Status of the Wild Goat Capra aegagrus Erxleben and Asiatic Mouflon Ovis gmelinii Blyth (Mammalia: Cetartiodactyla) Within Distribution of Persian Leopard Panthera pardus L. in Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan)

Abstract

Census of the bezoar goat Capra aegagrus and Asiatic mouflon Ovis gmelinii populations was carried out in July and December 2018 in the Leopard’s Panthera pardus range in south-eastern part of Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan). Dynamics of numbers, population densities and distribution for both species is positive since 2006. Study results indicate that effective protection significantly improved status of the bezoar goat and mouflon, even under circumstances of intensive livestock grazing in habitats of wild ungulates. Reproduction and juvenile survival rates for both species were significantly lower than in other parts of their range and lower than in the same areas in 2012–2013, but the factor that might have caused this was not established. Low indices of reproduction and juvenile survival can hardly be caused by high population densities, press of predators, leopard in particular, and bad weather, and their reasons remain unknown.