Zanzibar leopard

The Zanzibar leopard is an African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) population on Unguja Island in the Zanzibar archipelago, Tanzania, that is considered extirpated through persecution by local hunters and loss of habitat. It was the island's largest terrestrial carnivore and apex predator. Increasing conflict between people and leopards in the 20th century led to the demonization of the Zanzibar leopard and determined attempts to exterminate it. Efforts to develop a leopard conservation program in the mid-1990s were shelved when wildlife researchers concluded that there was little prospect for the population's long-term survival. In 2018, a leopard was allegedly recorded by a camera trap, thus renewing hopes for the population's survival, although some experts remain skeptical. The Zanzibar leopard was described as a leopard subspecies by Reginald Innes Pocock, who proposed the scientific name Panthera pardus adersi in 1932. Following molecular genetic analysis of leopard samples, it was subsumed to the African leopard (P. p. pardus) in 1996. However, some authors continue to use P. p. adersi. The Zanzibar leopard population is thought to have evolved in isolation from mainland African leopards since at least the end of the Last Ice Age, when the island was separated from mainland Tanzania by rising sea levels. The founder effect and adaptation to local conditions produced a smaller leopard than its continental relatives, and one whose rosettes have partially disintegrated into spots.