To coincide with World Leopard Day, new reporting highlights research from a six-year conservation initiative in western Zambia showing that culturally acceptable synthetic alternatives can help reduce demand for leopard skins and support the recovery of wild populations.
The findings come from research led by Panthera, an organisation devoted to wild cat conservation, in collaboration with the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford and partners in Zambia. The study, published in a peer-reviewed journal in August 2025, evaluates the impact of the “Furs for Life Zambia” initiative, which introduced high-quality synthetic leopard furs for use in Lozi royal ceremonies.
The initiative was developed in partnership with the Barotse Royal Establishment and local conservation authorities, providing ceremonial garments that closely resemble traditional leopard furs while avoiding pressure on wild populations.
Over time, researchers found that most participants shifted from using authentic leopard furs to synthetic versions. This change coincided with a marked reduction in illegal hunting linked to ceremonial demand, alongside signs of leopard population recovery in the Greater Kafue ecosystem.
The study highlights that this change was not driven by enforcement alone. Instead, it emerged through a combination of cultural endorsement from traditional leadership, social acceptance of synthetic alternatives, and increased difficulty in sourcing illegal leopard products.
Dr Diogo Veríssimo, Research Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) and leader of the Biodiversity and Behavioural Science Team (BBeST) at the ECI, and co-author of the study, said:
“This work shows that when conservation solutions are culturally grounded and locally led, they can shift behaviour in ways that benefit both people and wildlife. The key was not replacing tradition, but adapting it in a way that maintained meaning while reducing pressure on a threatened species.”
The research suggests that substitution approaches—when co-designed with communities and supported by traditional authority—can be an effective complement to enforcement-based conservation strategies.
A blog post published by Panthera to coincide with World Leopard Day summarises the study and its implications, highlighting how locally led innovation can contribute to global efforts to conserve leopards.
The six-year study (2018–2024) was led by Panthera in partnership with the Barotse Royal Establishment of the Lozi people, Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife, Wildlife Crime Prevention Zambia, and the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU).
Read the full paper in Conservation Biology: Evaluating synthetic substitutes to reduce illegal harvesting and support species recovery