• 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 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 Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.3-13
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• 2010

The Tsushima leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus, a small felid, inhabits only the Tsushima Islands in Japan. Previous studies of the Tsushima leopard cat revealed that natural factors; including sex, reproductive activity, season, and prey distribution and abundance affect leopard cat home range variation and habitat use. In this study, we focused on clarifying how anthropogenic factors influenced home range variation and habitat use of a male Tsushima leopard cat living near a suburban area in January, March, May and September 2005 using radio-tracking. The home range size (100% MCP) of this cat was $0.78\;{\pm}\;0.26\;km^2$ (mean ${\pm}$ SD, n = 4 tracking sessions) across the whole study period. However, the cat did not use all parts of its home range uniformly; rather it used some habitat types selectively. The cat avoided agriculture areas and residential areas in all of the tracking-sessions. On the other hand, the cat showed a weak preference for artificial structures and a strong preference for baiting sites in January and March, while it avoided them in May, and no baiting site was included in its home range in September. These results suggest that anthropogenic factors influenced the ranging patterns and habitat use of the leopard cat living near a suburban area. Artificial structures might provided good resting spaces for the cat in bad weather. When the density of its main prey was low in the winter, the cat tended to rely on artificial prey and had a small home range size.

• 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 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 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.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.23-26
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• 2018

Because of the potential negative influence on their hosts, ecto-parasites are of prime importance to numerous species. Ticks are among these, distributed worldwide, and potentially transmitting diseases while sucking blood of diverse hosts. The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilura Elliot, 1871) is the only felid left in the Republic of Korea following widespread anthropogenic disturbances that have resulted in the extinction of both Panthera species: the Siberian tiger(Panthera tigris altaica Temminck, 1844) and Amur leopard (P. pardus orientalis(Schlegel, 1857)). This study identifies ticks collected from a roadkill leopard cat retrieved in Seosan area in the Republic of Korea. Two ticks attached to the facial area of the carcass were identified as Japanese hard ticks, Ixodes nipponensis, based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I. The matching sample was from Japan with 99.7% similarities, and the only available sequence on GenBank. This study reconfirms that I. nipponensis parasitizes the endangered leopard cat P. bengalensis euptilura.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.127-129
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• 2017

Intercostal abdominal hernia in the 11th intercostal space was identified in a leopard cat. Although mild leukopenia was found in laboratory examinations, no remarkable abnormality was revealed in medical imaging. To investigate abdominal organs, diagnostic laparoscopy was performed after hernia repair. In laparoscopic view, closure of the herniation site and a lesion with whitish discoloration in the liver (left medial lobe) were observed. Subsequently, laparoscopic liver biopsy was performed against the affected hepatic tissue. Histologically, the sample was diagnosed as mild hepatic lipidosis. Laparoscopy is considered useful for abdominal visceral examination and liver biopsy in a leopard cat patient.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.411-416
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• 2022

A 2.2 kg adult female Amur leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) injured in a road accident was rescued. Severe abrasions on the left chin were washed daily with an antiseptic and silver sulfadiazine ointment was applied. Corneal edema of the oculus sinister (OS) was treated with ofloxacin and 5% sodium chloride eye drops. The skin wounds gradually improved, but the eye condition did not improve and the lens was also found to be detached. In addition, on the 6th day of hospitalization, melena was observed. On radiographic examination, foreign bodies in the stomach and a fracture of the sternum were confirmed. Subsequently, endoscopic removal of foreign bodies and enucleation of the OS using an electrothermal vessel sealer were performed sequentially over several days. However, corrective surgery of the fractured sternum was not carried out because a natural union of the fracture had occurred, which was found to be fairly stable. The patient completely recovered on the 83rd day and was successfully released into the wild on the 97th day, after two weeks of adaptation training in a natural environment. This report describes the rehabilitation of a wild Amur leopard cat injured in a road accident through a series of diagnostic and treatment steps until its eventual return to the wild and highlights some improvements needed in the process.