Zanzibar leopard Zanzibar leopard The Zanzibar leopard ("Panthera pardus pardus" syn. "Panthera pardus adersi") is a leopard population on Unguja Island in the Zanzibar archipelago, Tanzania. It is the island's largest terrestrial carnivore and apex predator. In 2008, it was considered extinct due to persecution by local hunters. Increasing conflict between people and leopards in the 20th century led to the demonization of the Zanzibar leopard and determined attempts to exterminate it. Efforts to develop a leopard conservation program in the mid-1990s were shelved when wildlife researchers concluded that there was little prospect for the population's long-term survival. In 2018, a leopard
Wildlife of Zanzibar The 54 terrestrial mammals found in Zanzibar include 23 species of bats ("popo" in Swahili). Other species are: bush tailed mongoose (local name "chongwe"), which is found in the coral rag forests of the south-eastern coast of Unguja and in the deep soil region on the western part of Pemba Island; the small blue duiker; suni (mammalian) or dwarf antelope (just tall); African and small Indian civet; as well as green and hawks-billed turtles. The Zanzibar red colobus has been known to consume charcoal, possibly a learned behaviour, after eating the leaves of the Indian almond tree and "Mangifera indica"