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Asiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring Program

Asiatic Cheetah in Touran Biosphere Reserve
Asiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring Program

End of Annual “Asiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring Program”

by pourmir February 20, 2021
written by pourmir 1 minutes read

Miandasht Wildlife Refuge and Touran Biosphere Reserve were the only remaining reproductive Asiatic Cheetah habitats in Iran.
Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, with 84 thousand hectares, was one of the first areas that the Iranian Cheetah Society started working on for conserving the cheetah population. However, it’s been two years since there have been any records of cheetah reproduction there.
Unlike Miandasht, Touran Biosphere Reserve with 1.5 million hectares is the only remaining area with records of cheetah reproduction nowadays, so it is crucial for conserving the only Asiatic Cheetah habitat in the world.
Therefore, the Iranian Cheetah Society started their new project in September of 2020 to include Touran beside Miandasht in the surveys and camera trap to find new individuals. However, we couldn’t do the camera trappings in Touran ourselves because of the official technicalities, so we only gave our council and taught the rangers how to use and install the camera traps.
In both areas, camera traps worked for four months until the start of 2021 that livestock moved to the areas’ edges. So, we had to remove and relocate them near the core.
Unfortunately, the results don’t show any cheetah recorded in Miandasht, which is very concerning, but there have been some cheetah records in Touran, which we are now analyzing and identifying.
Here you can see some of the photos that have been captured by the camera traps in Touran. Hope you will enjoy them.

 

February 20, 2021 0 comments
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Asiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring Program

Asiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring of Miandasht Wildlife Refuge

by pourmir February 1, 2021
written by pourmir 1 minutes read

The camera traps installed at the North Khorasan Province, Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, have been collected after four months of operating in September 2020. Our team established cameras in collaboration with North Khorasan’s DOE and the refuge’s rangers. They reconfirm the high biodiversity of the region, same as in recent years. This biodiversity owes to the rangers’ conservation and patrolling constantly.
Unfortunately, any image of the Asiatic Cheetah was not recorded during this period. The entry of livestock out of The Zamen Aho National Park borders at the beginning of Winter makes it impossible to use camera traps in the refuge. Therefore, to make sure, more cameras installed in the Zamen Aho National Park’s important zones, which is located in the middle of the refuge, to record any possible entrance of the cheetahs in the area and the national park.

Hopefully, the images of cheetah cubs have been recorded in The Turan’s biosphere reserve during the past few months. Also, several reports of seeing cheetahs at the Turan – Miandasht corridor raises our hopes of this unique species’ existence in the Miandasht.

To make these hope real, we have to take serious conservation steps to improve habitats’ conditions to enter cheetahs and save them. Removing feral and hybrid dogs, equipping rangers, making the troughs inaccessible for domestic animals, etc., needs urgent action. Besides other conserving efforts, all these mentioned steps could be possible and achievable with Department of Environment administrations’ collaboration, non-governmental organizations.
Our cameras recorded the following picture during this year in Miadasht Wildlife Refuge. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Gray Wolf
Wildcat
Wildcat Family
Fox
Gazelle
Gazelle
Eagles
Eagle and Gazelle
February 1, 2021 0 comments
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Asiatic Cheetah Conservation ProgramAsiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring Program

The camera trapping procedure in Miandasht wildlife refuge

by مدیر سایت February 24, 2020
written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

Throughout the camera trapping procedure (July-November 2019) no images of cheetahs were recorded in Miandsasht (North-Khorasan province)- a habitat that has had breeding in the recent years. A vague report of a ranger in this area has also been left unproven.

The only identified dominant male cheetah of the habitat was unfortunately killed due to road accident last year; and no sign of cheetahs were seen ever since.
Even though no cheetahs have been spotted, photos of other species show a rich habitat as you can see in the shared photos.

Despite all discouragements, the Iranian Cheetah Society continues its conservational activities in the cheetah habitats and also encourages conservation outside of the habitat, and breeding programs in fenced facilities.

Striped hyena
Caracal
Golden Eagle
Wolf
Wild boar
Indian crested porcupine

 

February 24, 2020 0 comments
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Asiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring Program

The dominant male cheetah of Miandasht died in road accident

by pourmir November 18, 2018
written by pourmir 0 minutes read

On Thursday evening, Yarqoli, the dominant male cheetah of Miandasht Wildlife Refuge that was captured several times by camera-traps died in an accident.

During the recent monitoring project in Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, the only cheetah captured by the camera-traps seemed to be the dominant male of the area. Based on the veterinarian review this cheetah was 6-8 years old when sadly got killed in road accident.

ICS will continue the Cheetah Monitoring Program within the protected areas hoped to find a new population or individuals very soon.

