Persian leopard

The Persian leopard is a leopard population distributed in the Caucasus from Southern Russia to Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. It forms the subspecies Panthera pardus tulliana together with the Anatolian leopard population in Turkey.[2] As of 2016, it has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as fewer than 871–1,290 mature individuals were estimated to survive with a declining trend.[1]

Persian leopard
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species:
P. pardus
Subspecies:
P. p. tulliana
Trinomial name
Panthera pardus tulliana
(Valenciennes, 1856)
Distribution of P. p. tulliana as of 2016
Synonyms
  • P. p. ciscaucasica (Satunin, 1914)
  • P. p. saxicolor Pocock, 1927
  • P. p. sindica Pocock, 1930
  • P. p. dathei Zukowsky, 1964

A phylogenetic analysis indicates that the Persian leopard matrilineally belongs to a monophyletic group that diverged from African and Arabian leopards in the second half of the Pleistocene.[3]

Taxonomy

Felis tulliana was the scientific name proposed by Achille Valenciennes in 1856 who described a leopard skin and skull from the area of Smyrna in western Turkey.[4] In the 20th century, several naturalists described leopard specimens from the Middle East:

Today, these names are considered synonyms, as the available zoological specimens from the Middle East do not differ significantly in the shape of skulls.[10][11] Results of a phylogenetic analysis suggests that the Persian leopard matrilineally belongs to a monophyletic group that diverged from a group of Asian leopards in the second half of the Pleistocene.[3]

Characteristics
Painting of a leopard by A. N. Komarov

The Persian leopard varies in colouration; both pale and dark individuals occur in Iran.[12] Its medium body length is 158 cm (62 in), with a 192 mm (7.6 in) long skull and a 94 cm (37 in) long tail.[13] It weighs up to 60 kg (130 lb).[14]

Biometric data collected from 25 female and male individuals in various provinces of Iran indicate an average body length of 259 cm (102 in). A young male from northern Iran weighed 64 kg (141 lb).[15]

Distribution and habitat
Illustration by Joseph Smit

The Persian leopard was most likely distributed over the whole Caucasus, except for steppe areas. The northern foothills of the Greater Caucasus formed the northern boundary of its historic range. During surveys conducted between 2001 and 2005, no leopard was recorded in the western part of the Greater Caucasus; it probably survived only at a few sites in the eastern part. The largest population survives in the Alborz and Zagros mountains of Iran.[16] The political and social changes in the former Soviet Union in 1992 caused a severe economic crisis, and a weakening of formerly effective protection systems. Ranges of all wildlife were severely fragmented. The former leopard range declined enormously as leopards were persecuted and wild ungulates hunted. Inadequate baseline data and lack of monitoring programmes make it difficult to evaluate declines of mammalian prey species.[17]

As of 2008, of the estimated 871–1,290 mature leopards:[18]

  • 550–850 live in Iran, which is the leopard's stronghold in Southwest Asia;[12]
  • about 200–300 survive in Afghanistan, where their status is poorly known;
  • about 78–90 live in Turkmenistan;
  • fewer than 10–13 survive in Armenia;
  • fewer than 10–13 survive in Azerbaijan;
  • fewer than 10 survive in the Russian North Caucasus;
  • fewer than 5 survive in Turkey;[19]
  • fewer than 5 survive in Georgia;
  • about 3–4 survive in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Persian leopard avoids areas with long-duration snow cover and areas that are near urban development.[20] Its habitat consists of subalpine meadows, broadleaf forests and rugged ravines from 600–3,800 m (2,000–12,500 ft) in the Greater Caucasus, and rocky slopes, mountain steppes and sparse juniper forests in the Lesser Caucasus and Iran.[16] Only some small and isolated populations remain in the whole ecoregion. Suitable habitat in each range country is limited, and most often situated in remote border areas. Local populations depend on immigration from source populations in the south, mainly in Iran.[21]

Turkey

The Anatolian leopard was considered to have been native to southwestern Turkey, but it is not sure whether leopards survived in this area.[1] The first camera trap photograph of a leopard in the country was obtained in September 2013 in Trabzon Province.[22] Between 2001 and 2013, at least three leopards were killed by local people in southeastern Turkey including one in Çınar district of Diyarbakır Province.[23] In February 2008, a leopard was recorded in Bitlis Province.[24]

