LONE LEOPARD ROAMS STREETS OF LONDON: Nat Geo WILD Releases Animatronic Leopard to Launch Big Cat Week | The Fan Carpet Ltd • The Fan Carpet: The RED Carpet for FANS • The Fan Carpet: Fansites Network • The Fan Carpet: Slate • The Fan Carpet: Theatre Spotlight • The Fan Carpet: Arena • The Fan Carpet: International

LONE LEOPARD ROAMS STREETS OF LONDON: Nat Geo WILD Releases Animatronic Leopard to Launch Big Cat Week


07 March 2017

Nat Geo WILD today unveiled the first ever hyper-realistic animatronic leopard, which has been created to raise awareness around serious threats to the species, as the channel launches its seventh annual Big Cat Week, in association with charity the Big Cats Initiative.

The lone leopard, created by leading animatronics designers John Nolan Studio, has been seen roaming urban landscapes, rummaging through bins and gnawing on carcasses at night, giving Londoners the shock of their lives in locations including Brick Lane, Chinatown and Mudchute Farm.

Created over two months by the team behind some of Hollywood’s most impressive animatronics including the Harry Potter films and the BBC’s recent Spy in the Wild, the first ever fully animatronic leopard is being used to raise awareness about serious threats to the habitats of big cats, as leopards are faced with up to 90% habitat loss, resulting in regular human-cat conflict.

 

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Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner Sam Hobson, from Bristol, has been following the lifelike animatronic around the city, capturing stunning images that highlight the plight of the species in cities like Mumbai, where habitat loss is forcing leopard and man to coexist with dangerous consequences.

Hobson said “I am used to photographing urban wildlife in the UK, from foxes to badgers, but it has been a fascinating and thought-provoking challenge bringing the plight of the leopard to London. It’s hard to comprehend that in India’s busiest city hundreds of leopards are literally roaming the streets at night, resulting in shocking conflicts. I hope that my images and the many people that encounter the leopard will raise awareness of this serious issue asking if it was on our own doorstep would we do more to prevent it.”

 

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The stunt has been inspired by the Big Cat Week episode Mission Critical: Leopards at the Door, which airs on Nat Geo WILD on Thursday 9th March at 8pm. The episode features photographer Steve Winter and British cameraman Bertie Gregory as they follow the deadly predator at night in Mumbai. Hobson consulted both Winter and Gregory to prepare for his London shoot and his poignant images evoke Winter’s work.

Dereck Joubert, National Geographic explorer in residence said “This realistic leopard brings the serious big cat issues to the UK. In places like Mumbai this is a stark reality. Loss of habitat has given the leopards no choice but to share territory with man and they have consequently become the most persecuted of all the big cat species, resulting in many attacks. “Raising awareness is the most important thing we can do, through the Big Cats Initiative and Big Cat Week on National Geographic. Only with awareness can strategies be implemented to reduce human-cat conflicts.”

The animatronic leopard roams on.

#londonleopard

#bigcatweek

Keep up-to-date with Nat Geo WILD on Facebook, Twitter: @NatGeoUK and Instagram: natgeowild_uk

Big Cat Week airs on Nat Geo WILD between 6-12 March from 8pm.

Facts courtesy of the Big Cats Initiative
All facts courtesy of Jacobson et al, 2016

• The leopard was confirmed extant in 73% (62 of 85) of its historic range countries.
• Estimated loss of 63-75% of the historical range of leopards, although certain subspecies have suffered range loss greater than 94% (P.p. orientalis, nimr, japonensis, and North and West African regional populations of P.p. pardus)
• Range loss is varied between subspecies and regions. For Africa, range loss was 48-67%, while for Asia (all non- P.p pardus subspecies) range loss was 83-87%.
• Up to 13,100,000 km2 of leopard range (when including uncertain range) has been lost from both continents leading to a higher level of range loss in Asia (83–87%) than for Africa (48– 67%)
• Leopards historically lived across 35,000,000km2, but are presently only in 25% of this area in 173 extant patches covering roughly 8,500,000km2 (Jacobson et al).
• 10 large carnivores/100 km2are sharing space with dense human populations in a completely modified landscape.
• There are an estimated 12,0000-14,000 leopards in India (Times of India)
• Protected areas cover only 5% of the land in India and in the case of large carnivores that range widely, human use landscapes will function as important habitats required for gene flow to occur between protected areas...leopard (Panthera pardus) and striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) occurred in relatively high density 4.8±1.2 (sd) adults/100 km2 and 5.03±1.3 (sd) adults/100 km2 respectively • Between 1991 and 2013, there were 176 instances of human-leopard conflict
• In June 2004, leopards were responsible for the deaths of 20 humans within the span of a week
• The highest quantity of Asian big cat body parts seized in border districts between 2011 and 2015 were of leopards, followed by tigers

 

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About Big Cat Week
Sharpen those claws and get ready to roar because Nat Geo WILD’s BIG CAT WEEK is back for its seventh year in a row! Each year BIG CAT WEEK showcases the world’s most extraordinary stories from our wild cat neighbours. This year from Monday 6th to Sunday 12th March you’ll have more feline friends then you can swish a tail at.

From lions, tigers and cheetahs to jaguars, cougars and leopards — big cats are revered around the world. Yet today, these majestic creatures are some of the most threatened species on Earth. During BIG CAT WEEK we will come face-to-face with these iconic yet endangered animals, as Nat Geo WILD shines a light on their struggle and reminds viewers that these cats hold an important place in our world.

They are magnificent hunters, ferocious felines and powerful predators, but they are also heading for extinction. It’s time to sound the call that big cats around the world need our help.

About Big Cats Initiative
Did you know that Africa’s lion population has declined 90% in the last 75 years? Or that fewer than 4,000 tigers remain in the wild?

More than a television event, BIG CAT WEEK is an extension of the Big Cats Initiative, a long-term commitment by the National Geographic Society to stop poaching and save their habitats. It was founded in 2009 with Dereck and Beverly Joubert, filmmakers, conservationists and National Geographic Explorers-in-residence, in an effort to halt the decline of big cats in the wild through assessment, on-the-ground conservation, education and public awareness. The National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative has supported more than 80 innovative projects to protect seven iconic big cat species in 27 countries and built 1,000 enclosures to protect livestock, big cats, and people.

BIG CAT WEEK on Nat Geo WILD grants wildlife fans a variety of stunning, blue-chip big cat programming to showcase their magnificence, remind viewers of their value in our world, and alert the world to the urgent need to protect these endangered animals.

If you would like to hear more about the Big Cats Initiative please visit their website.

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