The Zanzibar leopard is an African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) population on Unguja Island in the Zanzibar archipelago, Tanzania, that is considered extirpated due to persecution by local hunters and loss of habitat. It was the island's largest terrestrial carnivore and apex predator. 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 was recorded by a camera trap, thus renewing hopes for the population's survival, although some experts remain skeptical. Taxonomy The Zanzibar leopard was described as a leopard subspecies by Reginald Innes Pocock, who proposed the scientific name Panthera pardus adersi in 1932. Following molecular genetic analysis of leopard samples, it was subsumed to the African leopard (P. p. pardus) in 1996. However, some authors continue to use P. p. adersi. Evolutionary history The Zanzibar leopard population is thought to have evolved in isolation from mainland African leopards since at least the end of the Last Ice Age, when the island was separated from mainland Tanzania by rising sea levels. The founder effect and adaptation to local conditions produced a smaller leopard than its continental relatives, and one whose rosettes have partially disintegrated into spots. However, despite these visible differences from the mainland populations, the genetic differentiation of this population is much less than is seen for the populations presently treated as genuine subspecies, all of which occur outside of Africa; as such, all of the African populations of leopards are considered to belong to a single subspecies, including the population on Zanzibar. Behaviour and ecology Very little is known about the Zanzibar leopard's behaviour and ecology. It has never been studied in the wild, and the last confirmed sighting of a living leopard was in the early 1980s. Most zoologists have since presumed the Zanzibar leopard to be extinct or very nearly so. Only six skins were deposited at museums, including the type specimen of P. p. adersi in the Natural History Museum, London, and a much-faded mounted specimen in the Zanzibar Museum. However, Zanzibar government statistics indicate that leopards were still being killed by hunters in the mid-1990s, and islanders continue to report sightings and livestock predation. Conservation Descriptions of the leopard