Large mammal species in Kazdagı National Park

The scope of this study was carried out in Kazdagi National Park, an important protected area in Turkey. Between January 2020 and November 2020, 13 camera-traps were set up in 18 different points which were used to detect large animal species. The aim of this study is to make monitoring in as many areas of the National Park as possible with the existing camera-traps. The National Park has been divided into sections for the installation of camera-traps by creating 4 km² grids on the map of Kazdağı National Park Master Plan. A total of 1562 camera-trap days were achieved by using a systematic set-up method which detected traces of wild animals. Of the 7985 large mammal images obtained, 1493 images were used to provide data. As a result of the study, the distribution of 10 large mammal species, belonging to 7 families were photographed in Kazdagi National Park. The species identified in the area included:, roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), wild cat (Felis sylvestris), golden jackal (Canis aureus), badger (Meles meles), marten (Martes spp.), european hare (Lepus europaeus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), brown bear (Ursus arctos). Among the detected species, the most viewed was the wild boar with 834 images. The least viewed species was the wild cat with 7 images. Density information was given roughly for populations of mammal species in the form of rare, medium and common by looking at the number of large mammal images obtained during the studies. According to this, while marten and badger were caught in 67% of the camera-traps installed; brown bear was caught in 72%, jackal and red fox in 78%, european hare in 50% and wild cat in 33%. No records of the Canis lupus, Lynx lynx and Hyaena hyaena were found in the area despite their presence in the previous years. In this study, the activities of large mammal species in the area during the day, the frequency of capture in the camera-traps, the activities in three-month periods, and the distribution of each species in the area are revealed. According to the records obtained of large mammals in the study area, their activation during the day was evaluated based on the total records received during the year. Within the scope of the data obtained, the most active time of the brown bear, red fox, wild cat, badger and marten species has been identified as 20:00-00:00. The most active timezone of the species of golden jackal, roe deer and european hare has been determined as 05:00-11:00 whereas the most active timezone of the wild boar is 17:00-20:00. With this study, the frequency of being caught in the camera-trap and according to observations of the feces, traces, etc. in the field, the density data of the species were evaluated as follows; wild boar and roe deer are common; brown bear, golden jackal and red fox are medium; on the other hand european hare, badger, marten and the wild cat are rare.