News - Page 15 of 43 - Iranian Cheetah Society

A new camera-trap photo of a Pallas’s cat, now in Salouk National Park!

by مدیر سایت December 22, 2015

written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

Following the recent camera-trapping survey of Persian leopards in Sarigol National Park which resulted in the first camera trap photo of a Pallas’s cat in the reserve , the Persian Leopard Project in Northeastern Iran has surveyed the Salouk National Park in December 2015. Together with Sarigol, Salouk is one the key leopard reserves in northeastern Iran. The project team is now excited to report the first-ever camera-trap photograph of a Pallas’s cat from Salouk National Park. The Pallas’s cat is one of the rarest felids of Iran, and very few photographs of free-living individuals is available from Iran.
Led by ICS researcher Mohammad Farhadinia, the Persian Leopard Project is collaborative study between University of Oxford’s WildCRU, Iranian Cheetah Society, Iran Department of Environment, provincial offices of Iran DoE in North Khorasan and Razavi Khorasan, and Panthera. The project aims to answer a number of conservation-based questions about the persistence of the Endangered Persian leopard on human-dominated landscapes in northeastern Iran.

December 22, 2015 0 comments

Water for Cheetahs Project’s first annual report submitted

by مدیر سایت December 21, 2015

written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

Miandasht Wildlife Refuge in North Khorasan Province is one of the key cheetah reserves in Iran. The reserve hosts a viable cheetah population with at least two different cheetah families of a mother and three cubs and a mother and one cub, documented by the Iranian Cheetah Society’s camera traps.

Water sources in Miandasht is limited, and during the hot summers local wardens have to frequently maintain multiple artificial water sources across this arid reserve. In total, 10 artificial water sources provide the invaluable water for both Miandasht’s wildlife and ranger stations within this reserve. During the host season which usually last for about 6 months in late spring to early autumn, each artificial water supply must be manually filled 12-18 times. As the local wildlife authority has limited resources and the local wardens need to focus on anti-poaching patrols, maintaining the artificial water resources becomes very problematic during the hot season.

In collaboration with the local wildlife authority at Jajarm, the Iranian Cheetah Society launched a campaign in spring 2015 to fundraise recruitment of local people to be responsible for maintaining the Miandasht’s water sources. Within 10 days, we could successfully raise the necessary budget and delivered it to the local wildlife authority. As a result, the water sources during the previous hot season were fully functional and no water shortage appeared.

December 21, 2015 0 comments

Research

Pallas’s cat photo-trapped in Sarigol National Park

by مدیر سایت December 19, 2015

written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

The Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul) is one the rarest small felids of Iran. The species first discovered in northeastern Iran around 50 years ago. Until mid 1980s, almost all the presence records of the Pallas’s cat had been originated from this part of the country. However, the geographic distribution range of the Pallas’s cat now appears more widespread, with recent confirmed records are coming from northwestern and southwestern Iran down to Yazd and Kerman provinces. As a result, Iran is perceived to be both the westernmost and southernmost range limit of the Pallas’s cat.

Because of the Pallas’s cat’s elusiveness and small size, the species has been rarely documented by camera-traps across its range. During the Persian Leopard Project in Northeastern Iran, in November 2015 one camera trap has captured the photographic evidence of the Pallas’s cat occurrence in Sarigol National Park, North Khorasan province. Although this photo is not the first record of the species’ presence in this reserve, this is an existing discovery for the project team.

The Persian Leopard Project in Northeastern Iran is led by University of Oxford’s WildCRU, in collaboration with the Iranian Cheetah Society, Iran Department of Environment, and Panthera.

