Land of the Iranian Cheetahs

Land of the Iranian Cheetahs

January 2008- Ecological and population studies on the Iranian cheetah in Miandasht Wildlife Refuge has been undergoing using camera trapping technique. Following assessment of the cheetah main habitat in the area according field researches, a total of 15 camera traps were set up at various spots in the area since end of August till mid of December. Given the limited availability of water resources in desert habitats at the end of summer, we tried to set up most of the cameras at the trails reaching to waterholes. All the cameras were picked up just before immigration of ranchers to the area at the end of December. According to the results of camera trapping survey, it seems that striped hyena possesses a fairly good population in the area and wolves have established a breeding population in Miandasht. Comparing the results of setting cameras in the years 2004 and 2007, it seems that population of hares has notably reduced and considering this animal as one of the main food items of the cheetahs in Miandasht, it may affect the population of cheetahs impressively.

Different hyenas at the same location

Another interesting point on setting the camera traps is the extension of wild boar's distribution from north southward. It should be noted that this species did not exist in Miandasht before 2000s, though it occupied the area from the northern reserves and extended its range of distribution from north to the south during the past couple of years. Severs droughts at the end of 1990s are considered as one of the motivating factors for immigration of the boars. Unfortunately, no cheetah was captured during the camera trapping efforts which raised the question on destiny of the area's cheetah population which was estimated to be around 6 to 10 animals in 2004.

Fortunately, once patrolling in the area, an adult cheetah was sighted from 30 meters by one of the ICS staffs which was quite motivating to go ahead. Moreover, several signs of the creature were found on borderlands which indicate that the animals have changed their distribution from core zone to mountainous habitats. Presently, Miandasht Wildlife Refuge is one of the last habitats of the critically endangered Asiatic cheetahs in Iran and holds the highest rate of cheetah sightings among the species habitats in the country.

Iranian Cheetah

Future looks bleak for one of world’s smallest seal species.

One of the smallest seals – the Caspian - has joined a growing list of mammal species in danger of extinction.

Scientists from the University of Leeds together with international partners have documented the disastrous decline of the seal - a species found only in the land-locked waters of the Caspian Sea – in a series of surveys which reveal a 90 per cent drop in numbers in the last 100 years.

The research findings have prompted the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to move the Caspian seal from the Vulnerable category to Endangered on its official IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, announced today in Barcelona [06 October 2008].

Dr Simon Goodman of Leeds’ Faculty of Biological Sciences says: “Each female has just one pup a year, so with numbers at such a low levels, every fertile female that dies is a nail in the coffin of the species. We’re hoping that the seal’s change in Red List status will help raise awareness about their plight, and the many important conservation issues facing the whole Caspian ecosystem.”

Commercial hunting, habitat degradation, disease, pollution and drowning in fishing nets have caused the population of the seal collapse from more than 1 million at the start of the 20th century to around 100,000 today.

Results from surveys conducted in 2005 and 2006, published recently in the scientific journal Ambio, show that in 2006 there were only 17,000 breeding females, barely enough to keep the population viable, given the low survival rate of pups.

Moreover, new results from surveys conducted by the team in 2007 and 2008, show that since 2005 the number of pups being born has plummeted by a catastrophic further 60 per cent to just 6,000-7,000, and the number of adults seen on the breeding grounds of the winter ice-field is down by a third on 2005.

With commercial hunters from Dagestan in the Russian Federation killing more than 8,000 pups in recent years, the team is urging the governments of the Caspian countries to instate a ban on hunting as the first step in avoiding further declines. “Without a suite of conservation measures there is a very high risk the species will become extinct, and possibly within our lifetime,” says Dr Goodman.

The team is using its latest figures and ongoing research to develop a conservation action plan, which will prioritise a ban on hunting the seal and establish protected areas with the countries bordering the Caspian Sea. The basic plan has been completed, but the main recommendations are yet to be fully implemented by the countries of the region.

Dr Susan Wilson, a consultant in seal conservation biology and one of the authors of the Ambio paper says: “Although there are no easy fixes to the problems facing Caspian seals, we hope to get some concrete measures in place over the next year, particularly in Kazakhstan where the government has been quick to recognise the need for urgent action.”

Dr Goodman’s team is also working on a project – funded by Defra through the Darwin Initiative – to enhance the ability of local scientists to monitor and manage the seal population themselves.

Plan 4 The land