VLADIVOSTOK, April 5. /TASS/. The number of Amur leopards, the rarest wild cats on the planet, living in Russia’s Land of the Leopard National Park in the Primorsky Region, has risen to 129 adults and at least 14 cubs, Marina Syritsa, head of the science department at the national park, told reporters at a press conference.

"According to the scientists' estimates, the number of recorded leopards in the specially protected natural areas of the Land of the Leopard National Park has increased to 129. At least 14 cubs have also been born. <...> We see that the population has increased," Syritsa pointed out.

She added that the population is also expanding territorially - people are encountering leopards in new places where this species of big cat has not been seen before.

According to last year’s figures, there were 125 adult leopards in the national park.

The Amur leopard is the rarest wild cat in the world and one of the rarest animals on the planet. In Russia, this predator inhabits only the Land of the Leopard National Park in the Primorsky Region. Listed as endangered in the Russian Red Data Book, the Amur leopard is among the 13 priority animal species under Russia’s "Ecology" national project.