Leopard in the South Caucasus

Full text

LEOPARD
IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS
CONSERVATION SUMMARY SINCE 2000

Text: N. Zazanashvili (WWF-Caucasus), K. Manvelyan (WWF Armenia),
E. Askerov (WWF Azerbaijan) and A. Heidelberg (WWF-Germany)
Leopard photos: WWF’s camera-traps
Map: G. Beruchashvili, WWF-Caucasus GIS Unit
Publisher: WWF-Caucasus: M. Aleksidze str. 11, 0193 Tbilisi, Georgia;
E-mail: oce@wwfcaucasus.org;
Tel.: +995 32 223 75 00.
Published by: TM Group: K. Kekelidze str. 25, 0179 Tbilisi, Georgia;
E-mail: Oce@tmgroup.ge;
Tel.: +995 32 272 90 52
ISBN 978-9941-8-2318-3
Copyright © 2020 WWF
No part of this publication can be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any
form or by any means including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or
mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the WWF-Caucasus.

One of the most biologically rich ecoregions on earth, the Caucasus
is ranked among the planet’s 36 most diverse and endangered
hotspots (Mittermeier et al. 2004). The Caucasus is also a globally
signicant centre of cultural diversity, where a multitude of ethnic
groups and languages intermingle over a relatively small area.
The ecoregion covers three South Caucasus countries (Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia), North Caucasus part of Russian Federation,
north-eastern Turkey and part of north-western Iran. Main
mountain ranges include the Greater Caucasus (with the highest peak
of the Caucasus being Mt. Elbrus, 5.642 m above sea level), the Lesser
Caucasus mountain chain and Talysh Mountains and western part
of Alborz Mountains. The 2019 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species (www.redlist.org) identies 86 species of globally threatened
vertebrates in the Caucasus, among them 17 species of mammals,
including Leopard
(Panthera pardus)
.
The conservation of the rich Caucasian biodiversity is a great
challenge and focus of WWF’s work in the region: WWF and hundreds
of representatives from governments, universities and NGOs of all
six Caucasus countries established and developed the Ecoregional
Conservation Plan (ECP); today already the third revised and edited
version of ECP was produced (Williams et al. 2006; Zazanashvili et al.
2020). The ECP is a comprehensive strategy for action to protect
biodiversity, to create landscape connectivity and ecological networks,
and to support regional development in the Caucasus. Its purpose
is to serve governments as well as national and international
organizations as an action guideline for the regional and
transboundary levels. At the same time, the ECP is a strategic
planning instrument to help governments with the implementation
of their obligations towards international conventions, especially
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The Leopard has been
identied as one of the top priority species by the ECP.
INTRODUCTION
3

LEOPARD CONSERVATION IN THE CAUCASUS UP TO 2000
The rst scientic publication on mammals/carnivores in the Caucasus,
which includes some information on Leopard occurrence throughout
the region appeared at the beginning of the 20th century (Dinnik 1914;
Satunin 1915; etc.). Afterwards, a considerable number of scientic
publications followed, basically covering the geography of the species
based on facts of revealing tracks or skins of killed animals in dierent
parts of the Caucasus. On the other side in the course of the 20th
century, actually no research has been carried out devoted to the
direct study of the species populations’ status, ecology, or
conservation issues.
Leopard in Nakhchivan/Azerbaijan, Dec 2016
5
There were no direct field conservation actions aiming at
protecting the Leopard during the 20th century as well. However,
the Leopard indirectly beneted from the development of protected
areas which were mainly created for the conservation of biologically
valuable forest ecosystems and the establishment of hunting reserves.
The apparent neglect of the Leopard by the scientic and conservation
community in the 20th century is comprehensible only in light of
the historic socio-cultural circumstances: most of the Leopard’s range
in the Caucasus was part of the Soviet Union in which predators such
as the Leopard were seen as pests and detrimental to agricultural and
livestock production. Therefore, the systematic extermination
of Leopards and other predators was encouraged by state authorities
through a bounty system. Only retrospectively scientists and
conservationists realized the dramatic decline of the Caucasian
Leopard population. This decline appeared so severe that from
the 1960s until the end of the 20th century when WWF started its
investigations, the majority of scientists really doubted the existence
of the species in most parts of the Caucasus.
Nevertheless, the only action that has been taken was including
the species to the Red Lists/Books of the Caucasus countries.
In particular, the first Red List of Georgia including data on
the Leopard was approved by the Council of Ministers in 1977.
Afterwards, the Red Data Book of Georgia was published (1982).
The Leopard was included in the two editions of the Red Data Book
of the Russian Federation (1983, 2001), Red Data Books of Armenia
(1987) and Azerbaijan (1989). In all publications it was registered
as a species under the threat of extinction. With the same status,
the Leopard was included in two editions of the Red Data Book of the
USSR (1978, 1984). All these documents had uncertain legal basis.
It is symptomatic that after publishing of the Red Data Books
mentioned above, not a single case of Leopard killing has been ocially
registered right up to 2002, when the rst WWF project started.
4

