Iranian leopards and cheetahs threatened by road

This video is called Photostory: “Endangered Persian Leopard Conservation, Golestan National Park” (Iran).

February 2012: One of Iran’s national parks is fighting for survival. Like many other protected areas in the world, a road is planned to be developed through heart of the Bafq Protected Area, one of the main hotspots for two rare species, Asiatic cheetah and Persian leopard: here.

June 2012. Based on recent camera trapping surveys conducted in central Iran, it has been discovered that surprisingly large distances are covered by Asiatic cheetahs. A well-known female cheetah, which has been monitored over the past three years, was found to migrate between two reserves, Siahkouh National Park and Dare Anjir Wildlife Refuge, which are more than 130 kms apart as the crow flies: here.

April 2012. Today experts believe that as many as 500 Persian leopards still exist across Iran, and recently scientists from the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), in partnership with Yazd Department of Environment and Panthera, have been monitoring the creature’s population within one of its main hotspots in the country, Bafq Protected Area: here.

A photo series published in the Daily Mail has captured incredible images of a leopard in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on the border between Botswana and South Africa agilely hunting a flock of sandgrouse: here.