December 19, 2015 0 comments

Asiatic Cheetah Conservation Program Documentries

The Black Tear: A new documentary about the Iranian cheetahs

by مدیر سایت December 15, 2015

written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

A new documentary by the acclaimed Iranian movie maker Fathollah Amiri has released. The documentary portraits the story of the Critically Endangered Asiatic cheetah in Kavir National Park, one of the last cheetah reserves in the central desert of Iran.
In 2007, a research team from the Iranian Cheetah Society and Plan for the Land Society surveyed this remote area with the hope to confirm the presence of Asiatic cheetahs after about a decade. Although the team could successfully capture several cheetah photographs across the national park, all the pictures were eventually revealed of being belonged to one single male cheetah. The documentary explores beyond these results, showing conservation efforts to save cheetahs in Iran.
Entitled as “the black tear”, the documentary is produced in collaboration with Wildlife Pictures Institute, Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project, Iran Department of the Environment, and the Iranian Cheetah Society. The black tear is going to attend a number of national and international events during 2015/16.

December 15, 2015 0 comments

Leopard Program

A good season for leopard photography!

by مدیر سایت December 14, 2015

written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

The Persian Leopard Project in Northeastern Iran is running an intensive camera-trapping survey in several key leopard reserves. To date, more than 250 photographs of Persian leopards from 40 camera-trap locations have been obtained from Salouk and Sarigol National Parks. Researchers from the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) have started to analyze the data, and preliminary results suggest viable leopard populations in these two reserves. The team expects to expand this survey to new areas in spring 2016.

Led by Mohammad Farhadinia from ICS and University of Oxford’s WildCRU, and in collaboration with Iran Department of Environment (DoE), North Khorasan Provincial Office of Iran DoE, Panthera, and University of Tehran; this project seeks to answer a variety of conservation-oriented questions about the persistence of the Endangered Persian leopard in fragmented mountainous habitats in northeastern Iran. Gathering reliable information about the population status of leopards are one the key components for effective conservation planning for this endangered leopard subspecies across its range.

leopard photography

December 14, 2015 0 comments

Leopard Program The Persian Leopard Project in Northeastern Iran

First female Persian leopard collared in northeastern Iran

by مدیر سایت December 8, 2015

written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

On December 6, 2015, the first female Persian leopard was successfully captured during the Persian Leopard Project in Northeastern Iran. The project team carefully immobilized, examined and measured this 3-year-old female of about 40 kg. The team called her “Iran”, fitted her with a GPS satellite collar, and then released her.
Led by Mohammad Farhadinia from the Iranian Cheetah Society and WildCRU, and in collaboration with Iran Department of Environment, Panthera, and University of Tehran; this project seeks to answer a variety of conservation-oriented questions about the persistence of Endangered Persian leopards in fragmented mountainous habitats in a number of protected areas in northeastern Iran. Another four male Persian leopards have been previously fitted with collars during this study.

December 8, 2015 0 comments

Leopard Program The Persian Leopard Project in Northeastern Iran

Updates for the Persian Leopard Project in Northeastern Iran

by مدیر سایت December 4, 2015

written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

Led by Mohammad Farhadinia from the Iranian Cheetah Society and WildCRU, and in collaboration with Iran Department of Environment, Panthera, and University of Tehran; this project seeks to answer a variety of conservation-oriented questions about the persistence of Endangered Persian leopards in fragmented mountainous habitats in a number of protected areas in northeastern Iran.

One key aspect of this project is studying the movement ecology of Persian leopards on this rugged landscape. Five Persian leopards have been so far successfully fitted with cutting-edge GPS satellite collars, which are providing invaluable data about movement patterns, kill rates and social structure of Persian leopards. This information is also very important to increase our current knowledge about human-leopard interactions and leopard-livestock conflict.

Among the four male and one female leopards captured during this study, two of the male leopards have been monitored for one year and their collars have been successfully recovered.

The project team is now busy with an intensive camera-trapping survey and prey assessment in multiple reserves, in order to better understand the population dynamics of the enigmatic Persian leopards and patterns of predator-prey relationships. The project is expected to continue until 2017.

One of the collars recovered near the leopard kill, a Persian ibex!

Kave:

Another kill belonging to one the young male leopards fitted with GPS satellite collars during this study. Wild sheep appears as one the Persian leopard’s preferred prey on this landscape.