Russian Federation

The leopard population in the Russian Federation had been reduced to two small pockets by the 1950s. As of 2007, it was estimated to comprise fewer than 50 individuals.[16] In the northern Caucasus, signs of leopard presence were found in the upper Andiyskoe and Avarskoye Koisu rivers in Dagestan. Local people in Ingushetia, Ossetia and Chechnya reported the presence of leopards, but no leopard is known to occur in the western Caucasus.[21]

In April 2001, an adult female was shot on the border to Kabardino-Balkaria, her two cubs captured and taken to the Novosibirsk Zoo in Russia.[10]

In 2016, three leopards were released in the Caucasus Nature Reserve in an attempt to reintroduce the species to its historical habitat.[25] Later that year, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment signed an agreement with Azerbaijan to establish a trans-border reserve between the Tlyaratinsky District and the Zagatala State Reserve aimed at the reintroduction of the Persian leopard into this protected area.[26]

Georgia
A Caucasian leopard taxidermy in the Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi

Since 1954, the leopard was thought to be extinct and killed by hunters in Georgia.[10] There have been several sightings of leopards around the Tbilisi area and in the Shida Kartli province to the northwest of the capital. Leopards live primarily in dense forests, although several have been spotted in the lowland plains in the southeastern region of Kakheti in 2004.[27] Leopard signs have also been found at two localities in Tusheti, the headwaters of the Andi Koysu and Assa rivers bordering Dagestan.[21]

In the winter of 2003, zoologists found footprints of a leopard in Vashlovani National Park in southeastern Georgia. Camera traps recorded one young male individual several times.[28] This individual has not been recorded again between 2009 and 2014.[29]

Armenia

In Armenia, people and leopards have co-existed since prehistoric times. By the mid-20th century, the leopard was relatively common in the country's mountains.[30] Between October 2000 and July 2002, tracks of 10 leopards were found in an area of 780 km2 (300 sq mi) in the rugged and cliffy terrain of Khosrov State Reserve, located southeast of Yerevan on the southwestern slopes of the Gegham mountains.[31][32] Leopards were known to live on the Meghri Ridge in the extreme south of Armenia, where only one individual was camera trapped between August 2006 and April 2007, but no signs of other leopards were found during track surveys conducted over an area of 296.9 km2 (114.6 sq mi). The local prey base could support 4–10 individuals. But the combined impact of poaching, disturbance caused by livestock breeding, gathering of edible plants and mushrooms, deforestation and human-induced wild fires was so high that the tolerance limits of leopards was exceeded.[33] During surveys in 2013–2014, camera traps recorded leopards in 24 locations in southern Armenia, of which 14 are located in the Zangezur Mountains.[29] This trans-boundary mountain range provides important breeding habitat for leopards in the Lesser Caucasus.[34]

Azerbaijan

In 2001, hunting leopards was banned in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and anti-poaching activities were regularly conducted in southern Armenia since 2003. Since 2005, seven protected areas have been established in the Lesser Caucasus covering an area of 1,940 km2 (750 sq mi), and three in the Talysh Mountains with an area of 449 km2 (173 sq mi). The total protected area in the country now amounts to 4,245 km2 (1,639 sq mi).[29]

Leopards also survived in northwestern Azerbaijan in the Akhar-Bakhar section of Ilisu State Reserve in the foothills of the Greater Caucasus, but in 2007 numbers were thought to be extremely low.[21]

In March 2007 and in October 2012, an individual was photographed by a camera trap in Hirkan National Park.[35][36] This protected area in southeastern Azerbaijan is located in the Talysh Mountains, which are contiguous with the Alborz Mountains in Iran. During surveys in 2013–2014, camera traps recorded leopards in five locations in Hirkan National Park.[29] The first male leopard crossing from Hirkan National Park into Iran was documented in February 2014. It was killed in the Chubar Highlands in north-western Iran's Gilan Province by a local hunter. This incident indicates that the Talysh Mountains are an important corridor for trans-boundary movement of leopards.[37]

