Iran is home to several big and small wild cats, including Asiatic cheetahs, Persian leopards, caracals, wildcats, Pallas’s cat, the Eurasian Lynx, Caucasian lynx, jungle cat, and sand cat.

More about Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran, also known as Persia, is a country in Western Asia. It has a large, central desert plateau that is surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges. Iran is considered the most biologically diverse country in west Asia, with over 8000 types of plants, 1,000 species of fish, 500 species of birds and 192 mammals.

The country’s climate is mostly arid and semiarid, except along the northern coastal areas and western regions.

Iran’s Wild Cats

Asiatic cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), a critically endangered cheetah subspecies on the verge of extinction, are only found in Iran. They live in protected areas throughout country’s eastern-central region. It is estimated that that the total number of wild Asiatic cheetahs is now less than twenty-five.

Persian leopards (Panthera pardus tulliana) are big cats that inhabit parts of Iran and are also critically endangered, with less than 1000 mature leopards living in the wild. Persian leopards have greyish fur with large black rosettes. Some of the biggest threats to Persian leopards include poaching, trophy hunting, poisoning and road accidents.

The caracal is a small wild cat that can be round in various habitats across Iran. They typically prey on small rodents, birds and medium-sized ungulates.

Very little is known about Iran’s population of wildcats (Felis silvestris). According to a study published in 2016, “The situation is also confusing in Iran, since it is located at a crossroad of distribution ranges of up to three different subspecies of wildcats: African F. s. lybica, Asian F. s. ornata and European F. s. silvestris (Driscoll et al. 2007). Researchers go on to state that afer 57 images of wildcats from across the country were reviewed and compared, “they all morphologically appear to belong to the ornata subspecies or Asiatic wildcats.

The Pallas’s cat is another small wild cat that can be found in Iran, the western-most and southern-most part of its range. It is considered a very rare and elusive cat. Read more about the Pallas’s cat of Iran. Read more about the Pallas’s cat.

The largest small wild cat in Iran is the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx Linnaeus) It can be found in the North, Northwest and Western parts of the county, but is not very well known.

The lynx preys on hares, sheep and goats. A subspecies of the Eurasian lynx, the Caucasian lynx (Lynx lynx dinniki) also inhabits Iran.

Iran is also home to the jungle cat (Felis chaus). It can be found in various habitats, including plains, shrublands, woodlands and mountains. The Jungle cat’s diet consists of rodents, birds, waterfowl, poultry and fish.

The sand cat is the smallest wild cat in Iran. It can be found in desert regions, especially sand dunes and Saxaul trees. Sand cats prey on rodents, reptiles, hares and possibly some types of birds.

Read more about wild cats in Iran

Wild Cat Conservation Organizations In Iran