“The second wildlife seminar, called “WildTalk” was organized by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) on 30 October 2012 in Tehran. Attended by more than 40 experts and graduate students, two research papers were presented about gazelles in Iran as well as reptiles in western country.
For years, a hypothesis has been generated that Zagros mountains in western Iran has acted as a barrier between goitered gazelle populations which was discussed in the first paper, presented by Dr Davoud Hayatgheyb, namely as “Morpho-genetic differentiation between gazelle populations in eastern and western Zagros”, co-authored by the ICS research experts in 2010. Afterward, Kamran Kamali, an Iranian renowned herpetologist described his team’s research findings on reptiles abundance to plan for their conservation in Central Zagros region.
The “WildTalk” seminar hosted high-ranked authorities from the Iranian Department of Environment. Dr Asghar Fazel, DoE’s Deputy of Natural Environment had a short speech to welcome these seminars as invaluable opportunities for Iranian experts to share their knowledge and experience and recommended more technical collaboration to propose and advise conservation recommendations in the country. Moreover, Hossein Mohammadi (head of DoE’s Wildlife Bureau), Shahabeddin Montazemi (head of DoE’s Genetic Bureau), Behzad Saeedpour (deputy of DoE’s University of Environment), Ali Forghanipour (IRIB’s Channel Two’s manager) attended the seminar.
Jointly held by Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), ZistBoom News Agency and Iranian Technical Publishing Company, Iran’s “WildTalk” seminars are held monthly to present two research papers on the country’s wildlife, aiming to share expertise and experiences among Iranian experts and managers for better nature management.
Dr Fazel, Iran DoE’s Deputy speech
Davoud Hayatgheyb discussing about gazelle differentiation in western Iran
Reptiles of Zagros by Kamran Kamali
Group photo at the end of seminar