In September 2012, the first female leopard was photographed in Zangezur National Park close to the international border with Iran.[38] During surveys in 2013–2014, camera traps recorded leopards in seven locations in Zangezur National Park, including two different females and one male. All sites are close to the international border with Iran.[29] Five cubs were documented in two sites in the Lesser Caucasus and the Talysh Mountains.[39] Between July 2014 and June 2018, four leopards were identified in the Talysh Mountains and 11 in the trans-boundary region of Nakhchivan and southern Armenia.[40]

Iran
A leopard found dead near Zom village in the protected area of Kosalan and Shahu in 2019

In Iran, leopards were recorded in 74 of 204 protected areas.[41] They are more abundant in the northern than in the southern part of the country.[12] The Hyrcanian forests located in the north and along the Alborz mountain chain are considered as one of the most important habitats for leopards in the country. Their habitat comprises climates with temperatures ranging from −23 °C (−9 °F) to 49 °C (120 °F), but most leopards were recorded in habitats with temperatures of 13 to 18 °C (55 to 64 °F), maximum 20 days of ice cover per year and rainfall of more than 200 mm (7.9 in) per year.[42] The Central Alborz Protected Area covering more than 3,500 km2 (1,400 sq mi) is one of the largest reserves in the country where leopards roam.[43] Evidence for breeding of leopards was documented in six localities inside protected areas located in the Iranian part of the Lesser Caucasus.[34]

In Bamu National Park located northeast in Fars Province, camera trapping carried out from autumn 2007 to spring 2008 revealed seven individuals in a sampling area of 321.12 km2 (123.99 sq mi).[44]

In northeastern Iran, four leopard families with two cubs each were identified during a survey carried out from 2005 to 2008 in Sarigol National Park. A male leopard was photographed in January 2008 spraying urine on a Berberis tree; he was photographed several times until mid-February 2008 in the same area.[45] Camera trapping surveys in summer 2016 documented the presence of 52 leopards in Sarigol, Salouk and Tandooreh National Parks. These included 10 cubs in seven families, thus highlighting that the Kopet Dag and Aladagh Mountains constitute important leopard refugia in the Middle East.[46]

Iraq

Leopards were sporadically recorded in northern Iraq.[47] In October 2011 and January 2012, a leopard was photographed by a camera trap on Jazhna Mountain, located in the Zagros Mountains forest steppe in Iraqi Kurdistan, northern Iraq.[48] Between 2001 and 2014, at least nine leopards were killed by local people in this region.[23]

Turkmenistan

Leopards were recorded by camera traps in the Badkhyz Nature Reserve in the country's south-west.[49] Between September 2014 and August 2016, two radio-collared leopards moved from Iran's Kopet Dag region into Turkmenistan, revealing that the leopard population in the two countries is connected.[50] In 2017, a young male leopard from Iran's Tandooreh National Park dispersed to and settled in Turkmenistan. [51] In October 2018, an old male Persian leopard had moved 20 km (12 mi) from Iran to Turkmenistan.[52]

Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, a leopard was recorded for the first time in 2000 in Jambyl Region.[53] In 2007 and 2015, two leopards were killed in Mangystau Region located farther west in the country. Between September and December 2018, camera traps recorded a leopard on a cliff in Ustyurt Nature Reserve.[54]

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, the leopard is thought to inhabit the central highlands, such as the Hindu Kush and the Wakhan corridor.[55] But photographic evidence for the presence of leopards in these areas does not exist. One individual was recorded by a camera-trap in Bamyan Province in 2011. The long-lasting conflict in the country badly affected both predator and prey species, so that the national population is considered to be small and severely threatened.[56] Between 2004 and 2007, a total of 85 leopard skins were seen being offered in markets of Kabul.[57]

Behaviour and ecology

The diet of the Persian leopard varies depending on habitat.[58][59] In Iran and southern Armenia, it preys foremost on ungulates such as wild goat (Capra aegagrus), mouflon (Ovis orientalis), wild boar (Sus scrofa), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa). It also preys on smaller mammals such as Indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) and European hare (Lepus europaeus).[19][60] It occasionally attacks livestock and herding dogs. In Iran, the presence of leopards is highly correlated with the presence of wild goat and wild sheep. An attack by a leopard on an onager (Equus hemionus) was also recorded.[61]

