Research overview: Amur leopard genetic diversity and inbreeding

Having passed through an extreme bottleneck, the Amur leopard carries very low genetic diversity and shows signs of inbreeding, raising concerns about long-term viability even as numbers recover. This overview surveys conservation-genetics research using noninvasive samples to assess diversity, relatedness, and inbreeding in the wild population, and to inform management. Studies consider the risks of reduced fitness, disease susceptibility, and impaired reproduction associated with genetic depletion, and the potential role of a coordinated captive population in supporting genetic rescue or future reintroduction. Researchers emphasize that demographic recovery alone does not restore lost diversity, making genetic management a continuing priority. The overview frames the Amur leopard as a textbook case of the genetic challenges facing recovered small populations, where safeguarding what diversity remains, and possibly augmenting it, is essential to ensure the subspecies can adapt and persist over the long term.