Posted on 09/05/2005 7:17:42 PM PDT by nuconvert
Rare cheetahs spotted in Iran
By Ali Akbar Dareini
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran — Two groups of rare Asiatic cheetahs were spotted in central Iran in recent months, raising hopes that one of the world's fastest-moving creatures could be saved from extinction, a conservation official said Saturday.
Iranian wildlife scientists saw four adult cheetahs in August, two months after camera traps revealed a female cheetah with her four cubs resting under the shade of a tree, said Houshang Ziaei, an official of the Environment Protection Organization of Iran.
Once ranging from the Red Sea to India, the Asiatic cheetah today is hanging on by only the thinnest of threads. Fewer than 60 exist on the entire Asian continent, mostly on Iran's arid central plateau.
Fewer than 10,000 cheetahs may be still living in Africa, where protection is questionable and habitat is vanishing.
"The two discoveries of cheetahs are very encouraging," said Ziaei, who heads a project seeking to protect Asiatic cheetahs in Iran. The project is being run in conjunction with the United Nations Development Program and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
The two groups of cheetahs are the largest-known of the rare cats ever photographed in Asia, Ziaei said.
Once known as "hunting leopards," cheetahs have played a big role in Iranian history, being trained by ancient emperors to hunt gazelles.
In the 1970s, estimates of the number of cheetahs in Iran ranged from 100 to 400. But the predators have been pushed to the brink of extinction by widespread poaching during the 1979 Islamic revolution and degradation of habitat by livestock grazing.
Asiatic cheetahs became extinct throughout much of the Middle East about 100 years ago. They vanished in India in 1947, while spotty records claim they ranged in Central Asia as far as Kazakhstan from the 1960s through 1980s.
Man Bush and Cheney are good. Special forces guys disguised as cheetahs, what will they think of next.
Don't tell the Islamic extremeists about it. They'll try to take the cheetahs hostage.
With 5 legs and 3 heads maybe...?
How am I supposed to find George Bush's fault in this???!!!
This is indeed good news. Choosing between Iranians and cheetahs, unfortunately we must eliminate the Iranians to save the cheetahs. Let's get on with it.
Spoken like a true environmentalist. ;-)
ALL cheetahs are spotted.
Freckled people know this.......
The reporter wants to be a comedy writer.
Get in line, pal!
[rimshot!]
Ok, ok, you caught me. How 'bout this: we just eliminate the ayatollahs, mullahs, revolutionary guard and the army?
Are these the kind that the locals say taste like chicken?
"How am I supposed to find George Bush's fault in this?"
That's a tough one.
But you can find fault with Carter. (not that THAT is ever hard)
The Shah tried to retain and support the natural beauty and wildlife of Iran. By supporting Khomeini, Carter allowed the development of a regime that doesn't care about these things and has destroyed many of the jungles and forests in Iran. (not to mention a disregard for the ancient historic ruins)
I liked Atilla The Hen's (Margaret Thatcher)line about the trouble with Eastern Europe was not that there were too many weapons there, but that all the weapons were in the hands of one side.
We should order 1,000,000 used AK-47's with two 30 round clips for each gun (loaded, of course) and 250 rounds of ammo for each gun.
Then we air drop them across Iran. Most Iranians are not raghead, drooling Islamic nutcases. But they are helpless against the mullahs and their armed goons.
Given the chance, the Iranian people would rein in the mullahs. And how!
Ayatollahs, mullahs, ad nauseam - the people who have suffered under them would like a chance to deal with their oppressors/torturors.
Give 'em guns and the majority of Iranians would like to have a chance to live like members of the 21st century rather than being forced to regress many centuries by ayatollahs/mullahs.
Oddly enough, the American idea that man has Unalienable Rights bestowed upon them by their Creator seems to play better amongst the suppressed of the Mid East than in Peoria.
We can thank the America's educrats for that.
What beautiful animals.
Democrat for DUmmies Lesson #1: You don't have to find fault, just say it.
It's Bush's fault. (see how easy it is)
Not necessarily. There are small populations of Cheetah that are striped (more like stripy blotches) not spotted. I am not sure whether it is a separate sub-species (the full scientific name is Acinonyx Jubatus Kingii in some writings, which would indicate a difference from the 'normal' Acinonyx Jubatus, but then other writings say it is not a separate sub-species). Anyways it occurs mostly in Souther Africa, and they are quite beautiful. Oh, and they are magic.
Anyways, here are pics of King Cheetahs:
That is beautiful
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