A carcass of a Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) that was inadvertently killed in a car accident in Golestan National Park, North-Iran, was referred to the laboratory of the Department of Environment in Golestan Province. The carcass was infested with hard ticks. Five ticks were collected and identified as Ixodes ricinus (one female) and Rhipicephalus turanicus (four males).  These ha...

Ancylostoma tubaeforme was originally described as a separate species parasitizing the cat. The adults of A. tubaeforme are 7 to 12 mm long. A. tubaeforme can be differentiated from the adults of A. braziliense and A. ceylanicum by the presence of three teeth. Here we describe the first report of A. tubaeforme in a Persian young female leopard, 2-3 years old, with head and trunk length 120 cent...

The techniques of artificial insemination, although commonly practiced in domestic animal reproduction, have not been readily applied to zoo animals. Previously reported artificial insemination efforts in nondomestic Felidae have utilized surgical techniques and only recently hag a cub resulted [Moore et al, 1981]. Until the present project, the nonsurgical approach hag been unsuccessful in the...

numbers of persian leopards have considerably decreased in recent years and for this reason it has been categorized as endangered in the iucn classification. habitat destruction is believed to be the main cause of the species population decline. hence, attempts to preserve the remaining habitats of this kind of animal effectively are deemed essential in reversing its downgrading trend. to hit t...

Understanding the complex endocrine interactions that control reproduction in felids is essential for captive breeding management. The most important demand is a quick and reliable pregnancy diagnosis. However, the occurrence of pseudopregnancies in felids complicates matters. We investigated whether the fecal prostaglandin metabolite (PGFM) recently suggested for pregnancy diagnosis in the lyn...

The leopard (Panthera pardus) as an adaptable felid widely distributed in varied ecosystems of Iran. The Golestan Natural Park is one of the main habitats of leopard in the country. It has divers diet and preying various types of preys such as wild ungulate and livestock. The prey remains’ samples of leopard were collected and preserved using ethanol 96% and whole genomic DNA was extracted. The...

Livestock is represented in big cat diets throughout the world. Husbandry approaches aim to reduce depredation, which may influence patterns of prey choice, but whether felids have a preference for livestock or not often remains unclear as most studies ignore livestock availability. We assessed prey choice of the endangered Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) in Golestan National Park, ...