Wildlife

Other Carnivores

By the outbreak of the Afghan-Soviet war, 137 species of mammals were known to exist in Afghanistan. Among that group, carnivores are of particular concern as many of Afghanistan’s carnivores are classified as threatened by the IUCN Red List. Many people do not know that the Asiatic Lion, Asiatic cheetah, and tiger used to be found in Afghanistan. They have been extirpated during the past 100 years. WCS is working to prevent a similar outcome for Afghanistan’s other diverse carnivores.

Since 2006, WCS has verified the presence of 21 species of non-domestic carnivores in Afghanistan (Table 1), including three newly reported species, the Altai weasel in 2007 in Badakhshan province, the common palm civet in 2008 in Nuristan province and the Central-Asian badger in 2017 in Bamyan province. As of 2017, the presence of the remaining 12 species thought to exist here have yet to be confirmed. The lack of verified records results to some extent from the difficulties in surveying large parts of the country that are inaccessible due to insecurity. 

Table 1. List of carnivores of Afghanistan