What island is home to the endangered Sri Lankan leopard?

The island home of the endangered Sri Lankan leopard is Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is a leopard subspecies found only on Sri Lanka, making it an island endemic. Sri Lankan zoologist Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala formally described it in 1956. Unlike many leopard populations, it has no native mainland range.

The leopard occurs across remarkably varied habitats, including dry-zone forests, wet forests, mountain areas, grasslands, tea estates and some human-dominated landscapes. Yala National Park is especially famous for leopard sightings, but protected areas do not contain the entire population.

A common mix-up is confusing the Sri Lankan leopard with the Indian leopard, which lives on the nearby Asian mainland. The Sri Lankan animal is also not a separate species: it is a geographically distinct subspecies of leopard. Habitat fragmentation, snares, retaliatory killing and other human pressures threaten it; since 2020, the IUCN has classified it as Vulnerable.