Leopard family in Nakhchivan, Jan 2019
In the 21st century, the situation, both with research and conservation
of the Leopard, has fundamentally changed, since the first phase
(2001-2005) of WWF’s project on Leopard conservation in the South
Caucasus has been implemented thanks to support of WWF-Switzerland
and personally Dr. Heinz Stalder. Since 2003, WWF-Germany has also
actively supported the project.
LEOPARD CONSERVATION IN THE CAUCASUS SINCE 2000
In general, it should be noted that during the 20th century there was
no adequate attention paid neither to research nor to the conservation
of Leopards throughout the Caucasus, which subsequently created
the critical situation with regard to the species’ population in the region
(Zazanashvili et al. 2007).
9
Despite concern that this globally threatened species, assessed as
Vulnerable according to IUCN criteria (Stein et al. 2016), had disappeared
from the region altogether, surveys organised in 2002–2005 showed
that the Leopard still inhabits four “islands”. These are:
• Nakhchivan/Azerbaijan-southern Armenia-Karadag range, Iran;
• Talysh Mountains of Azerbaijan (and Iran);
• Iori-Ajinour Plateau (south-eastern Georgia-north-western
Azerbaijan); and
• Eastern Greater Caucasus (Georgia-Daghestan/Russian Federation).
Considering the results of those surveys, WWF Caucasus Programme
Oce has focused on assisting governments in establishing new
protected areas (PAs), improving their capacity, management
eectiveness and monitoring Leopard and its prey species. Particularly,
WWF and its donors such as the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund,
Norwegian Government, and German Government supported
Governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in:
• Planning and establishing or extending the following protected
areas: Arevik National Park 334 km2), Zangezur Managed
Nature Reserve (258 km2) and some smaller protected areas
in southern Armenia, Zangezur (428 km2) and Hyrcan
National Parks (404 km2), and Akhar-Bakhar section of Illisu
State Nature Reserve (50 km2) in Azerbaijan, Pshav-Khevsureti
protected areas (National Park, Managed Nature Reserve
and some others with a total area of 1.100 km2) in the Eastern
Greater Caucasus;
• Establishment of wildlife corridor in Eastern Lesser and Eastern
Greater Caucasus together with local population, and caretaker
networks consisted of local enthusiasts;
• Improvement of capacity and infrastructure the above mentioned
protected areas, as well as in Khosrov Forest and Shikahogh State
Nature Reserves in Armenia, and Vashlovani National Park in Georgia.
Apart of these, systematic camera-trapping and field tracking
monitoring has been set up, run and developed (today it is perfecting
together with specialists from Biogeography Department of
Humboldt University of Berlin); number of meetings with local
population and number of school campaigns have been organized, etc.
8