November 18, 2018 0 comments
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Asiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring Program

Is there a new cheetah appeared in Kerman?

by pourmir November 1, 2018
written by pourmir 1 minutes read

A cheetah carcass has been found recently in Ravar Wildlife Refuge in Kerman Province and brought the questions to experts and followers if it is a new individual or not, and however, what is its gender? Certainly, the answers to these questions are critical for finding the solutions to save the southern population. Although most of the body lost, the skin on the remained parts of head and backbone still carry useful details for identification. Therefore we started to work on data although it was hard to give an accurate answer according to the carcass’ status.

All the photos are compared with the ICS’ cheetahs ID book precisely and lastly, the experts agreed on the most similar individual. Based on the checking, the founded carcass belongs to a male cheetah named Pouyan that was recorded by ICS in 2016 during the third phase of monitoring project in Naybandan Wildlife Refuge. This area is in southern Khorasan and located in the north of Ravar Wildlife Refuge where the carcass found a few days ago. The taken camera-trap photo in the area between Ravar and Naybandan on early 2017 proves the idea that probably Pouyan was migrating to the south. The status of teeth shows that perhaps Pouyan was old and its death had a natural cause.

All in all, the fact that this cheetah was male and not a new individual does not reduce the importance of southern habitats specifically the Ravar Wildlife Refuge according to the lack of our information but highlights the area for more study and survey on the presence or reproduction of the cheetahs in future.

November 1, 2018 0 comments
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Asiatic Cheetah Conservation ProgramAsiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring ProgramICS News

ICS surveys Miandasht for cheetahs, again

by pourmir October 15, 2018
written by pourmir 1 minutes read

Miandasht Wildlife Refuge in North Khorasan Province, north-eastern Iran, is the long-term project site of the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS). As one of the few sites known to host a reproducing cheetah population in Iran, our scientists have been studying the local cheetah population for over a decade. Since 2011, ICS scientists have intensively used camera traps to monitor the Miandasht cheetahs. In 2017, our team had to abandon its fieldwork in Miandasht as legal authorities. It took over one year to obtain the necessary permissions to re-launch the survey of Miandasht.

Our team is now working with the local wildlife authority and Miandasht’s rangers to provide an up-to-date status assessment of the cheetah population. Some of the new camera-trap photos from Miandasht can been seen here. Learn about how you can help us to continue this work.

October 15, 2018 0 comments
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Asiatic Cheetah Conservation ProgramAsiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring Program

Another long-distance movement by an Asiatic cheetah recorded in central Iran

by pourmir October 6, 2018
written by pourmir 1 minutes read

On July 8th, 2018, a camera-trap set by Yazd Department of the Environment photographed an Asiatic cheetah in Bahabad No-Hunting Area. Located in Yazd Province in central Iran, this is the first hard evidence of cheetah occurrence in Bahabad since 2012. Our researchers compared this new photo with those of identified cheetah individuals during our Cheetah Monitoring Program. Surprisingly, the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) researchers identified this cheetah as a male cheetah known to us as “Arash”. Arash has been photo-captured by our camera-traps in Naybandan Wildlife Refuge in South Khorasan Province, over 150 km away from Bahabad.

Arash ID Card

Arash ID Card

 

ICS camera-traps have recorded multiple long-distance movements by Asiatic cheetahs in central Iran since 2012, some even up to 217 km between the furthest known locations. Disturbingly, no female cheetahs or any hard evidence of cheetah reproduction has been recorded in the Southern Cheetah Landscape, including the Yazd Province, since 2012. These findings suggest improving protection beyond the current network of protected areas, particularly through biological corridors, must be a top priority in plans to save the Asiatic cheetah in Iran.

October 6, 2018 0 comments
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Asiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring ProgramICS News

New photograph of cheetahs from Dareh Anjir, but no new cheetahs

by مدیر سایت June 29, 2017
written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

A new photograph of Asiatic cheetahs in Dareh (Darre) Anjir Wildlife Refuge, Yazd Province, went viral on the internet in June 2017. The photo, captured by a local ranger, shows two Asiatic cheetahs near an artificial water site (wildlife drinker). Our Cheetah Survey Team has analyzed the coat patterns of these two cheetahs, and identified them as two male cheetahs known to us as ‘Hominou’ and ‘Ardalan’. ICS’ camera-traps have photo-captured these two cheetahs in multiple occasions since 2012.

ICS launched the country-wide Asiatic cheetah monitoring program across multiple sites in 2012, and to date no photos of female cheetahs have been obtained from Yazd Province. We are working with the local wildlife authority and Yazd Provincial Office of the Iranian Department of Environment to reveal any evidence of cheetah reproduction in this region.

