28-07-2025
Oman's leopard breeding programme records breakthrough
Muscat – The Wild Mammal Breeding Centre under Royal Court Affairs has reported success in breeding Arabian leopards, marking renewed efforts to prevent the extinction of the region's most threatened big cat.
A female leopard named Al Muzn, now around two and a half years old, is among the most prominent offspring raised at the centre. She remains in good health under the close care of veterinary specialists. The facility has also recently bred two more cubs, a male and a female, both over three months old, receiving intensive care during their early weeks – a critical period when leopard mothers sometimes reject their young.
Located in Muscat, the centre is affiliated to Directorate General of Veterinary Services and houses leopards native to Jabal Samhan in Dhofar. The long-term objective is to breed these animals in captivity and eventually release them into the wild, once they demonstrate the ability to survive independently.
Efforts at the facility are supported through regional cooperation and knowledge-sharing with other breeding programmes. These include partnerships with the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife in Sharjah.
The Arabian leopard ( Panthera pardus nimr ) is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. Once found across both northern and southern Oman, its current range is limited to the Dhofar Mountains, where fewer than 50 individuals remain.
Captive breeding of the species in Oman began in 1985, using four leopards captured in Jabal Samhan. The first cub was born in captivity in 1989. Over the next eight years, ten cubs were bred successfully, with the last birth recorded in February 1997.
The programme gained fresh momentum in 2015 with the introduction of a male leopard from Yemen. In 2022, a female from the Sharjah centre was introduced to the Muscat facility. On February 15, 2023 she gave birth to a female cub – the first leopard born at the centre in 26 years.
Officials believe the birth of the cub marks an important step towards preserving the Arabian leopard. As the cub's father is a wild-caught leopard, her genetic makeup could help diversify the limited captive population across the region.
The centre also breeds and cares for other endangered native species, including the Arabian gazelle and Arabian tahr, as part of Oman's broader wildlife conservation efforts.
