The status of the Endangered Persian leopard Panthera pardus saxicolor in Bamu National Park, Iran

We describe the use of camera-trapping with capture-recapture, occupancy and visitation rate modelling to study the size, demographic structure and distribution of the Persian leopard Panthera pardus saxicolor in Bamu National Park, southern Iran. A total sampling effort of 1,012 trap-nights yielded photo-captures of four adults, two subadult individuals and a cub over 21 sampling occasions. The leopard population size estimated by the M(h) model and jackknife estimator was 6.00 SE 0.24 individuals. This gives a density of 1.87 SE 0.07 leopards per 100 km². Detection probability was constant and low and, as a result, estimated occupancy rate was significantly higher than that predicted from photographic capture sites alone. Occupancy was 56% of the protected area and visitation rates were 0.01-0.05 visits per day. The most imminent threats to leopards in Bamu are poaching and habitat fragmentation.