WCS 3-Sentence Science

Some Leopards Love the Mountains

November 22, 2019

CREDIT: WCS AFGHANISTAN

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present work by WCS’s Luke Hunter on population densities of Persian panthers across mountainous areas of Iran.

1. Researchers studied population densities of Persian leopards (Panthera pardus saxicolor) in three montane national parks in northeastern Iran.
2. Thirty individuals were detected in Tandoureh National Park, the highest density than any other site in Iran, or indeed globally.
3. The results show the benefits of protecting even relatively small mountainous areas, which accommodated a high density of leopards and provided refugia in a landscape with substantial human activity.

Study and Journal: “A paradox of local abundance amidst regional rarity: The value of montane refugia for Persian leopard conservation” from Scientific Reports
WCS Co-Author(s): Luke Hunter, Executive Director of WCS’s Big Cats Program

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.