Anatolian leopard
| Anatolian leopard | ||||||||||||
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Groomed Anatolian Leopard in the National Museum of Georgia |
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| Panthera pardus tulliana | ||||||||||||
| ( Valenciennes , 1856) |
The Anatolian leopard ( Panthera pardus tulliana ), also known as Asia Minor leopard , is a subspecies of the leopard that occurs in Turkey and the South Caucasus. The taxon is critically endangered and it is unclear whether there are any living specimens left.
history
Bone finds from the Early Bronze Age and Early Chalcolithic contexts of Çukuriçi Höyük suggest that leopards were hunted in Anatolia over 6000 years ago. This is also suggested by the pictorial traditions in Çatalhöyük . The Anatolian leopard was first described by Achille Valenciennes using a fur . This leopard was shot in the extreme west of Asia Minor near Izmir .
Taxonomy
The systematic position of the Anatolian leopard has not yet been fully clarified. At the IUCN , Panthera pardus tulliana is currently a synonym for Panthera pardus ciscaucasica ( Persian leopard ). The shape could also form its own subspecies of Panthera pardus .
features
The Anatolian leopard is very similar to the Persian leopard in appearance and coat color. Its head-trunk length is 100 to 150 cm, the tail length 60 to 70 cm. The weight can be up to 90 kg.
distribution and habitat
Initially, the habitat was considered limited to western Turkey. The original range of the Anatolian leopard was probably the Aegean region of Turkey, the region around Adana , the region of the Euphrates , the northeast of the country and the mountains south of Lake Van .
In 1974 a leopard was killed in Bağözü near Beypazarı when it attacked a woman. For 30 years this was considered the last confirmed sighting of a leopard. Since there have been no sightings of leopards in this region since the 1980s, zoologists doubted whether there were still leopards there. Sighting reports from the region around Alanya in southwest Turkey led to the assumption that there could still be a small population between Finike , Antalya and Alanya in the 1990s . Fresh traces of manure were found in the Termessos National Park in 1992 . Investigations and surveys in the mid-2000s, however, suggested that there were no more specimens here either at this point in time.
During investigations from 1993 to 2002, zoologists found indications that there could still be leopards in the higher forest areas and the alpine zones of the Pontic Mountains in northern Anatolia, although their subspecies are unknown. In this region, the possible prey animals include ungulates such as deer , chamois , goats , wild boar , but also hare and black grouse . There are also said to be specimens in the Georgian Tusheti National Park .
In 2010 a leopard was killed in Siirt Province . The first photograph of an Anatolian leopard was taken in September 2013 with a camera trap in the Trabzon province on the Black Sea. In November 2013, a self-defense leopard was killed in Diyarbakır Province . A DNA analysis showed that it was a Persian leopard.
Today it is unclear whether there is still a significant population of the animals in Turkey. It can be assumed that trophy hunts are a major factor in the extinction of the animals. One hunter alone killed at least 15 leopards between 1930 and 1950.
The Kaplani of Samos
The Aegean Museum of Natural History in Samos exhibits a stuffed leopard that was shot on the island in the 1870s. He is known as Kaplani , in Greek Καπλάνι and it is believed that the leopard came to the island from Asia Minor. Size, appearance and coat color are rather unusual for a leopard, but this could be due to the improper conservation and taxidermy process . The story of the leopard inspired the Greek author Alki Zei to write the children's story "Wildcat under Glass" ( Greek Το καπλάνι της βιτρίνας ).
The animal lived in a cave and hunted the cattle of farmers and shepherds in the area. They came up with the idea of closing the cave with heavy stones so that the animal would die of hunger and thirst. After three months, Gerasimos Gliarmis opened the cave and climbed into it unarmed. The leopard survived and attacked the villager. Gliarmis' brother Nikolaos was able to rush to his brother's aid and killed the animal. Gerasimos Gliarmis was seriously injured in the attack by the wild cat and died a little later of an infection. However, it is unclear whether this story is true.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ A. Galik, B. Horejs, B. Nessel: The nocturnal hunter as prey. Studies on prehistoric leopard hunting . In: Prähisthistorische Magazine , 2012, 87 (2), pp 261-307, degruyter.com (PDF)
- ^ MA Valenciennes: Sur une nouvelles espèce de Panthère tuée par M. Tchihatcheff à Ninfi, village situé à huit lieues est de Smyrne . In: Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences , No. 42, 1856, pp. 1035-1039
- ↑ Panthera pardus in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: I. Khorozyan, 2008.
- Jump up ↑ Igor G. Khorozyan, Gennady F. Baryshnikov, Alexei V. Abramov: Taxonomic status of the leopard, Panthera pardus (Carnivora, Felidae) in the Cuacasus and adjacent areas . In: Russian J. Theriol. , 5 (1), 2006, pp. 41-52
- ↑ The Anatolian leopard in the zoo animal list
- ^ OE Can: Status, Conservation and Management of Large Carnivores in Turkey . Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. Standing Committee, 24th meeting, 29 November-3 December 2004, Strasbourg 2004.
- ↑ Turhan Baytop: New observations on the distribution of the Asian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana) in Turkey . In: Zoological Bulletin , Heft 3, 24/1973, p. 183 f.
- ↑ a b c Sagdan Baskaya, Ertugrul Bilgili: Does the leopard Panthera pardus still exist in the Eastern Karadeniz Mountains of Turkey? In: Oryx , Vol. 38, No. 2, April 2004, pp. 1–5, ktu.edu.tr (PDF)
- ↑ a b M. Ertüzün: The last Anatolian Panther . 2006
- ^ B. Ullrich, M. Riffel: New evidence for the occurrence of the Anatolian Leopard, Panthera pardus tulliana (Valenciennes, 1856), in Western Turkey. In: Zoology in the Middle East , 1993, 8 (1), pp. 5-14
- ↑ G. Giannatos, T. Albayrak, A. Erdogan: Status of the Caracal in Protected Areas in South Western Turkey . In: Cat News , 2006, 45, pp. 23-24
- ↑ Nature reserves & national parks. Georgia Insight; Retrieved April 12, 2016
- ^ "Panthera pardus" spotted in Turkey . World Bulletin, September 11, 2013.
- ↑ Anatolian leopard has been shot at once . Focus Online, November 6, 2013
- ↑ DNA analysis: killed leopard did not come from Anatolia . German-Turkish News, November 20, 2013
- ↑ a b Marco Masseti: Homeless mammals from the Ionian and Aegean islands . In: Bonn zoological Bulletin , 57 (2), 2010, pp. 367–373, alt.zfmk.de ( Memento from March 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
- ↑ Alki Zei: Το Καπλ́ανι τ́ης βιτρ́ινας μυθιστ́ορημα . Κ́ερδος, Athens
- ↑ Alki Zei: Wildcat under Glass . Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York 1968