Wildlife of Afghanistan
Afghanistan has long been known for its rich and diverse wildlife, as recorded in the memoirs of Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty that ruled the country from 1483 to 1530. Tigers and cheetahs have been present in lowland parts of Afghanistan until the mid-twentieth century.
For the majority of people in Afghanistan, natural resources are the source of their livelihood and the basis of their existence. “Virtually the entire land surface of Afghanistan has been used for centuries – whether for local farming or, on a more wide-reaching basis, for livestockgrazing, fuelwood collection and hunting”, says Pekka Haavisto, Chairman of the Afghanistan Task Force of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and former Finnish Minister for Environment. In 2003 a Post-Conflict Environment Assessment Report, revealed how warfare in Afghanistan had degraded the environment. The report partly also focused on the dramatic decrease of wildlife due to poaching, and outlines ways to respond to these threats.
Many of the larger mammals in the country are categorized by IUCN as globally threatened. These include the Snow Leopard, the Markhor, the Marco Polo Sheep, the Urial, and the Asiatic Black Bear. Other species of interest are the Ibex, the Gray Wolf, and the Brown Bear. Most of the Marco Polo sheep and Ibex are being poached for food, whereas wolves, Snow leopards and bears are being killed for damage prevention.
The fur, however, is being sold to aid workers and foreign soldiers as souvenirs on local markets.
With two million returning refugees in 2002 and a further 1.5 million expected in 2003, the pressure on Afghanistan’s natural resources are set to increase further. The UNEP Report makes it clear that environmental restoration must play a major part in the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.
In 2011, camera traps captured a photo of a Persian Leopard, a big cat previously thought to be extinct. With its nine species of wild cats, Afghanistan is second only to Sub-Saharan Africa in big cat diversity. The there is the desert in western Herat, where cheetahs are said to exist, and eastern Ghazni province, which may contain the highest breeding colony of flamingos in the world.[1]
Sampling Afghanistan's wildlife
- Altai weasel (Mustela altaica)
- Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus)
- Asiatic brown bear (Ursus arctos)
- Caracal (Caracal caracal)
- Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra)
- Geoffroy's Bat (Myotis emarginatus)
- Gray wolf (Canis lupus)
- Hare (Lepus tolai)
- Ibex (Capra sibirica)
- Kashmir Cave Bat (Myotis longipes)
- Leopard (Panthera pardus)
- Lesser Horshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros)
- Long-tailed marmot (Marmota caudata)
- Lynx (Lynx lynx)
- Marco Polo sheep (Ovis ammon polii)
- Markhor (Capra falconeri)
- Mehely's Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus mehelyi)
- Mouflon (or Urial) (Ovis orientalis)
- Pallas’ cat (Otocolobus manul)
- Pikas (Ochotona spp)
- Red fox (Vulpes vulpes)
- Sind Bat (Eptesicus nasutus)
- Snow Leopard (Uncia uncia)
- Stoat (Mustela erminea)
- Stone marten (Martes foina)
- Wild Goat (Capra aegagrus)
- Zarudny's Jird (Meriones zarudnyi)
References
- Afghanistan’s wildlife under threat; The International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation
- Adventures in conservation: protecting wildlife in Afghanistan: An interview with Dr. Alex Dehgan, Afghanistan Country Director for the Wildlife Conservation Society; Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com; August 7, 2007
- Elusive snow leopards discovered in remote corner of Afghanistan”. CNN. July 17, 2011.
External links
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