Wildlife of Iran

The animals of Iran were described by Hamdallah Mustawfi in the 14th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin and Édouard Ménétries explored the Caspian Sea area and the Talysh Mountains to document Caspian fauna. Several naturalists followed in the 19th century, including Filippo de Filippi, William Thomas Blanford, and Nikolai Zarudny who documented mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and fish species. The Complete Fauna of Iran by Eskandar Firouz, documents a wide range of species across the country's ecosystems ==Flora==

More than one-tenth of the country is forested. The most extensive forest is found on the mountain slopes rising from the Caspian Sea, with stands of oak, ash, elm, cypress, and other valuable trees. On the plateau proper, areas of scrub oak appear on the best-watered mountain slopes, and villagers cultivate orchards and grow the plane tree, poplar, willow, walnut, beech, maple, and mulberry. Wild plants and shrubs spring from the barren land in the spring and afford pasturage, but the summer sun burns them away. According to FAO reports, the major types of forests that exist in Iran and their respective areas are: • Caspian forests of the northern districts (33,000 km2) • Limestone mountainous forests in the northeastern districts (Juniperus forests, 13,000 km2) • Pistachio forests in the eastern, southern and southeastern districts (26,000 km2) • Oak forests in the central and western districts (100,000 km2) • Shrubs of the Dasht-e Kavir districts in the central and northeastern part of the country (10,000 km2) • Sub-tropical forests of the southern coast (5,000 km2) like the Hara forests. ==Fauna==

in Chabahar, Iran (Canis aureus) Iran's living fauna includes 34 bat species, Indian grey mongoose, small Indian mongoose, golden jackal, Indian wolf, foxes, striped hyena, leopard, Eurasian lynx, brown bear and Asian black bear. The leopard's main range overlaps with that of bezoar ibex, which occurs throughout Alborz and Zagros mountain ranges, as well as smaller ranges within the Iranian Plateau. The leopard population is very sparse, due to loss of habitat, loss of natural prey, and population fragmentation. Apart from bezoar ibex, wild sheep, boar, deer, and domestic livestock constitute leopard prey in Iran. Extinct • Cave hyena, native to Iran during the Last Glacial Period (as evidenced by remains in sites such as Wezmeh Cave), became extinct at an unknown date. • Narrow-nosed rhinoceros native to Iran during the Last Glacial Period, became extinct at an unknown date. • The Syrian elephant roamed southern Iran, before vanishing there in ancient times. • The Asiatic lion was recorded only in Iran's Khuzestan and Fars provinces. The last sighting occurred in 1957 in the Dez River valley. In the 1970s, Arzhan National Park was considered as a site for its reintroduction. ==See also==