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Rodents of the Kavir National Park, Iran

The rodents of the western portion of the great central desert of Iran had not been intensively studied before the present investigation which was carried out in July 1973. Also, few if any small mammal studies have been undertaken in midsummer in the desert and semi-desert regions of Iran. The purpose of this study was to discover what species of rodents lived in the area, to determine their abundance, and to investigate their habitat preferences. The Kavir Protected Region was established in 1964 primarily to protect the Persian wild ass and Jabeer gazelle. In 1975 it was raised to the status of a national park. It is situated at the northwestern edge of the Dasht-e-Kavir or Great Salt Desert of central Iran, and comprises 609,438 hectares. Near the center of the park, Siah Kuh (Black Mountain) rises sharply to 1,855 m. This short chain of dark extrusive basalt rests atop a fossiliferous Miocene limestone formation. Surrounding it at lower elevations are Quaternary alluvial deposits. Daryache Namak (Salt Lake) lies to the west just outside the park. Several freshwater or brackish springs are found at the base of Siah Kuh, the most important of which is Cheshme Shah (The King's Spring) on the north-facing slope. Water from this spring is piped to the Shah Abbas caravanserai which now serves as park headquarters. Study sites for the present investigation were located at Cheshme Shah, in the nearby foothills of Siah Kuh, and on the alluvial plains to the north, west, and southwest of Siah Kuh. No trapping was done in the sand dune area in the east of the park, nor in the completely barren salt flats. Meteorological records for the Kavir National Park itself were non-existent at the time of this study, the closest station being at Varamin, about 30 km to the northwest. Average precipitation is probably about 100 mm, coming mostly in winter and spring. The extreme range of temperature is probably from about —15 °C to 50 °C (Mostofi, 1965). The highest temperature recorded during July 1974 at the Shah Abbas caravanserai was 45.0 °C. The preceding winter and spring had been moderately wet according to the local game guards and judging from the state of the vegetation. A description of the vegetation has been given by Rechinger and Wendelbo (1976).