Azernews.Az

By Aygul Salmanova

A Caucasion leopard, the symbol of the Caucasus and the region’s main living beauty, was observed in the Hirkan National Park of the Astara region.

Recently one of Astara resident’s calfs was killed by a wild animal. After this incident occurred, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources started investigations, as a result of which a caucasian leopard was caught by camera traps installed in territory of the park.

The employees of ministry, representatives of the IDEA Public Union visited the area and talked about the protection of the leopard and the rare species of leopards of the Azerbaijani forests.

The Caucasian leopard is one of the biggest of the eight recognized sub species of leopard. They live mainly in remote, mountainous habitats which can range from dry and arid areas to forested regions and even extend up into snowy mountain ranges.

This predatory beast lived in vast area throughout the Caucasus just a thousand years ago, but in the 20th century, the area of their living significantly reduced.

Until the early 2000s, very little information was available about leopards living in the territory of Azerbaijan. But thanks to the studies of past 16 years, Azerbaijani zoologists discovered their traces in Hirkan forest, Nakhchivan and Mingachevir water reservoir.

With the aim of protecting and increasing the number of wild nature, IDEA Public Association identified the Caucasus Big Five project which also envisages protection of Caucasian leopard.

Considering symbol of the Caucasus and the region’s main living beauty, leopards, are also protected, under the “Protection of Leopards” project, which hold various events aimed at public education, including summer camps, scientific seminars and workshops for students.

The Caucasian leopard is found across several different countries, including Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Georgia.

Azerbaijan and Russia plan to create a reserve for the restoration of leopard population in the Caucasus in the near future. The reserve is proposed to become a part of Zagatala State Nature Reserve (Azerbaijan) and Federal Reserve Tlyaratinsky (Republic of Dagestan).

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