TEHRAN – Iran
will play host to a female Asiatic lion from Ireland to accompany the
recently returned male lion under a population management program aiming
at endangered species reproduction by the European Association of Zoos
and Aquaria (EAZA), a veterinarian at Eram Zoo has said.
The
female lion, born 4 years ago, now is coming back to its motherland
after being extinct for 8 decades, YJC quoted Iman Memarian as saying on
Saturday.
The 6-year old male lion was sent to Tehran Zoological Garden from Britain’s Bristol Zoo on May 1, he said.
He went on to say that the lion has
undergone genetic tests and diagnostics under the EAZA supervision, and
the results have showed that the animal is completely healthy.
Both will be kept at Tehran Zoological Garden separately for a period, and then will live together, Memarian concluded.
On the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, it is listed under its former
scientific name Panthera leo persica as Endangered because of its small
population size and area of occupancy. It was also known as "Indian
lion" and "Persian lion".
Historical records in Iran indicate that
it ranged from the Khuzestan Plain to the Fars in steppe vegetation and
pistachio-almond woodlands. It was widespread in the country, but in the
1870s, it was sighted only on the western slopes of the Zagros
Mountains, and in the forest regions south of Shiraz. Some of the
country's last lions were sighted in 1941 between Shiraz and Jahrom in
Fars province, and in 1942, a lion was spotted about 65 km northwest of
Dezful. In 1944, the corpse of a lioness was found on the banks of Karun
River in Khuzestan province.
Conflicts with humans, wildfires,
poaching, canine distemper virus, decreases in population sizes of
native ungulates are of the threats to the lions.
FB/MQ/MG
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/436578/Female-Asiatic-lion-to-join-male-companion-in-Iran
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/436578/Female-Asiatic-lion-to-join-male-companion-in-Iran
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