Generally, active involvement of local people in conservation is one
of the key elements of WWF projects. Thus, in order to help WWF
in Leopard and prey species monitoring and conservation in
the Caucasus, a network of Leopard caretakers consisting of 35
local enthusiasts has been formed in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Al l caretakers have been trained and provided with necessary
equipment and software, such as uniforms, binoculars, cameras,
laptops, mobile phones, as well as mobile phone application
Ea rthbeat (recently developed by WWF), which helps the caretakers
to monitor the animals and ecosystems and send all data to WWF
server for further analysis and relevant actions.
The legal basis for Leopard conservation has begun to improve since
2000 as well, when in Azerbaijan “Regulation on Red Data Book” was
adopted by the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan.
The last revision of the Red List of Georgia was made 2006 and 2014
using the IUCN methodology, and was approved by the Government.
New Red Data Books were prepared and published in Armenia (2010)
and Azerbaijan (2013). In all these three basic documents Leopard
is listed as critically endangered. In addition, penalties for killing
the Leopard have been increased many times and today amounts
between Euros 3.000-5.000.
Training of the caretakers in the eld, Armenia, Sep 2017
11
In 2007, with the support of the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group,
a regional status report was produced in which the above mentioned
ndings of Leopard distribution were presented (Lukarevsky et al. 2007)
and a Caucasus regional strategy for Leopard conservation was
prepared based on inputs of national experts (Breitenmoser-Würsten
et al. 2007). Development of the strategy was followed by the elaboration
of corresponding National Action Plans in Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Georgia. The Regional strategy and National Action Plans
in turn facilitated further development of conservation actions,
especially expansion of PAs and monitoring in those three countries.
The strategy was revised in 2017 (Caucasus Leopard Working Group
2017): updating of the National Acton Plan in Armenia is completed
and in Azerbaijan is going on.
Leopard named Neo who was born in Nakhchivan, travelled long
distance (around 170 km in a direct line) and lives over 3 years in Khosrov
Forest State Reserve in Armenia, Feb 2020
10

WHAT DO WE KNOW EXACTLY ABOUT THE LEOPARD’S
STATUS IN THE CAUCASUS?
One point that we are certain about is that the status of the Leopard
is signicantly improved in the Eastern Lesser Caucasus Conservation
Landscape, which covers the Southern Armenia-Nakhchivan region
of Azerbaijan and is linked with Kiamaki Wildlife Refuge in Iran
(Askerov et al. 2015). In southern Armenia the rst two Leopard photos
were obtained and 19 scats collected in 2004-2005 from 3 sites
(Khorozyan & Abramov 2007; Khorozyan, Cazon, Malkhasyan, &
Abramov 2007). Leopard surveying in the Nakhchivan section of
the Eastern Lesser Caucasus brought the rst hard evidence as recently
as 2012 (Avgan et al. 2012). Since then, because of the hunting ban
in Nakhchivan, the establishment of new PAs in the Eastern Lesser
Caucasus (see above), and acceleration of monitoring activities
under the WWF Programme (and, consequently, the growing
population of Leopard here), hundreds of Leopard photo-video
materials, as well asa considerable amount of scats, have been
collected (Table 1). Recently the number of individuals that
inhabit this area was estimated as 20-24 (Askerov et al. 2019),
including 10-12 animals living in Kiamaki (Sanei et al. 2016), but it
seems that the number of individuals could be even more:
such supposition is based on photos depicting the second
event of reproduction here – a different mother with two cubs.
The first such event was documented in 2016 with three cubs
(Breitenmoser et al. 2017). Thus, we can say that the Eastern
Lesser Caucasus population is still vulnerable, but quite stable
and has a good reproductive potential.
13
We also know that the second reproductive nucleus in the region is
the Talysh mountains of Azerbaijan: two cubs were captured
by camera-trap in 2016 (Breitenmoser et al. 2017). On the other
hand, this area is more aected by poaching (Askerov et al., 2015;
Maharramova et al. 2018) and this may be the main reason why
the Leopard population size here is smaller: approximately half of
the Eastern Lesser Caucasus population. The question of connecting
these two populations via bridge ridges located within north-western
Iran is still open and needs more detailed research.
Area/Time period
trap
sites
Female
with
cubs
Identfied
Leopards
Killed
Leopards
reported
Nakhchivan, AZ,
11/2014-06/2019
80 251
/ 66 10
10
0
Talysh,
AZ,
05/2015-06/2019
21 23
/ 3 1 6 1
Southern
Armenia,
09/2014-06/2019
72
53 / 23
0 8 0
photo /
videos
Leopard
Table 1. Number of photo and video records of Leopard obtained in
the period of August 2014 - June 2019 in the South-Eastern Lesser
Caucasus (from the Khosrov Reserve to Nakhchivan, see also Fig. 1)
and the Talysh Mountains
Notes: (a) a sequence of images/footages taken within several minutes at
the same site was counted as one photo/video; (b) among four Leopards
(2♀♀ and 2♂♂) forming 3 coupling combinations, Leopards Eve♀♀ and Basat♂♂
are caught together only once, Eve♀♀ and Araz♂♂ are caught on two occasions,
Burla♀♀ and Basat♂♂– on three occasions; (c) six records of a female with
cubs in Nakhchivan show Eve and four records show Burla; (d) several of
the same individuals have been recorded in Nakhchivan and in Armenia;
three animals have been identied for Armenia that have not been recorded
in Nakhchivan; it means that during the observation period the total number
of identied individuals for southern Armenia-Nakhchivan/Azerbaijan is not
11+8, but 11+3=14 individuals.
12

