizes and a continuous decline. The Javan leopard population size is estimated at 324 (179 – 682) mature individuals with fewer than 50 mature individuals in each subpopulation. In the Javan leopard action plan published 2016, the population size was estimated at 491 – 546 individuals. 29 suitable landscapes larger than 70 km2 were identified which are all highly isolated. In 23 of them Javan leopard evidence was detected. Most of the Javan leopards remain in ten national parks of which however only three could support at least 50 individuals and nine suitable landscape were identified to be large enough to support 50 individuals or more.
Javan leopard densities vary between 1.7 – 9.4 / 100 km². In 2018 a Population Viability Analysis was carried out. This analysis indicated that 20 of the 23 Javan leopard subpopulations would go extinct over the next 100 years with a probability of extinction of 84% and higher. Including the most resilient subpopulation, the overall extinction risk is 68% over the next 100 years.
Javan leopards were historically distributed across the whole island of Java as well as the neighbouring islands such as Nusakambangan and Kangean but absent from Bali Island. However, the Javan leopard got extirpated from 17 locations out of 66 between 1988 and 2008 alone and nowadays only occurs in parts of Java. Primary forest cover, the prime habitat of Javan leopards, shrunk rapidly over the past decades. The Javan leopard occurs nowadays in less than 8.9% of its historical range with only 3% of its core area remaining. Due to the densely human population and rapid infrastructure development, it is very unlikely to recover Javan leopard habitat and therefore management should focus on the remaining populations.
For the IUCN Green Status of Species, the Javan Leopard is assessed as Critically Depleted with a species recovery score of 20%. It is considered Critically Endangered in two spatial units and Endangered in the other two. This is due to very small population sizes. Past conservation efforts have been crucial in preventing further declines and a likely classification as be Critically Endangered throughout its range today. Conservation Legacy is assessed as Low because Javan Leopards continue to persist even in some unprotected areas, suggesting that while their status would have been worse, complete extirpation from any spatial unit would have been unlikely in the absence of conservation. Given the species' life history and other biological constraints, the next 10 years is too short a timeframe to expect major improvements in conservation status. However, without ongoing conservation efforts, the subspecies would be doing worse. Recovery Potential is assessed as Low, due to irreversible land-use changes that limit the extent of suitable habitat and therefore cap long-term recovery at no better than Vulnerable. Nonetheless, continued and intensified conservation will be critical to ensuring the long-term persistence of the Javan leopard, facilitating population growth and improving its status across all spatial units.
Ecology and Behaviour
The activity pattern of the Javan leopard seems to vary. In some areas it has a bimodal activity with higher activities at dawn and dusk but in other areas it seems to be predominantly nocturnal.
In Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park home range of one male leopard and one adult female was estimated at 7.8 km² and 3,5 km² respectively. In Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park one adult male and one adult female had larger home ranges with 17,4 km² and 7 km² respectively.
Main Threats
The major threat to the Javan leopard is habitat loss and degradation. From 2000 to 2018 around 2,624 km2 of forest was lost in Java (36.2% in East Java, 29.6% in West Java, 19.9% in Central Java, 13.9% in Banten and 0.5% in Yogyakarta). Global Forest Watch estimated the loss of primary forest to be 6.7% in 18 years (0.1% annually) and the Ministry of Forestry noted no forest loss between 2015 and 2016. However, forest cover in Java was already very low since the early 2000 with less than 4% primary forest remaining in small, fragmented and heavily isolated fragments. Human intrusion and disturbance as well as residential and commercial development within protected areas and biological resources and materials extraction are threatening the Javan leopard too.
Additionally, the removal of individuals due to conflicts with humans or for the illegal trade are threatening the subspecies. Around 25% of all Javan leopard records lay outside of protected areas resulting in potential human-leopard conflicts. Over the last 13 years around 87 cases of human-leopard conflicts were recorded, and 29 leopards were rescued. Of those six returned to the wild, five died in captivity and twenty are still in captivity in zoos and rescue centres. The figures correspond to an annual offtake of 4.6 leopards but the true number of Javan leopards removed is thought to be much higher. This is alarming considering the 324 wild Javan leopards left. Additionally, 19 leopards were confiscated over the last 13 years, corresponding to a minimum of 1.3 trafficked leopards per year. However, these are most likely only minimum numbers as not all illegal traded animals will be detected. Illegally traded leopards were sold on domestic markets as stuffed animals or for traditional rituals.
Diseases transmitted from domestic animals are a potential threat too as for example canine distemper virus has been detected in an adult female Javan leopard. This threat is enhanced in human-dominated areas where Javan leopards get more easily in contact with domestic animals.
Conservation efforts and Protection Status
The Javan leopard is protected by Indonesian laws and harvest, and cultivation are strictly prohibited. Conservation efforts so far have mainly focused on capacity building activities, assessing the population status and distribution of the Javan leopard, reactive conflict mitigation, and the development of national policies. Camera traps and spatially explicit capture-recapture analysis have been conducted annually by several national park authorities to monitor Javan leopard population. In 2018, a map of suitable landscapes was developed indicating five priority landscapes for intensive conservation efforts: Halimun – Salak, Ujung Kulon, Meru Betiri, Gunung Gede Pangrango and Gunung Bromo – Tengger – Semeru landscapes. Generally, more studies and publications on the Javan leopard are done in the last years.
An important aspect is the creation of a corridor scheme to facilitate leopard movement between habitat patches, especially between source-sink populations. Also, the mitigation of human-leopard conflicts, i.e. immediate implementation of mitigation measures, is crucial and further studies regarding the relationship between prey availability and livestock depredation are needed.
Efforts to combat illegal Javan leopard trafficking have been strengthened by the Ministry of Forestry and provincial police offices and law enforcement patrols have been carried out in different national parks. Generally, anti-trafficking efforts and law enforcement patrols are necessary to help conserve the Javan leopard. In 2016 the first Javan leopard action plan for the next 10 years has been published and in 2018 a road map to increase the population of priority species, including the Javan leopard, was published. In 2020 the Javan leopard population viability analysis was released. The main goals of the 2016 action plan are to reach stable or increasing (according to carrying capacity) Javan leopard populations, improve public support for Javan leopard conservation and to have the action plan implemented by central and local governments. To achieve these goals a road map has been developed by the Ministry of Forestry and Environment and SINTAS Indonesia. This road map includes the conduction of a Javan leopard island wide survey, facilitation of a Population Viability Analysis based on the results of the survey to assess risks to Javan leopard populations and their habitat, renewal of the Javan leopard action plan and based on the renewed plan to develop and implement specific conservation actions. In this regard, since 2024 the Ministry of Forestry in collaboration with SINTAS Indonesia, is carrying out standardised camera trap surveys and scat sampling in 21 of the 23 suitable leopard landscapes hosting Javan leopards to fill gaps e.g. regarding the Javan leopard population structure and prey preferences. Due to its critical status, the Javan leopard should be closely monitored and be reassessed as soon as new information is available.
A. Stevens
