During the third year of country-scale monitoring of the Critically Endangered Asiatic cheetah in Iran, our research team was surprised by finding the first confirmed evidence of wolf presence in Darreh Anjir Wildlife Refuge, Yazd province.
Located in south-central Iran, Darreh Anjir Wildlife Refuge appears crucial the connectivity of cheetah populations in Iran. The reserve has been continuously surveyed by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) and its partners for about 6 years, but until now no information was available about the co-occurrence of grey wolves in the area. Interestingly, our trail cameras have also captured footages of the striped hyena in the reserve after a 6-year gap.
ICS is running the third round of nation-wide camera trap monitoring of the Asiatic cheetah in collaboration with Provincial Offices of Iran Department of Environment and Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project. The project aims to reveal detailed information about the population and breeding status, as well as movement ecology of the rare and elusive Asiatic cheetah in its last stronghold in Iran.