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Barbary leopard remains one of Morocco’s most mysterious and elusive predators. Once spread across the Atlas ranges and parts of southern Morocco, the species today survives mainly through scattered testimonies, old traces, and a handful of sightings, with no confirmed evidence recorded since the mid-1990s.
Historically, the species inhabited the western, central, and eastern High Atlas, the southern Middle Atlas, the western Anti-Atlas, and the Bas Draa-Noun region. Hence its name, the Atlas leopard. The North African subspecies, Panthera pardus panthera, is described in the 2003 doctoral thesis Les grands mammifères du Maroc méridional by French ecologist Fabrice Cuzin as «an efficient hunter capable of attacking large prey» with a «particularly varied» diet.
The feline was further described in the early 20th-century writings of Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston, a British explorer who traveled across Africa. During his travels in Morocco and Algeria, he wrote: «The leopard still lingers here, in Western Algeria and Morocco,» he noted.
Describing dead or stuffed leopards he encountered in Morocco, Johnston said he was «struck» by how «exceptionally large» they were compared to «two or three varieties seen in India, Malaysia, and tropical Africa». «Their rosettes are larger, more jaguar-like, and some of the males attain the dimensions of a large jaguar», he wrote.
From the High Atlas to the Bas Draa
But over the decades, the Atlas leopard appeared only sporadically, suggesting a sharp decline in numbers, if not outright disappearance.
One of the oldest known observations of the Barbary leopard in Morocco dates back to 1936, when the animal was reportedly seen in Hassi Tighissit near Tan-Tan, in the Bas Draa-Noun region, at an altitude of just 300 meters above sea level, Cuzin writes.
Another historical observation placed the leopard at 2,500 meters in the Jbel Ayachi massif in the Eastern High Atlas, suggesting the species «clearly does not fear heavy snowfall» that covers the Atlas mountains in winter.
During the 1970s, sightings turned into a more serious incident. In the Tilouguite region of the central High Atlas, «a case of an attack on a shepherd, who remained disabled afterward, was reported». Around the same period, leopard populations were already collapsing across Morocco.
According to Cuzin, leopard numbers may have fallen from around 50 animals in the 1950s and around 100 during the 1960s - thanks to protection efforts - to roughly 10 animals in the 1980s and only «2 to 5 animals» by 1996.
After 1986, the leopard’s confirmed or suspected presence became restricted to a handful of isolated mountain locations. In the southern Middle Atlas, tracks continued to be found in the gorges around Bou Tferda until 1994. In the same region, a taxi driver reportedly saw a leopard near Jbel Tazerkount in 1991, the French ecologist reports.
In the central High Atlas, signs of presence were collected in Aqqa Wabzaza until 1993, while leopard droppings were found east of Tilouguite the same year. Another direct observation was recorded in 1993 on the northern slopes of Jbel Tazigzaout in the Eastern High Atlas.
An «efficient hunter capable of attacking large prey», the Barbary leopard was also highly adaptable and capable of living in varied habitats. However, its preferred environments appeared to be forests and areas near cliffs or rocky escarpments. «The leopard therefore seems to seek out sheltered environments, whether made up of trees or rocks», Cuzin writes, explaining that such terrain is essential to its hunting strategy.
The final traces of the Atlas leopard
By 1994, «no evidence of the species’ presence had been collected». Cuzin attributes the species’ dramatic decline mainly to human activity, including hunting and trophy killings, retaliatory killings by livestock breeders, trapping and poisoning, as well as habitat degradation and prey decline.
Although Cuzin stops short of officially declaring the leopard extinct in Morocco, he classified the Barbary leopard as «Critically Endangered» and warned that it was «dangerously close to extinction».
However, by 2018, hope resurfaced once again. Rumors about the leopard’s possible survival reappeared after claims that dozens of animals had been rediscovered in the Atlas Mountains.
But those hopes proved false. Moroccan forestry official Zouhair Amhaouch, head of the division of parks and natural reserves at the High Commission for Water and Forests, strongly questioned those claims.
«For now, all we can say is that it has not been observed for a long time. There are no more traces of this species», he told Médias24 in 2018.
According to Amhaouch, the last known observation of an Atlas leopard dates back to the 1990s in Ifrane National Park, near Immouzer Kandar. He nevertheless remained cautious, saying that «if it still exists, there may only be erratic individuals left», before stressing that «in any case, there is no viable population».
Leaving one question unanswered: could the Atlas leopard one day reappear in Morocco?