Map of the Leopard’s assumed range in the Caucasus
Explanations: (1) The assumed Leopard range in the whole Caucasus
Ecoregion is marked with yellow hatching; (2) The assumed range of
Leopards reintroduced in north-western Caucasus (from Sochi breeding
centre, Russian Federation) is not depicted; (3) Red contoured areas show
focal places for WWF’s project on the Leopard conservation in South
Caucasus covering Leopard breeding areas; (4) Gray hatching marks
territories of the current political conflicts.
15
Leopard in Nakhchivan, Aug 2019
A small population appears to have survived in the Eastern Greater
Caucasus: in February 2015, one individual was occasionally recorded
on video in Dagestan/Russian Federation, close to Tlyarata Managed
Nature Reserve (Yarovenko & Zazanashvili 2016). Two further sightings
were reported in North Ossetia (Interfax 2017). All these events
happened within Russian Federation, but very close to Georgia’s
and Azerbaijan’s borders.
14

As for the 4th “island” of Leopard occurrence–Iori plateau and
Turianchay State Nature Reserve (eastern Georgia, north-western
Azerbaijan), located between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus-one
male Leopard was frequently caught by camera-traps in Vashlovani
National Park (Georgia) between 2004 and 2008 (Lortkipanidze
et al., 2004). Its footprints were also observed on the left bank of
the Alazani River in the Akhar-Bakhar section of Ilisu Nature Reserve
(Azerbaijan). However, since 2009 this individual has not been
recorded again (Presentation of B. Lortkipanidze, NACRES at
the regional Leopard conservation workshop, Tbilisi, October 2014).
Expert V. Lukarevsky, who surveyed the area in May 2019, has
concluded that currently there are no Leopards within the whole of
this conservation landscape, which is generally rich in wildlife
(see the map above).
Fortunately, the WWF’s project on Leopard conservation in
the Caucasus is long-lasting: started in the early 2000s, it
successfully continues until today thanks to support coming
from WWF-Switzerland and WWF-Germany and perhaps this is the
main reason of the project’s success–long-term, regular and
well monitored activities are absolutely necessary conditions
for reaching visible positive results in large carnivore conservation.
1716
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, we would like to thank the relevant Governmental
organizations, Ministries and Agencies of Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Georgia for their crucial input in initiating ecoregional
conservation work and particularly Leopard conservation activities in
the Caucasus. Also, we extend our appreciation to the German
Government, German Federal Ministry for Cooperation and
Development (BMZ) and KfW Development Bank for their
continuous support to the ecoregional process in the Caucasus,
and directly or indirectly–Leopard conservation programme.
Furthermore, we express our sincere gratitude to all supporters
from Germany and Switzerland whose invaluable contribution is
critical for the successful implementation of Leopard
conservation programme in the Caucasus. Besides, we are thankful to
other donors who supported the process in the past-the Critical
Ecosystem Partnership Fund and the Government of Norway.
We thank all our colleagues, experts and specialists from
the Ecoregion who gave input in different stages of developing
ecoregional activities and implementation of the Leopard
conservation work in the Caucasus. Finally, our special thanks
go to the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group, and particularly its
Co-Chairs - Dr. Urs Breitenmoser and Dr. Christine Breitenmoser-
Würsten - for their friendly support and cooperation.

1918
Interfax 2017. In North Ossetia second time in this year was ob-
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Mittermeier R.A., Robles Gil P., Homann M., Pilgrim J., Brooks T.,
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E-mail: oce@wwfcaucasus.org
Tel.: +995 32 223 75 00.