Threats
Ahmad Shah Qajar with a dead leopard, ca. 1900

The Persian leopard is threatened by poaching, depletion of prey base due to poaching, human disturbance such as presence of military and training of troops in border areas, habitat loss due to deforestation, fire, agricultural expansion, overgrazing, and infrastructure development.[1]

In Iran, primary threats are habitat disturbances, illegal hunting and excess of livestock in leopard habitats. Outside protected areas, leopards are unlikely to persist.[62] Droughts in wide areas of leopard habitats affected main prey species such as wild goat and wild sheep.[63] An assessment of leopard mortality in Iran revealed that 71 leopards were killed between 2007 and 2011 in 18 provinces; 70% were hunted or poisoned illegally, and 18% died in road accidents.[64] Between 2000 and 2015, 147 leopards were killed in the country. More than 60% of them died due to poaching, through poisonous bait, and were shot by rangers, trophy hunters and military forces. About 26% of them died in road accidents. More males than females were killed.[65]

In the 1980s, anti-personnel mines were deployed along the northern part of the Iran-Iraq border to deter people from entering the area. Persian leopards roaming this area are safe from poachers and efforts for industrial development, but at least two individuals are known to have stepped on mines and been killed.[66]

Conservation

Panthera pardus is listed in CITES Appendix I.[1]

The Armenian Leopard Conservation Society is a youth ecological group's working initiative, which was founded to study the leopard in Armenia and in the Caucasus region. In the present day, it has become common to establish a Leopard Record Monitoring Network in the Caucasus as a significant step in the formation of leopard distribution and ecology in the region.[32]

As of 2019, Nature Iraq is mapping the habitat near the border with Iran as the first stage of a conservation project.[67]

In captivity

As of December 2011, there were 112 captive Persian leopards in zoos worldwide comprising 48 male, 50 female and five unsexed individuals less than 12 months of age within the European Endangered Species Programme.[68]

Reintroduction projects

In 2009, a Persian Leopard Breeding and Rehabilitation Centre was created in Sochi National Park, where two male leopards from Turkmenistan have been kept since September 2009, and two females from Iran since May 2010. Their descendants are planned to be released into the wild in the Caucasus Biosphere Reserve.[69][70] In 2012, a pair of leopards was brought to the Persian Leopard Breeding and Rehabilitation Centre from Lisbon Zoo. Two cubs were born there in July 2013. It is planned to release them into the wild after they have learned survival skills.[71]

See also

Leopard subspecies: African leopard  · Arabian leopard  · Anatolian leopard  · Indian leopard  · Indochinese leopard  · Javan leopard  · Sri Lankan leopard  · Amur leopard  · Panthera pardus spelaea

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Further reading
  • Sanei, A. (2016). Leopard National Conservation and Management Action Plan in Iran, Department of Environment of Iran. ISBN 978-600-04-4354-2.
  • Zakaria, M. and Sanei, A. (2011). Conservation and management prospects of the Persian and Malayan leopards. Asia Life Sciences Supplement 7: 1–5.
  • Sanei, A., Zakaria, M. (2008). Distribution of "Panthera pardus" in Iran in relation to its habitat and climate type. In: Saiful, A. A., Norhayati, A., Shuhaimi, M.O., Ahmad, A.K. and A.R. Zulfahmi (eds.) "Third Regional symposium on environment and natural resources". Universiti Kebangsan Malaysia, Malaysia.
  • Aghili, A. (2005). Leopard Survey in Caucasus Ecoregion (Northwest) of Iran. Leopard Conservation Society, Centre for Sustainable Development (CENESTA), Iran Department of Environment, Natural Environment & Biodiversity Office
  • Shakula, V. (2004). First record of leopard in Kazakhstan. Cat News |volume=41: 11–12.
  • Zulfiqar, A. (2001). Leopard in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. Cat News |volume=35: 9–10.
  • Woodroffe, R. (2000). Predators and people: using human densities to interpret declines of large carnivores. Animal Conservation (2000) 3: 165–173.
  • Janashvili, A. (1984). "Leopard". Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. Tbilisi, pp. 567
  • Gasparyan, K.M. and F. S. Agadjanyan. (1974). The panther in Armenia. Biological Journal of Armenia 27: 84–87.
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