The Asian cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus venaticus ), also known as the Iranian cheetah, is a Critically endangered cheetah subspecies that survives today only in Iran. It never happened from the Arabian Peninsula and the Near East to the Kyzylkum Desert, the Caspian Region, Pakistan and India, but was persecuted there during the 20th century.
Asian cheetahs survive in protected areas in Iran's east-central dry region, where the human population density is very low. Between December 2011 and November 2013, 84 people were seen in 14 different protected areas, and 82 were identified from camera snap photos. By December 2017, less than 50 people are expected to remain in three sub-populations scattered over 140,000 km 2 (54,000 sq. N, mi) in the Iranian highlands. In order to raise international awareness for Asian cheetah conservation, the illustrations are used on Iranian national team football jerseys at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Asian cheetahs were separated from African relatives between 32,000 and 67,000 years ago. During the British colonial period in India, this was called leopard hunting , a name derived from people kept in captivity in large numbers by Indian nobles to be used to hunt wild antelopes.
Video Asiatic cheetah
Taxonomy
The Indian Cheetah was proposed as a subspecies by the English zoologist Edward Griffith in 1821. Griffith's description of Felis venatica was based on specimens from British India and published in Griffith's Cuvier's Le RÃÆ'¨gne Animal with the help of Griffith's natural assistant Charles Hamilton Smith in 1827.
In 1913, German zoologist Max Hilzheimer proposed Acinonyx raddei for the cheetah population in Central Asia, the Trans-Caspian cheetah. Specimens of Hilzheimer species are from Merv, Turkmenistan.
Maps Asiatic cheetah
History of evolution
The results of a five-year phylogeographic study on cheetah subspecies show that Asian and African cheetah populations were separated between 32,000 and 67,000 years ago and were genetically distinct. Samples from 94 cheetahs to extract mitochondrial DNA were collected in nine countries from wild, confiscated and captive individuals and from museum specimens. The population in Iran is considered to be monophyletic autochthonous and the last remaining representative of the Asiatic subspecies.
Characteristics
Asian cheetahs have a paler yellowish-brown fur on the sides, on the front of the muzzle, under the eyes and inner legs. Small black spots are arranged in a line on the head and nape, but irregularly spread over the body, feet, claws and tail. The tail end has black streaks. The coat and mane are shorter than the African cheetah subspecies. The head and body of an Asian adult cheetah measuring about 112-135 cm (44-53 inches) with a tail length of 66-84 cm (26-33 inches). It weighs about 34-54 kg (75-119 pounds). Males are slightly larger than females.
Cheetahs are the fastest land animals in the world. It was previously thought that the body temperature of a cheetah increased during hunting because of high metabolic activity. In a short time during the chase, a cheetah can generate 60 times more heat than at rest, with much heat, generated from glycolysis, stored for the possibility of raising body temperature. The claim was supported by data from experiments in which two cheetahs ran on a treadmill for several minutes but were disputed by studies in natural settings, which showed that body temperature was relatively similar during hunting. A study of 2013 suggests stress hyperthermia and a slight increase in body temperature after hunting. Cheetah after cheat hunting can cause stress hyperthermia, which involves high sympathetic nervous activity and increased body temperature. After the hunt, the risk of other predators takes his murder very great, and the cheetah is very alert and stressed. Increased sympathetic activity prepares the cheetah's body for walking when other predators approach. In the 2013 study, even cheetahs who did not chase prey had increased body temperature after prey caught, indicating an increase in sympathetic activity.
Distribution and habitat
The cheetah thrives on open land, small plains, semi-desert areas, and other open habitats where prey is available. Asian cheetahs mainly inhabit the desert area around Dasht-e Kavir in eastern Iran, including parts of the provinces of Kerman, Khorasan, Semnan, Yazd, Tehran, and Markazi. Most live in five protected areas, namely Kavir National Park, Touran National Park, Bafq Protected Area, Dar-e Anjir Wildlife Sanctuary, and Naybandan Wildlife Reserve.
During the 1970s, the Asian cheetah population in Iran was estimated to number around 200 people in 11 protected areas. In the late 1990s, the population was estimated at 50 to 100 people. During a camera-trap survey conducted in 18 protected areas between 2001 and 2012, a total of 82 individuals in 15-17 families were recorded and identified. Of these, only six individuals were recorded for more than three years. In this period, 42 cheetahs died from poaching, road accidents and natural causes. The population is fragmented and is known to survive in Semnan Province, North Khorasan Province, South Khorasan Province, Yazd, Esfahan and Kerman Provinces.
Previous range
Asian cheetahs once came from the Arabian Peninsula and the Near East to Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan to India.