Map showing movement patterns of one of the male leopards which is monitoring during this project. This old male has trespassed the border between Iran and Turkmenistan for several times during the past two months.

A camera-trap photograph of an unidentified male leopard within the territory of the collared male leopards.

December 4, 2015 0 comments

Asiatic Cheetah Conservation Program Asiatic Cheetah Population Monitoring Program

A new cheetah family photographed in Miandasht!

by مدیر سایت November 26, 2015

written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS)’s camera traps have detected a new family of two cheetahs in Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, North Khorasan province. We knew this female cheetah since 2012, when she was photographed with her three cubs in the reserve. New photographs from Miandasht show her with a male cub.

The female cheetah with her cub photographed in November 2015.

Miandasht has been intensively monitored by ICS since 2011, but this female cheetah has been absent in our photos since 2013.

The same female cheetah photographed with three cubs in 2012.

This finding shows that presently at least two female cheetahs with their cubs live in Miandasht, who are indeed mother and sister.

The family of four cheetahs re-photographed in 2013.

Therefore, at least 7 Critically Endangered Asiatic cheetahs, including 2 adult females, 4 dependant cubs, and one adult male, are present in Miandasht.

Another cheetah family photographed in Miandasht Wildlife Refuge in September 2015. The cheetah mother in this photo is one of the cubs photographed in 2011-12.

This information suggests that Miandasht is one of the best cheetah reserves in Iran, with one of the largest population of cheetahs confirmed to persist in a reserve in the country.

ICS’ monitoring program in Miandasht is running in collaboration with North Khorasan Provincial Office of Iran Department of Environment and Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project, and this phase of camera-trap surveys will be continued until end of January 2016.

November 26, 2015 0 comments

Asiatic Cheetah Conservation Program Research

Another cheetah re-photographed after more than 4 years!

by مدیر سایت November 16, 2015

written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

We previously wrote about the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS)’s recent camera trapping survey in Naybandan Wildlife Refuge, which revealed another long-distance movement by a male Iranian cheetah, named as “Pouyan”
In the Naybandan survey, our camera traps photographed three different male cheetahs in multiple occasions across the reserve. Besides “Pouyan”, one of the males was identified as “Arash”, the cheetah whose photograph won the BBC Wildlife Magazine’s prize in 2014 . ICS researchers could eventually identify the third cheetah, known for us as “Navid”!
Navid was photographed for the first time by a team from National Geographic in 2011. But he missed in the following surveys in Naybandan Wildlife Refuge. Re-photographing Navid after 4 years is indeed very good news, showing our poor knowledge about the survival and population dynamics of Asiatic cheetahs in Iran. Our survey efforts in Naybandan are running in collaboration with South Khorasan Provincial Office of Iran Department of Environment, Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project, and Part Wildlife Discovery Institute.

A camera-trap photograph of “Arash” from Naybandan Wildlife Refuge, fall 2015

Camera-trap photograph of “Pouyan” in Naybandan, fall 2015

“Navid” was photographed in Naybandan by a team from National Geographic in 2011

The new photo from “Navid” by ICS camera traps in Naybandan Wildlife Refuge, fall 2015

Comparison of Navid’s coat pattern from pictures obtained in 2011 and 2015

A camera-trap photograph of “Arash” from Naybandan Wildlife Refuge, 2014.

November 16, 2015 0 comments

I run Iran… with Iranian cheetahs!

by مدیر سایت November 14, 2015

written by مدیر سایت 1 minutes read

A Persian marathon to send a message of peace and friendship from Iran is going to gather participants from across the globe to “run4 fun”! The event is underway and aims to gather as many participants as possible to engage in achieving this goal. As a supporter, each participant will get acquainted with the Persian culture and history, as well as Iran’s spectacular biodiversity.
The Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), together with the Iran Tourism Organization and several local authorities, supports this event. The event is going to contribute in fundraising for ICS conservation activities and creating awareness to the last population of the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah. You can find more information about the event and how to help us in saving the Iranian cheetahs here.

November 14, 2015 0 comments