2010 was the
"leopard "
Spring was started for the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) with outstanding news: An adult female was again on film! The ICS is working on the Persian leopards in northern Iran since 2006 and recently, the Iranian National TV has contracted a wildlife documentary movie about this area
Located along Zagros Mountain in west central Iran, Lorestan (Luristan) Province is considered of those areas that rarely have been surveyed for the wildlife in the country. The province is of the first localities where caracal has been verified in Iran, but wildlife knowledge is awfully scant in/about this province.
According to the last assessment, 9 leopards have been poached in the province which is the highest confirmed annual poaching within a province in Iran during 2009 which with respect to non-reported numbers, it is logical to expect that 1 leopard is poached on a monthly basis. A majority of the animals have been killed by local people, both hunters as well as livestock owners. Also, road incidents were also reported to be a minor cause.
The leopard status in Lorestan has raised serious concern within the Iranian Department of Environment (DoE) and a joint agreement has been formed with the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) to conduct status assessment and to train experts and game wardens. The areas are going to be visited by the ICS biologists and camera traps have been set in western province where is supposed to hold the largest population and around half of poaches occurred there, namely Oshtoran Kouh Protected Area. Other than the Persian leopard, the largest carnivore in Iran also suffers serious poaching in the area. Brown bears have been subject to regular killing by local people. Last year, a training workshop was held by the ICS in Lorestan DoE for local experts about the leopard.
Again, another training workshop was held by the ICS biologists in early February in the province to describe ecology and status of the Persian leopard and brown bear in the area. Attended by more than 65 local experts and game wardens, the half-day workshop was officially opened by the DoE’s provincial manager. At the end of the workshop, results of interview surveys conducted by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) since November 2010 in the province were shared with the game wardens and experts. The project is a joint effort between the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) and Iranian Department of Environment (DoE) in Lorestan with partial funding provided by the Amersfoort Zoo (the Netherlands) and will last with more capacity building and educational programs during 2011 in northern Lorestan province.
As starting the New Year, we are committed to share with you, definitely, the happiest moment for us at the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) at the end of 2010 as the Year of Leopard in Iran! This is the story: Since early 2010, ICS has been producing a documentary movie about the Persian leopard in Iran. Recently, the ICS film crew was successful to capture an impressive long shot of an adult male in Golestanak Reserve! The area hosts intensive research programs on brown bear as well as the leopard since 2005 (you can read about this study on Persian Leopard Newsletter, volume 3, August 2010). After continuous tracking by the biologists, a passive HD camera trap designed by an Iranian technician was quite helpful to trap the animal while exhibiting his territorial behavior. The animal is on a scrape, urinating and defecating, and then it sniffs and licks another scrape, possibly to find a mate! It was a big success for all of us before the end of 2010 as the year of leopard in Iran and encourages our film crew to work much more to produce a prestigious movie. We would like to thanks you all for any kind of supporting and wish you peace and prosperity this holiday. Season’s greetings and merry Christmas to our in-holiday friends!
The Persian leopard on the film
Persian leopard library is updated with new papers and reports on the animal. It is composed of more than 40 documents about the Persian leopard in English and German which are all available to download on the ICS website. Launching and maintaining the library is one of the main activities to celebrate the “Year of Leopard” in Iran to help researchers and biologists. One of the recent documents is Zukowsky’s report in early 1960 about description of the leopards’ subspecies in west Asia. The library is easy to access through clicking on the “Year of Leopard” in left main bar on the homepage.
According to an ongoing survey carried out since April 2005 in the Sarigol National Park; northeastern Iran, the mating season of the Persian Leopard extends from mid-January to a peak in mid-Februar. Males and females associate briefly and just after the short mating period, they separate. We never found the leopards to raise more than two cubs. Most observations ofr leopard families were made in areas of high prey density. Our data verified by camera trapping indicate that track size alone is not reliable for the accurate identification of leopard age/sex categories.
You can download full paper here.
Reproductive ecology of the Persian leopard in Sarigol National Park, northeastern Iran (2009)
“Third issue of Persian Leopard Newsletter is released. You read the following topics on the newsletter:
The Leopard Story; a Fable of the Vanity Are Conservation Efforts Enough for Long-Term Survival of Persian Leopard?
- Leopard Footage
- A Library for the Persian Leopards!
- Leopard Crisis in Lorestan
- Leopard Loss Counter
- Tandureh National Park
- A Road to Annihilation
The Persian Leopard Newsletter is bi-monthly electronic magazine composing of the latest activities, projects, and events on the largest existing cat in Iran, published by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) to celebrate 2010 as the year of the leopard in Iran. You can download the issue as well as previous ones on “Year of Leopard” section on the ICS website. “
In order to spread knowledge about the Persian leopard in Iran as well as abroad, a collection of papers and articles about the creature has been established on the ICS website. It is comprised of more than 30 documents published by various authors on different ecological aspects of the Persian leopard which can be downloaded as PDF. Less than 10 papers have been compiled by the Iranian authors which emphasizes on necessity of more attention by the Iranian scientific community to study and conserve this large cat.
The Persian Leopard Library is part of the ongoing programs by the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS) to celebrate 2010 as the Year of Leopard in Iran. The library is accessible through here.