Anatolian leopard DNA in World Gene Bank

The Anatolian leopard, which was last seen in Türkiye in 1975, was spotted on Aug. 8, 2019, since then for the first time when it was thought to be extinct.

The DNA data obtained in the laboratory from the urine sample of the leopard that it left in front of the camera was registered to the World Gene Bank as the "Anatolian Leopard" in 2020.

The animal, named "pars" in Türkiye due to its use in Anatolian history, is one of the eight subspecies of leopards all over the world, according to scientific studies.

The research, which draws attention to the importance of the history and culture of the leopard, the most important terrestrial predatory mammal of Anatolia, is a breakthrough in terms of revealing the evidence for the existence of the Anatolian leopard.

The Anatolian leopard was captured by camera traps in the Western Mediterranean on Aug. 8, 2019, by the teams of the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks (DKMP). Later, a TÜBİTAK-supported project was initiated in cooperation with the DKMP and Isparta University of Applied Sciences (ISUBU). Within the scope of the project, 58 images of two Anatolian leopards living in the Western Mediterranean have been obtained so far.

An article has been written by ISUBU Wildlife Ecology and Management lecturer Yasin Ünal, DKMP official Hasan Uysal, ISUBU lecturers Ahmet Koca and Mevlüt Zenbilci, and WWF (World Wild Fund for Nature) Türkiye's Mustafa Önder Ersin. The article was published in a journal on international applied ecology and environmental research.

Stating that the Anatolian leopard is recognized as a very important species both culturally and biologically in the world, Ünal said that they had published an article that scientifically proves the...