@@ Iranian cheetahs caught on camera @@

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
August 29, 2005


In Iran, camera traps reveal rare Asiatic cheetahs

Largest-known group ever photographed in Asia


http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/sci_nat_enl_1125490796/img/1.jpg
The picture shows mum and her four youngsters resting in the shade of a tree.


Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) scientists, working in conjunction with Iran's
Department of Environment (DOE) in an isolated region in the Dar-e Anjir Wildlife
Refuge (http://www.asiaticcheetah.org/gallery/gallery.dare-%20anjir.htm), recently
discovered that a remote camera set out to survey wildlife had photographed an entire
family of extremely rare Asiatic cheetahs. The pictures show an adult female and her
four youngsters resting in the shade of a tree, marking the largest-known group of
these rare cats ever photographed in Asia.

Once ranging from the Red Sea to India, the Asiatic cheetah today is hanging on by
only the thinnest of threads. Fewer than 60 exist on the entire Asian continent,
mostly on Iran's arid central plateau, where WCS and Iranian biologists have been
conducting surveys of this highly endangered big cat since 2001.

"As a species the cheetah is still in dire straits in Iran, so it is extremely
encouraging to see an apparently healthy family in their native habitat", said Dr.
Peter Zahler, assistant director for WCS's Asia Programs. "Images like these give
hope to conservationists that there is still time to save these magnificent animals".

Initiated by a major grant and ongoing support from the United Nations Development
Program's Global Environment Facility, WCS began its collaboration with Iranian
scientists by surveying five protected areas where cheetahs were still thought to
exist. The group found a variety of suitable habitat, but also discovered that prey
species, such as jebeer gazelle and urial sheep, were scarce. The latest photographs
hint at the gradual recovery of prey populations.

"Cheetahs in Iran live on a knife-edge in very marginal habitat," said Dr. Luke
Hunter, coordinator of WCS's Global Carnivore Program. "The fact that this female has
managed to raise four cubs to six months of age is extremely encouraging. Hopefully,
this indicates there are areas where the cheetah's prey species are coming back, a
goal the Iranian DOE and UNDP has been working very hard to achieve".

In the 1970s, estimates of the number of cheetahs in Iran ranged from 100 to 400
animals. But widespread poaching of cheetahs and their prey during the early years of
the 1978 revolution, along with degradation of habitat due to livestock grazing, have
pushed this important predator to the brink of extinction. Once known as "hunting
leopards", cheetahs have played a significant historical role in Iranian culture
being trained by its emperors to hunt gazelles in ancient times.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-08/wcs-iic083005.php

Iran Cheetah Project
http://www.wcs.org/international/Asia/irancheetahproject

Photos
http://www.asiaticcheetah.org/gallery/index.html

List of national parks & protected areas of Iran
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_parks_&_protected_areas_of_Iran

Cheetah Conservation Fund
http://www.cheetah.org


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