AMPHIBIANS. Twenty species occur in Iran: six salamanders in three genera in two families and fourteen frogs and toads in…

CROCODILE (nahang, Baluchi gandū), Croco­dylus palustris, the marsh crocodile (Figure 1). The marsh croco­dile has been little studied in Persia…

FAUNA, the assemblage of animal species, generally excluding domestic animals (q.v.), living within a defined geographical area or ecological zone….

MAMMALS i. Mammals of Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia History and literature. The first effort to publish a comprehensive account…

MAMMALS ii. Species List: Mammals of Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia With few exceptions, the taxonomy of this list follows that…

LIZARDS,  reptiles belonging to the order Squamata; a large and widespread group of animals exhibiting a generalized tetrapod body plan,…

EAGLES (Ar. and Pers. ʿoqāb; also obsolete Pers. dāl < Mid. Pers. dālman; also obsolete Pers. and Mid. Pers. āloh),...

JACKAL, Golden or Asiatic (Canis aureus, MPers. tōrag, NPers. tura, šaḡāl [cf. Skt. śṛgāla- and related IAr. forms; Mayrhofer, 1976,…

INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS IN IRAN, AFGHANISTAN, AND NEIGHBORING CENTRAL ASIA. This category includes all animals without a vertebral column. Thus it…

INSECTS. The insects of Persia and Afghanistan belong to the Palearctic fauna, although in the eastern and southeastern parts of…

INSECTIVORES, members of the mammalian order, small animals with several conservative anatomical characteristics. They retain five digits on all limbs…

HYENA, Hyaena hyaena (Linnaeus, 1758; Figure 1), Pers. kaftār. The striped hyena is the only current Asian representative of the…

HEDGEHOG (ḵār-pošt, juja-tiḡi, čula; Figure 1, Figure 2), member of the Erinaceinae sub-family of the Erinaceidae family of insectivores; animals the…

FOX, small member of the dog family (Canidae). Foxes have large ears and bushy tails; the muzzles are long and…