Research overview: mountain leopards of Arabia and Persia

In the rugged mountains of the Middle East and Central Asia, leopards persist as rare, threatened populations adapted to arid, rocky terrain. This overview synthesizes what is known about the Arabian and Persian leopards, which range across steep mountains, hunt ibex, wild goats, hyrax, and smaller prey, and survive at very low densities over huge areas. It reviews the challenges these populations face from prey depletion, habitat fragmentation, and conflict, and how their ecology reflects extreme adaptation to harsh, prey-poor uplands. The synthesis frames these leopards as some of the most endangered big cats, clinging to the dry margins of the species' range. For enthusiasts it highlights the leopard's reach into severe mountain environments far from its tropical strongholds and underscores how the same adaptable species takes radically different ecological forms across its vast distribution.