Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The population of leopards has increased in Azerbaijan.

There are about ten wild cats in country. A young female leopard and a three-month-old cub were captured on a video camera in Nakhchivan, Sputnik Azerbaijan reported.

Several years ago, three young leopards were born on the territory of the Hirkan National Park.

Note that since the twentieth century, the leopard is listed in the Red Book. In Azerbaijan, these wild cats inhabit the territory of the Hirkan and Zangazur national parks.

The fact that leopards breed in Azerbaijan specifically, says a lot. First of all, they have here a safe and abundant area with food. At the same time, animals periodically migrate to Turkey, Georgia, and other countries.

Until the early 2000s, very little information was available about leopards living in the territory of Azerbaijan. But thanks to the studies of past 15 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, Azerbaijani IDEA Public Union identified the Caucasus Big Five project which envisages protection of Caucasian leopard.

As part of the “Protection of Leopards” project, IDEA jointly with local and international organizations, held various events aimed at public education, including summer camps, scientific seminars and workshops for students, as well as youth competitions.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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