June 29, 2017 0 comments
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Asiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring ProgramICS News

‘Arash’ and ‘Pouyan’ are still roaming in Naybandan

by مدیر سایت November 1, 2016
written by مدیر سایت 2 minutes read

Launched in April 2016, the third phase ICS’s nation-wide cheetah monitoring program  is aiming to assess the status of cheetah populations in multiple key reserves in Iran. The ICS team has focused the present effort to maximize the chance of photo-capturing reproducing cheetahs, female cheetahs with cubs, by setting up the majority of available camera traps at water points. Water points act as a lure in the arid and hyper arid habitats of Asiatic cheetahs in north-eastern and south-central Iran. The current survey is the most intensive effort ever to monitor the Critically Endangered Asiatic cheetah in comparison to ICS’s 2012-2013 and 2014-2015 surveys.

Pouyan

During August-September 2016, the ICS researchers surveyed Naybandan Wildlife Refuge in South Khorasan Province . Out of 52 camera traps set up over the reserve, about 70% of them were placed at water points. In total, 31 cheetah photographs and 9 videos were obtained during the present survey. All the cheetah photographs were captured in Naybandan’s core zone. Analysing the cheetah photographs, the ICS researchers could identify two male cheetahs we have photographed in the reserve since 2012, known to us as ‘Arash’ and ‘Pouyan’.

Arash

Although no female cheetahs or families were photographed in this survey, Naybandan rangers have reported the presence of a cheetah family spotted during their routine patrolling in October 2016. Confirming the presence of this cheetah family would be exceptionally good news for the cheetah population in the south-central Iran.

NA-CH012-M

ICS researchers will continue monitoring cheetah habitats by moving the camera traps to Miandasht Wildlife Refuge and Siah-kuh National Park in North Khorasan and Yazd Provinces, respectively. The third phase of ICS’s nation-wide cheetah monitoring program is running in collaboration with Iran Department of Environment (DoE) and Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP), and private donors.

NA-CH009-M

November 1, 2016 0 comments
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Asiatic Cheetah Conservation ProgramAsiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring Programcheetah dayResearch

The Unknown Fate of the Asiatic Cheetah

by pourmir September 13, 2016
written by pourmir 6 minutes read

Conservation efforts must take a landscape level approach

As a Critically-Endangered subspecies of cheetahs that only persist in Iran, the Asiatic cheetah (also known as the Iranian cheetah) is very popular today. Asiatic cheetahs are considered as a national symbol for Iranians, the only nation that is proud being able to save these charismatic cats from extinction in Asia. However, the Iranian cheetah population seems to be in serious trouble, and new evidence suggests that in spite of ongoing conservation efforts, this population has been declining during the past years.
The year 2001 was a milestone in cheetah conservation in Iran. The Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP), an initiative between Iran’s Department of Environment, UNDP and a number of international partners, as well as the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) were formed with the goal to reverse the Iranian cheetah extinction. When we at ICS started our very first conservation-based efforts, very little was known about cheetahs in Iran. Throughout the past decade, new information started slowly flowing. New cheetah habitats and conservation plans began. The number of game wardens in cheetah habitats has been almost doubled. Remotely-triggered camera traps were imported to Iran for the first time and intensively employed for detection, and after several years of monitoring, of local cheetah populations. Different attempts have been carried out to assess the status of cheetahs in Iran. Several community-based projects have been conducted in villages and human settlements inside or in periphery of critical cheetah habitats. Either big or small, several national and local partners have joined the efforts to help conserving cheetahs in Iran. Additionally, 31st of August has been named as “National Cheetah Day” in the country to celebrate the persistence of Iranian cheetahs, and to stress the need to continue conservation efforts. By adding the Asiatic cheetah on the jersey of Iranian national soccer team, a new awareness campaign went throughout the country, and now there is a strong desire among Iranians to conserve their Critically Endangered cheetahs.
Without the conservation activities launched in the last 15 years the Asiatic cheetah would probably go extinct today. Nevertheless, we at ICS believe that much more is needed to be done to secure the cheetah survival in Iran. This year we celebrated the 10th anniversary National Cheetah Day in Iran, but we are sad to confirm that the Asiatic cheetah status is worrisome.
Since 2011 with the cooperation of CACP and provincial offices of Iran Department of Environment, we launched the Nation-wide Cheetah Monitoring Program in Iran. By this large-scale initiative we aimed to assess the status of cheetahs in Iran, and to provide for the first time scientifically-sound estimates of the population size and trend in their last stronghold. Using intensive camera trapping surveys across multiple cheetah habitats, we identify cheetah individuals, and by repeating the survey each year, we hope to monitor the population status and trend. The first phase of this project was done in 2011-2013. The second phase was carried out in 2014-2015, and presently we are busy with the third phase, which is expected to run until mid-2017.
During the first phase, we identified 20 different cheetahs including 11 males, 7 females, and 2 cheetahs of unknown sex. Based on the size of the area cheetahs living in Iran, almost one-third of the country or approximately equal to the size of France, the monitoring of Asiatic cheetahs is extremely challenging. Given our data, we guesstimated that between 40-70 cheetahs may live across their entire range in Iran. Since then, we have attempted to monitor all the identified individuals, some of them are still photo-captured by our camera traps inside the cheetah reserve. We confirm that preliminary results from the third phase, in combination with the data collected during the second phase and one study in Kavir National Park, are a source of major concern. Since 2013, neither cheetah reproduction nor any female cheetahs have been recorded in cheetah habitats in south-central Iran. During the past three years, we have been able to document the presence of only 4 male cheetahs in the cheetah reserves in Yazd province. We are truly concerned as Yazd province was used to be a hotspot for cheetahs in Iran, and several reproducing cheetahs were known to persist inside this province.