The population in Turkey was extinct in the 19th century. In Iraq, cheetahs have occurred in the desert west of Basra, recently 1926 (Corkill, 1929). The last recorded Iraqi cheetah was killed by a car between the H1 and H2 pumping stations, then photographed (Harrison and Bates, 1991).
On the Sinai peninsula, the appearance of two cheetahs was reported in 1946. In the Arabian peninsula, cheetahs usually occur in the northern and southeastern suburbs. In the north, it has been reported in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait before 1974. Two Saudi cheetahs were killed near Ha'il in 1973. In the southeast, it occurred in Oman and Yemen. Last Yemen cheetahs are known to be seen by J. T. Ducker at Wadi Mitan in 1963, and in Oman, a cheetah was shot near Jibjat in 1977.
In Central Asia, uncontrolled cheetah hunting and their prey, severe winters and conversion of grasslands to areas used for agriculture contribute to population decline. Until the early 20th century, the range in Central Asia has decreased significantly. In the 1930s, cheetahs were confined to the Ustyurt plateau and the Mangyshar Peninsula in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and to the foot of the Kopet Dag mountains and areas south of Turkmenistan bordering Iran and Afghanistan. The last known record in this area between Tejen and Murghab Rivers was 1957, in the Ustyurt plateau until July 1983, and at the Dag Kopet until November 1984. Officers from the Badhyz State Nature Reserve did not see a cheetah in this area until 2014; border fences between Iran and Turkmenistan might hinder the spread.
Cheetah populations in Afghanistan have declined to the point of extinction since the 1950s. Two unknown skins were originally seen on the market in the country, one in 1971, and another in 2006.
In India, cheetahs occur in Rajputana, Punjab, Sind, and south of the Ganges River from Bengal to the northern part of the Deccan Plateau. It is also present in Kaimur District, Darrah and other desert areas of Rajasthan and parts of Gujarat and Central India. Akbar the Great was introduced to the cheetah around the middle of the 16th century and used it to herd blackbucks, chinkaras and antelope. He is alleged to have 1,000 cheetahs during his term but this figure is exaggerated because there is no evidence of residential facilities for so many animals, or facilities to provide them with enough meat every day. The adult cheetah trap, which has learned hunting skills from wild mothers, as it helps in the royal hunt is said to be another major cause of the rapid decline of species in India because there is only one record of the dirt ever born from captive animals. At the beginning of the 20th century, wild Asian cheetahs were so rare in India that, between 1918 and 1945, Indian princes were importing cheetahs from Africa for exploration. India's last three cheetahs were shot by the Maharajah of Surguja in 1948. A woman was spotted in 1951 in Koriya district, northwest Chhattisgarh.
In 2015's update IUCN Red List, Asian cheetahs are considered extinct in Iraq, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Ecology and behavior
Most of the cheetah sightings in the Miandasht Wildlife Reserve between January 2003 and March 2006 occurred during the day and near the waterway. These observations show that they are most active when their prey.
The camera-trap data obtained between 2009 and 2011 indicates that some cheetahs travel far. A woman was recorded in two protected areas about 150 km (93 mi) apart and intersected by rail and two highways. Three brothers and a different adult man were recorded in three reserves, indicating that they had a large home range.
Diet
Asian cheetahs feed on medium-sized herbivores including chinkara, goitered gazelle, wild sheep, wild goats, and cape bunnies. In the Turan Biosphere Reserve, cheetahs use a variety of habitats, but prefer areas close to water sources. This habitat overlaps to 61% with wild sheep, 36% with onager, and 30% with gazelle.
In India, the prey was abundant. Before extinction in the country, cheetahs eat blackbuck, chinkara, and sometimes chital and nilgai.
... is in the low hills, isolated, rocky, near the plains where antelopes live, their main prey. It also kills deer, nilgai, and, no doubt, occasional deer and other animals. An example also happens sheep and goats are taken away by him, but these animals rarely take away pets, and have not yet known to attack humans. How to catch its prey is by climbing up to a moderate distance of one to two hundred yards, taking advantage of land inequality, bushes, or other cover, and then making a rush. Its speed for extraordinary short distances far exceeds other predators, even greyhounds or kangaroos, since no dog can initially overtake the Indian deer or deer, one of which is rapidly run down by C. jubatus >, if at first it does not exceed about two hundred meters. General McMaster spotted a very nice leopard catching a black horse that had started from four hundred yards. Probably for a short distance, the leopard is the fastest of all mammals.
Before the end of the 10th century, in Trans-Caucasus, when conditions differed, the number of ungulates such as Roe deer and wild boar was large enough to prop up predators such as Asian lions and cheetahs. Finally, as the number of people increases, and environmental conditions change, the number of ungulas is reduced, affecting predators, although the Caspian tiger survived there until the 20th century, and Persian leopards still occur there. Cheetahs may survive in Trans-Caucasus until the 13th century (Vereshchagin, 1952; Avaliani, 1965).
