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Persian Leopard in Sarigol National Park

Dec 2005- A giant Persian leopard Panthera pardus soxicolor was captured by camera traps in Sarigol National Park. This is the first picture of the leopard in northeastern Iran which was caught through a survey on the status and ecology of the Persian leopard in Sarigol NP, located a few dozens kilometers eastward Miandasht cheetah reserve. The leopard was in charge of attacking domestic horses and the animal referred to the horse carrion for less than 3 weeks.
The Sarigol leopard survey was initiated since spring 2005 through regular visits to the area by the project team and good cooperation of game guards. Ali Mahdavi, the project director says "regarding the high density of the leopard in Sarigol, we are going to collect the leopard scats through field surveys to analyze the species diet for the first time."
Since Feb 2004, ICS has launched mid-term surveys on a network of reserves in northeastern Iran to investigate the interaction between the cheetah and leopard and their associated biota. The first area was Miandasht WR where hold a small population of the Iranian cheetah and is continuously monitored. For the next step, ICS planned to have a comprehensive survey on the Persian leopard which is not good known in Iran. The aim of this project was to gather information on the leopard ecology in order to prepare a reliable base of knowledge to apply for the cheetah habitats (the cheetah and the leopard coexist inside 4 habitats of 7 verified cheetah reserves in Iran).  Sarigol is home of more than 1000 Urial sheep Ovis orientalis arkali with fantastic landscapes.