Source: Mehr News Agency, Tehran
Director of the Iranian Cheetah Society announced the launching of studies into the pack life of wolves in Iran and said that a smaller number of wolves live in a pack in Iran.
Morteza Eslami told Mehr News that a genus of wolf lives in Iran with wide distribution across the country. “This genus has been rarely studied in Iran. First studies were carried out on this genus in 2007 in Ghamishloo Protected Area, Isfahan, one of the genus’s main habitats in the country,” he added.
“This genus is studied more in Europe and North America and less in dry Asian areas,” said he, considering gregariousness and social nature as main factors in wolf ecology.
Based on joint research findings conducted in the area with Iranian Cheetah Society, Environmental Sciences Research Center, and Isfahan Provincial Directorate of Environment Protection, the population of the wolf packs across seasons is mainly of 2 sets, indicating no significant difference in cross-seasonal pack population in the center and peripheries of the area.
Director of the Iranian Cheetah Society asserted that wolf packs in Ghamishloo are the smallest in number recorded globally, which is apparently due to the small size of preys in this area compared to other habitats.
He pointed out that wolfs are social animals whose pack population depends on prey size and availability. Pack structure is also subject to human intervention as well.
Eslami believes that human factors such as direct hunting and road accidents are important factors in wolf casualties in Ghamishloo.