Camera traps in the Badhyz State Nature Reserve recorded a female Caucasian leopard with a cub, confirming the presence of a breeding population of the rare species in the reserve, Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Environmental Protection said Thursday.
Scientific monitoring of the Caucasian leopard, which is listed in Turkmenistan’s Red Book as well as by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and under the CITES convention, is also under way in the Kopetdag and Syunt Hasardag State Nature Reserves and in the Greater Balkhan region.
Tatyana Rosen, a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, said the data are important for studying the ecology and biology of the leopard and other wild cat species. The research is being conducted jointly with Conservation X Lab and staff of state nature reserves.
Experts say regular documentation of offspring indicates favorable habitat conditions for the Caucasian leopard and reflects the effectiveness of conservation measures implemented in Turkmenistan.
The Caucasian leopard is a large carnivorous mammal of the cat family, a subspecies found in the Caucasus and parts of Western and Central Asia.