Reproduction
Evidence of females successfully raising their children is very rare. Some observations in Iran show that they give birth year-round to one to four children. In April 2003, four of her children were found in a nest whose eyes were still closed. In November 2004, a boy was captured by camera-traps aged 6-8 months. The success of a nursery depends on the availability of prey. In January 2008, a boy aged about 7-8 months was taken from a shepherd and brought to captivity.
In October 2013, conservationists from the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation filmed mothers with four children in Khar Turan National Park. In December 2014, four cheetahs were seen and photographed by camera traps in the same national park. In January 2015, three other Asian adult cheetahs and a female with her child were spotted at the Miandasht Wildlife Reserve. Eleven cheetahs were also seen at the time, and four others a month later. In July 2015, five adult cheetahs and three children were seen in Khar Turan National Park.
Asian cheetah populations are considered to be increasing. In December 2015, it was reported that 18 newly born US cheetahs were born recently and it is expected that two Asian cheetahs at Pardisan Park will produce children.
Threat
Cheetah Asia has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1996. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, wildlife conservation was disrupted for several years. Maneuvering with armed vehicles is done in steppes, and local people hunt for cheetah species and prey is not checked. The deer population declined in many areas, and the cheetah retreated into remote mountain habitats.
Reducing the number of deer, maltreatment, land use change, habitat degradation and fragmentation, and desertification contribute to the decline of the cheetah population. Cheetahs are affected by the loss of prey from antelope hunting and excessive grazing of introduced livestock. Its prey is pushed out when the shepherds enter the game reserve with their cattle. A shepherd pursues a female cheetah with two children on his motorbike, until one of his children is so exhausted he falls unconscious. He arrested and kept him chained to his home for two weeks, until rescued by officers from the Iranian Ministry of Environment.
Mining construction and road construction near reserves also threaten the population. Coal, copper and iron have been mined in the cheetah habitat in three different regions of central and eastern Iran. It is estimated that two areas for coal (Nayband) and iron (Bafq) have the largest cheetah populations outside protected areas. Mining itself is not a direct threat to the population; road construction and the resulting traffic have made the cheetah accessible to humans, including hunters. Iran's border region to Afghanistan and Pakistan, namely Baluchistan Province, is a major part of armed criminals and active opium smugglers in central and western Iran, and through the habitat of the cheetah. Uncontrolled hunting along the desert can not be effectively controlled by the governments of the three countries.
Conflicts between livestock breeders and cheetahs also threaten populations outside protected areas. Some shepherds kill cheetahs to prevent loss of cattle, or for trophies, trade, and pleasure. Some shepherds are accompanied by a large mastiff type dog into a protected area. These dogs kill five cheetahs between 2013 and 2016.
Between 2007 and 2011, six cheetahs, 13 predators and 12 Persian elk died in Yazd province after a collision with a vehicle on a transit road. At least 11 Asian cheetahs were killed in road accidents between 2001 and 2014. The road network in Iran represents a very high risk for small populations because it impedes connectivity between population units. Attempts to halt road construction through the core of the Bafq Protected Area were unsuccessful.
Conservation efforts
In September 2001, the "Cheetah Asia Conservation and Related Biota" project was launched by the Department of the Environment of Iran (DoE) in cooperation with the UN Global Environment Development Program, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), IUCN Cat Specialist Group, Cheetah Conservation Fund and Iranian Cheetah Society.
WCS and DoE personnel began babbling on Asian cheetahs in February 2007. Cat motion was monitored using a GPS collar. International sanctions have made some projects, such as getting a camera trap, it is difficult.
Some orphans have been raised in captivity, such as Marita who died at the age of nine in 2003. Beginning in 2006, the day of his death, August 30, became Cheetah Conservation Day, used to inform the community about the conservation of the program.
In 2014, Iran's national football team announces that the 2014 FIFA World Cup and AFC 2015 Asian Cup fixtures are printed with Asian cheetah drawings to draw attention to conservation efforts. In February 2015, Iran launched a search engine, Yooz, which featured a cheetah as a logo. In May 2015, the DoE announced plans to settle a penalty for hunting a cheetah up to 100 million tomans (about $ 30,000). In September 2015, Meraj Airlines introduced a new Iranian Cheetah livery to support its conservation efforts. Iranian officials have discussed the construction of a wildlife crossing to reduce the number of deaths in traffic accidents.
