Investigators find hunting tiger killed Amur leopard in NE China national park

Since the establishment of the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park pilot project on the border of Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in 2017, conservation policies have restored the big cats' habitat, with tiger and leopard populations steadily increasing.

The area's initial recorded population of 27 tigers and 42 leopards has now risen to over 50 tigers and 60 leopards, said Feng Limin, deputy director of the research center.

"This is the first time an incident of an Amur tiger preying on an Amur leopard has been found in China, which indicates that the population of the tigers and leopards has been rapidly increasing in recent years," he said.

He added that both the Amur tiger and the Amur leopard are fierce carnivores, but their prey differs. The Amur tiger mainly preys on large and medium-sized animals, while the Amur leopard mainly preys on small and medium-sized animals.