The Javanese Leopard Is Caught Wandering In The Sanggabuana Forest

JAKARTA - One Javan leopard was caught on a camera trap set by the Sanggabuana Conservation Foundation (SCF) in the forest of Mount Sanggabuana in Purwakarta Regency, West Java Province.

The young Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas) with a height of about 40 cm was caught on SCF traps in the Sanggabuana forest on June 11, 2023 at 12.53 WIB.

SCF Executive Director Solihin Fu'adi in Karawang, Sunday, said that the Java leopard was caught on camera not far from the waterfall, which is about 1.1 kilometers from the resident village.

According to him, SCF installed a camera trap in the Mount Sanggabuana forest area since March 2023 and took it on June 13, 2023.

"The location for installing camera traps (trapping cameras) is in the Mount Sanggabuana forest area managed by Perum Perhutani KPH Purwakarta. In this period, we only installed four camera traps in the field, right above a waterfall," he said as quoted by Antara.

According to Bernard T Wahyu Wiryanta, a wildlife photographer and researcher who is also a member of the SCF Board of Trustees, a Javan leopard caught on camera in the Sanggabuana forest is different from a Javan leopard that was previously caught on camera in the Karawang area.

"After we analyzed it, from the pattern of totols, gender, morphological characteristics, and the basic dimensions of its body, it turned out that there were differences with several other Java leopards recorded by previous camera traps. The recorded individuals are most likely female, young," he said by telephone.

"From several video and photo recordings that we analyzed, we also began to map out the distribution of each region of the territory of each individual," he added.

Bernard does not know for sure the large number of members of the Javan leopard population in the Sanggabuana forest, both leopards with totol and tiger patterns with melanistic colors or beetle tigers.

"We estimate that the population in the Sanggabuana area is in the range of 10 to 15 individuals. This includes two new individuals who are learning to hunt by preying on residents' sheep in 2022," he said.

In addition to recording the Javan leopard, the camera traps installed on Mount Sanggabuana also recorded other animal species such as cancil, pangolin, jungle chicken, civets, and pancawarna papak birds.

Bernard said that almost all the animals caught on camera traps are protected species according to the Regulation of the Minister of Environment and Forestry No. 106 of 2018 concerning protected plant and animal species.

The camera traps installed by SCF also recorded two hunters carrying rifles in the Sanggabuana forest area.