An Island's Genetic Legacy
On the Japanese island of Tsushima, located in the strait between Japan and the Korean Peninsula, is a population of the Amur leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus. Genetic studies suggest this population became isolated from its mainland relatives on the Korean peninsula as far back as 100,000 years ago. This separation occurred when the island was cut off from the Asian continent by rising sea levels following the Last Glacial Maximum. This long period of isolation has resulted in the Tsushima leopard cat having extremely low genetic diversity compared to its continental counterparts. This genetic bottleneck makes the small population particularly vulnerable to disease and environmental changes.
The wild population is critically endangered, with estimates placing the number of individuals at fewer than 100. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment has designated the cat as a National Endangered Species and established a conservation and breeding program in 1995. Major threats to its survival include habitat degradation from forestry and agriculture, a decline in prey animals, and traffic accidents, which killed 13 cats in fiscal year 2012 alone. Diseases transmitted from domestic cats also are a significant risk.