The range of the Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) has decreased dramatically over the last 100 years. This species is still under extreme risk of extinction and conservation efforts are rigorous. Understanding the long-term dynamics of the population decline would be helpful to offer insight into the mechanism behind the decline and endangerment and improve conservation perspectives and strategies. Historical data collection has been the challenge for reconstructing the historical distribution. In China, new gazetteers having systematic compilation and considerable local ecological data can be considered as an important complementary for reconstruction. Therefore, we have set up a data set (mainly based on the new gazetteers) in order to identify the historical range of the Amur Leopard from the 1950s to 2014. The result shows that the Amur leopard was historically widely distributed with large populations in Northeastern China, but it presented a sharp decline after the 1970s. The decline appeared from the plains to the mountains and northeast to southwest since the 1950s. Long-term historical data, mainly from new gazetteers, demonstrates that such resources are capable of tracking species change through time and offers an opportunity to reduce data shortage and enhance understanding in conservation.

1. The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) has undergone a dramatic decline throughout the 20th century in China, especially in the North East. However, the dynamics responsible for the reduction in the distribution of otters in this region since the 1950s is still unclear. Such uncertainty and insufficient information can hinder effective conservation strategies. 2. A study was conducted using historical documents to attempt an evaluation of the status of otter populations in north‐east China between 1950 and 2014. The data suggest that otters were widely distributed with abundant populations in north‐east China in the 1950s, particularly in the area of the Songhua River basin and the Ussuli River basin. 3. Compared with the 1950s, the number of records in 2014 has fallen by 92%. Otter populations are fragmented and mainly restricted to national nature reserves, leaving little optimism for their future. 4. More broadly, this research demonstrates that recovering information from local historical documents can be a useful and reliable way to overcome the limits caused by lack of data. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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