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3 Cheetahs Filmed in Maindasht

Minadasht, Nov 18, 2003- A group of 3 cheetahs were filmed in Miandasht Wildlife Refuge, near Khar Turan Biosphere Reserve.

Hossein Absalan, a young enthusiast wildlife biologist working under the Iranian Department of the Environment (DOE) encountered the animals while surveying the area for new signs of the cheetahs seen several days before. Their slender bodies indicated that the animals could not be game animal, perhaps 3 wolves. So he tried to approach the animals silently while watching through his binocular and explored that the animals are spotted, meaning a group of the very rare Iranian cheetah. Immediately, he turned his camcorder on and began to record an invaluable film from the 3 cheetahs which were a mother with her 2 adolescents. Unfortunately, the animals became aware about the situation and tried to run away, but Hossein tried to fix his eyes on the mother through the camcorder for more than 20 minutes.

Miandasht Wildlife Refuge with 15000 ha is located at the eastern border of Khar Turan Biosphere Reserve where is one of the main cheetah sites in north eastern of Iran. The area is composed of steppe terrains and foothills where out of the 4 main prey species of the Iranian cheetah, only Persian gazelle Gazella subgutturosa exists. The area is surrounded by human settlements and various factories and herds of livestock occupy most ranges of the area, but due to recent improved conservational measurements by the Iranian DOE, the cheetah have found an opportunity to recover.