2023 was a memorable year for wild cats. In honor of the great strides that Panthera made for wild felines and other amazing wildlife this past year, we’re showcasing our second annual Picture Purrfect collection of the 23 best images from 2023. Journey to Panthera and partner project sites across the Americas, Africa and Asia to see some of the amazing work happening in wild cat conservation!
From Zambia comes this amazing capture of Panthera scientists administering anesthesia to a cheetah, getting ready to fit it with a GPS collar. These GPS collars give Panthera crucial insight into the lives of cheetahs, including one charismatic individual named “King”. (Image: Lucky Mulenga/Panthera)
On Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula, Panthera staff and partners from six Indigenous tribes study puma kittens. This puma population is threatened by habitat fragmentation caused by the I-5 highway, which divides them from pumas elsewhere in the state, leading to a decline in genetic diversity. (Image: Michael Kodas)
As part of a collaboration with our partners, including Cartier For Nature philanthropy, the Royal Commission for AlUla and Peace Parks Foundation, followers of the Nazareth Baptist Church eBuhleni (Shembe Church) wear synthetic “Heritage Furs”: faux leopard furs which replace authentic leopard furs in traditional ceremonies. This project received a boost this year when Panthera and ECOPEL, a synthetic fur textile manufacturer, joined forces this year to create a new collection of high-quality, bio-based Heritage Fur. (Image: Rodger Jardine/Panthera)
The adorable four-day-old lion cubs were filmed just after being saved by Panthera scientists from a fire in Zambia’s Kafue National Park. This would not have been possible without Panthera’s comprehensive “Halo Approach” of Protection, which protects wild cats here on their journeys across vast areas. (Image: Paolo Strampelli/Panthera)
The mother of these rescued cubs then reunited with them. Despite a high mortality rate for offspring, three of her six cubs have survived. (Image: Paolo Strampelli/Panthera)
Melanistic leopards like this one in Malaysia are more common in Southeast Asia than in other parts of the species’ range. However, despite the black leopards that are documented in Malaysia, Panthera published news this year that the Critically Endangered Indochinese leopard had been declared functionally extinct in Cambodia this year. (Image: Panthera/DWNP)
For this bobcat in Washington, a Panthera motion-activated camera was something to behold. In the past, Panthera has monitored populations of this small cat species, which faces threats from overhunting and poison. This bobcat, however, is simply happy to say hello. (Image: Panthera)
In the Brazilian Pantanal, snapshots like this are an everyday occurrence. Visitors flock from far and wide to see the region’s enigmatic jaguars, a phenomenon that supports a burgeoning ecotourism industry that helps both people and wildlife. (Image: Rafael Hoogesteijn/Panthera)
Jaguars aren’t the only wild cat species that we study in the Pantanal. In this photo, Panthera’s Fernando Tortato and his team collar an ocelot, whose new tracking device will provide critical information about its movements and lifestyle. (Image: Fernando Tortato)
One of the key facets of our program in Brazil is fostering human-cat coexistence. We help ranchers like this one keep their livestock safe from hungry jaguars and pumas, which helps protect wild cats by mitigating human-cat conflict. (Image: Rafael Hoogesteijn)
Check out the amazing tail of this opossum in Belize’s Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary. This important jaguar haven is now the site of the Dr. Alan Rabinowitz Research Centre, inaugurated in August 2023. (Image: Panthera/WWF/BAS)
This proud male lion is a powerful member of the Hook Bridge pride in Zambia’s Kafue National Park. He’s part of an amazing transformation in his ecosystem, which has seen lion numbers stabilize across the park in recent years. (Image: Ross De Bruin/Panthera)
Here’s a melanistic wild cat you may have never seen before — an oncilla. This incredible cat’s name is Calcetines, which means “socks” in Spanish. Though his species is notoriously difficult to collar, his movements will give research insights into the lives of Costa Rica’s mysterious small cats. (Image: "La Huella del Tigrillo" Project/Ingrid Molina)
It’s not always easy to place remote cameras in our search for wild cats. Researcher Jeremy Quirós literally hangs in the canopy of Costa Rica’s dense rainforest to secure a camera in hopes of sighting an oncilla. (Image: "La Huella del Tigrillo" project/Amaia Autor)
This puma’s presence is a sign that our partners’ conservation work that we support in Chilean Patagonia, such as Estancia 3R, is succeeding. A recent study found that Torres del Paine National Park and adjacent ranches that promote puma ecotourism are seeing flourishing numbers of this big cat species. (Image: Estancia 3R/Panthera)
In Mongolia’s Tost Toson Bumba National Park in the Middle Gobi Province, Panthera Conservation Genetics Director, Dr. Byron Weckworth, and SLCF’s field ecologist, Enkhburen Nyam, work to secure eDNA samples to test new molecular tools on snow leopards, Pallas’s cats and Eurasian lynx. (Image: Panthera/SLT/SLCF)
This Critically Endangered Malayan tiger is one of the less than 200 that still roams wild. Luckily, a recent study from Panthera and Malaysia’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) has shown that advances in counter-poaching operations reduced some poaching incursions by up to 40 percent. (Image: Panthera/DWNP)
Jaguarundis are one of the most mysterious small cat species in the Americas, which is why this encounter in Colombia was so fortunate. This species faces the threats of habitat fragmentation and road collisions across its wide range. (Image: Diana Stasiukynas/Panthera)
This is one of seven Arabian leopard cubs born through the Conservation Breeding Centre in Taif, Saudi Arabia, as part of efforts by our partners the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and supported by Panthera to develop a viable population of the Critically Endangered species to one day reintroduce in AlUla. (Image: The Royal Commission for AlUla/Abdullwahab Khabti)
In Jeannette Kawas National Park, Honduras, poachers once wiped out collared peccaries, an important jaguar prey species. Here, Panthera team members release 12 individuals of this species back into the wild — a big step for both peccary and jaguar populations. (Image: Panthera Honduras)
According to our research, it is well-known that leopards in Africa will take their prey up trees to safely eat it. It’s sightings like this that keep ecotourists coming back to Sabi Sands Game Reserve in South Africa, where citizen science has helped researchers document the life histories of individual leopards. (Image: Angela Ambrosini/Panthera)
One of the captive Arabian leopards living at the Conservation Breeding Centre in Taif, Saudi Arabia. This facility is run as part of efforts by The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and supported by Panthera to develop a viable population of the Critically Endangered species to one day reintroduce in AlUla. (Image: David Mills/Panthera)
The Panthera Senegal team thought they had lost track of Florence, the first-ever Critically Endangered West African lion fit with a GPS collar in Senegal. That was until a remote camera video showed Florence alive and healthy — with three cubs! We end 2023 with a renewed sense of hope that wild cat populations with stabilize and thrive. (Image: Panthera/Everatt/DPN)
For more incredible photos, check out our 22 best photos from 2022. And make sure to read our 2022 Annual Report to get the inside scoop on how these photos come to life through our projects.
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© Sebastian Kennerknecht