cheetah

 
Given the available data, it is very likely that viable cheetah populations are now limited to only four area: Miandasht Wildlife Refuge in North Khorasan province, Touran Biosphere Reserve in Semnan province, Naybandan Wildlife Refuge in South Khorasan province, and, possibly, Darband-e Ravar Wildlife Refuge in Kerman province. We accept that providing reliable estimates of cheetah population size, effective population size, and reproducing females are currently impossible. Also, for a better picture of the current status we have to wait until surveys are finished. However, so far only two female cheetahs are captured using our camera traps. We stress that it does not mean that only 2 females persist in Iran. We also guesstimate that currently the size of the Iranian cheetah population may not exceed 40 individuals. Given the extremely small size of the Iranian cheetah population, and the fact that these number are also divided into smaller local population divided into habitats some of them are hundreds of kilometers apart, loss of even one cheetah would have a catastrophic effect on the survival of the last remaining Asiatic cheetahs.
 

cheetah-map

Fig. 2. Distribution of the Asiatic cheetah in Iran. Confirmed cheetah areas based on hard evidences, such as photos, videos, and dead specimens during 15 years ago. 1) Miandash, 2) Khosh Yeilagh, 3) Touran, 4) Dorouneh, 5) Kavir, 6) Boshrouyeh, 7) Abbas Abad, 8) Siahkouh, 9) Naybandan, 10) Dareh Anjir, 11) Ariz, 12) Bahabad, 13) Darband, 14) Bafgh, 15) Kalmand. During the past 15 years, there have been only two confirmed cheetah occurrences in Khosh yeylaq (No. 2), and only one confirmed occurrence in Dorouneh (No. 4) and Boshrouyeh (No. 6).

 
Since 2001, we are aware of at least 48 cheetah mortalities in different incidents in Iran, including 34 confirmed evidences containing hard documents. Out of these incidents, only 7 cheetahs are likely to have died because of natural causes. At least 21 cheetahs have been killed by shepherds, as well as 15 cheetahs have been killed in vehicle collisions. There is also evidence of at least 5 cheetahs being killed by poachers.
We have recently shown that Asiatic cheetahs disperse greatly across multiple reserves. This nomadic lifestyle is extremely important for the persistence of Iranian cheetah population, as these immigrations might reverse local extinction for such small wildlife subpopulations. On the other hand, continuous cheetah movements and their unpredictable movement patterns make their conservation extremely difficult. Many human areas, roads and railways exist between cheetah habitats, some of them trespassing the cheetah reserves, which might lead to the loss of more cheetahs. Therefore much more extensive efforts must be made at the same time to protect the remaining cheetahs. We are still hopeful in conservation of Asiatic Cheetahs, but we believe that all national and international partners must play a bigger, and more active, role to safeguard cheetahs in Iran.
We have launched an online petition to ask President Hassan Rouhani to order immediate implementation of several protective measures, most importantly by pushing governmental bodies to cooperate with the Department of Environment. So far more than 5000 Iranians has signed the petition, and hope that this petition will provide a much needed political will and support for conservation of the Asiatic cheetah in Iran.
 

September 13, 2016 0 comments
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  • Explorers of Hope Follow the Trail of a Cheetah in a Rural Area

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New Report on Asiatic Cheetah Population in Iran Released

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Iranian Cheetah Society Releases Triennial Report For 2021-2023

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ICS Participated in First Cheetah Global Summit held in Ethiopia

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