Khar Turan National Park

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UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Iran^[1]

Khar Turan National Park or Touran Wildlife Refuge is a National Park in Iran. It is situated in the Semnan province, southeast of Shahrud. With a size of 1.4 million ha it is the second largest reserve in Iran.

Fauna

Khar Turan is home to one of the largest populations of the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah. There were about 12-15 of these charismatic cats in the National Park area. Occasional reports of females with cubs indicate a breeding and perhaps growing population. On late December 2014, four new cheetahs have been spotted by camera traps.^[2] Another four new individuals consisting of a female and her three cubs had been reported in January 2015 after another eleven new Asiatic cheetahs were spotted a month before,^[3] and an additional eight cheetahs had been spotted in July 2015.^[4] With the increasing numbers of cheetahs in Khar Turan, there is an estimated population between 39 and 42 cheetahs.

In addition, Khar Turan has the largest population of Persian onager and two species of gazelles, the goitered gazelle and the Indian gazelle, both in good numbers. There are also wild sheep and wild goats in the reserve.

References

1. "UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Directory".
2. "Camera traps capture 4 new Asiatic Cheetahs in Iran". mehrnews.com. 28 December 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
3. "Female Asiatic cheetah, 3 cubs sighted in Turan National Park". mehrnews.com. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
4. "8 Asiatic cheetahs spotted in Shahroud". mehrnews.com. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.

External links

• Information to Asiatic cheetah at wildlifeextra.com
• image of Touran National Park
• Touran National Park on wikimapia

Coordinates: 36°30′00″N 55°30′00″E / 36.5000°N 55.50000°E