654
Views
3
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Mammalia

Camera trap records confirm the survival of the Leopard (Panthera pardus L., 1758) in eastern Turkey (Mammalia: Felidae)

ORCID Icon, &
Pages 198-205 | Received 25 Dec 2020, Accepted 13 Apr 2021, Published online: 05 May 2021
 

Abstract

The Leopard, Panthera pardus, was thought to be extinct or on the verge of extinction in Turkey towards the end of the 20th century. However, as leopards killed by local people were reported from the Turkish-Iraqi border area in the last two decades, we carried out field surveys in these regions in order to find out whether the species has survived. We set camera traps at more than 150 locations in Mardin, Siirt and Şırnak provinces in south-eastern Turkey in 2018 and 2019 and succeeded in obtaining altogether three pictures of leopards, probably of the same individual. The photographs, taken in July and December 2018, and in November 2019, are from two different sites on the northern slopes of Mount Cudi. Together with previous records, these observations indicate that a small population of the leopard has survived in the Turkish-Iraqi border area. Cudi Mountain may serve as a corridor for leopards moving between Turkey, Iraq and Iran. Our records comprise the first photographic evidence of living leopards in Turkey in the wild.

Acknowledgements

We are especially thankful to Orhan Kalay, Cengiz Koç and Edip Çevik for their indispensable help. We are also grateful to Max Kasparek for his valuable contribution on the manuscript, Ekoiz Environmental Consultancy Company, Murat Doğan and Mehmet Kürşat Şahin for general support, Raşit Bilgin for editing the English, Ali Onur Sayar for sharing hyena record, Kubilay Toyran for giving details on Bitlis records.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Camera trapping was done within the project “Terrestrial and inland water ecosystems biodiversity inventory and monitoring project for the whole area of Şırnak Province”. Legal permissions for this study were provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and by the General Directorate, 3rd Regional Directorate and Şırnak Provincial Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 61.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 152.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable
 

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.