Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor)

[Ngala]

From Project Future4Leopards, 23 Dec. '16: Borna took over Bardia’s territory?

*This image is copyright of its original author

A few days ago, at 7 AM, Borna was sighted by two Iranian renowned biologists Ali Khani and Babak Mousavi in Tandoureh National Park after successful killing of a female ibex. Borna looked healthy, just like when he was first captured in September 2014 to fit with a satellite collar.
To our surprise, Borna was seen hunting in the heart of another dominant male leopard, known as Bardia, who was also collared a few days after Borna in 2014. Both leopards showed least range overlap during their monitoring year, but this was the first time Borna was seen in a place used to be a hunting ground for Bardia. The latter, a dominant male which should be around 8 to 10 years now, was known to occur there since 2011, but it has been a while he was not seen. 
Early this year, in January 2016, the Project Future4Leopard’s crew was lucky to encounter Bardia, seemingly after a fresh meal in Tandoureh.
It seems that Borna who used to roam marginal part of Bardia’s range for the past two years, now has taken over Bardia’s territory. Camera traps will be deployed to understand if Bardia is still hanging around.
Photo: Seyed Babak Mousavi

*This image is copyright of its original author

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