Project
Training course for shepherds : An estimated ten cheetahs live in the Bafq Protected Area. According to the Iranian Cheetah Society (ICS), shepherds are considered an important target group that generally confuses cheetahs with other similar-sized carnivores, including wolves, leopards, striped hyenas, and even wild cats and cats. Based on the results of the conflict assessment, a special Hatch Training Course was developed in 2007, where they learned how to identify cheetahs and other carnivores, as this is the main cause of livestock killing. These courses are the result of cooperation between UNDP/GEF, Iran's Ministry of Environment, ICS, and the five main village councils in the region.
Cheetah Friends : Another incentive in the region is the formation of a core group of young Cheetah Friends, who after a short instructive course, are able to educate people and organize cheetah events and serve as examples of information in cheetah matters for a number of villages. Young people have expressed interest in the issue of cheetah and other wildlife conservation.
Ex-situ preservation : India, where the Asian cheetah is now extinct, is interested in cloning cheetahs to be reintroduced to the country. Claimed that Iran - the donor country - is willing to participate in this project. Then, however, Iran refuses to send male and female cheetahs or to allow experts to collect tissue samples from a cheetah stored at a zoo there. In 2009, the Indian government considered reintroducing cheetahs through imports from Africa through captive breeding.
In 2014, an Asian cheetah was cloned for the first time by scientists from the University of Buenos Aires. The embryo was not born.
Breeding of semi-captive
In February 2010, Mehr News Agency, Payvand Iran News released photos of Asian/Iranian cheetahs in a seemingly large complex in a natural habitat surrounded by chain fences, this location reported in this news article as "Semi-Prison Breeding" and Iran's Cheetah Research Center "in Iran's Semnan province Cheetah Asia is described as having a longer winter coat with longer feathers.Another news report states that the center is home to about ten Asian cheetahs in a semi-wild neighborhood protected by a wire fence around it.
Wildlife officers at the Miandasht Wildlife Reserve and Turan National Park have raised several orphans. In May 2014, officials said they would collect a pair of adult individuals in the hope that they would produce children, while acknowledging that cheetahs were difficult to breed.
In March 2015, a pair of Asian adult male and female cheetahs were part of a captive project somewhere close to Milad towers in Tehran for the first time.
introductory proposal
Cheetahs have been known to exist in India for a very long time, but hunting led to their extinction in the country in the late 1940s. The Indian government plans to reintroduce cheetah to India. The IUCN Species Survival Committee has approved a feasibility study, emphasizing to follow the IUCN guidelines on reintroduction and introducing the same subspecies, if and when the extinction grounds have been removed. Then Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh told Rajya Sabha on July 7, 2009 that "The cheetah is the only animal that has been described extinct in India in the last 100 years We must get it from abroad to repopulate the species. "He responded to the notice from Bharatiya Janata Party. "The plan to return cheetahs that fall into indiscriminate hunting and complex factors such as fragile breeding patterns is brave in light of the problems facing tiger conservation." Two naturalists suggest the idea of ​​importing a South African cheetah from Namibia, breeding them in captivity in India and releasing their children into the wild.
In September 2009, international biologists, representatives of the Indian Wildlife Institute and Indian politicians held a meeting on cheetah reintroduction in India. During this meeting, it was decided to conduct a feasibility study and assess 10 sites located in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Survey members propose the Ancient Wildlife Reserve-Palpur, Shahgarh Landscape and Nauradehi Wildlife Reserve as potential reintroduction sites, if resources and personnel for habitat restoration, fencing, relocation of about 80 human settlements and the establishment of compensation systems for the loss of livestock can be allocated. They suggest to take cheetahs from Iran or Africa, and hope that the revenue generated from tourism on reintroduction sites will increase substantially. In 2012, India's Supreme Court delayed efforts to introduce African cheetahs when new genetic evidence suggests that Asian and African cheetahs were separated between 32,000 and 67,000 years ago. The government tried to revive the project in 2014, but to no avail.
Gallery
See also
- Iranian wildlife
- American Cheetah ( Miracinonyx )
- East African cheetah
- Northeast Africa cheetah
- Northwest African cheetah
- South African Cheetah
References
External links
- Asian cheetah portrait species; IUCN/SSC Specialist Group
- Iranian Cheetah Society - Nonprofit organization set up to save Asian cheetahs.
- Asian Cheetah Project - Felidae Conservation Fund, USA
- The Cheetah Conservation Fund
- Iranian Environment Department
- Video: Hunting with a Cheetah in India on YouTube
- Video: 'Cheetah in Iran', Asian cheetah's last bastion on YouTube
- Video: Lost: Find an Asiatic endangered cheetah on YouTube
- ScienceDaily 2011: The Need for Asian Cheetah Conservation
- Persian cheetah
- Seeing the big cat in Turkmenistan
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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