Nature

Flora

More than 10% of the country is forested. The most extensive growths are found on the mountain slopes rising from the Caspian Sea, with stands of oak, ash, elm, cypress and other valuable trees. On the plateau proper, areas of scrub oak appear on the best-watered mountain slopes, and villagers cultivate orchards and grow the plane tree, poplar, willow, walnut, beech, maple and mulberry. Wild plants and shrubs spring from the barren land in the spring and afford pasturage, but the summer sun burns them away.

The major types of forests that exist in Iran and their respective areas are:

• Oak forests in the central and western districts (35,000 sq km)
• Pistachio forests in the eastern, southern and southeastern districts (26,000 sq km)
• Caspian forests of the northern districts (19,000 sq km)
• Limestone mountainous forests in the northeastern districts (Juniperus forests, 13,000 sq km)
• Shrubs of the Kavir (desert) districts in the central and northeastern part of the country (10,000 sq km)
• Sub-tropical forests of the southern coast (5,000 sq km) like the Hara forests.

Fauna

The pheasant, partridge, stork and falcon are native to Iran, and animals such as bears, wild sheep and goats, gazelles, wild asses, wild pigs, panthers, and foxes abound in the mountains. One of the most famous members of wildlife in Iran are the world's last surviving, critically endangered Asiatic Cheetah, which today are found nowhere else but in Iran. Iran had lost all its Asiatic Lion and the now extinct Caspian Tigers by the earlier part of the 20th century.

The Persian leopard is said to be the largest of all the subspecies of leopards in the world. It is found throughout Alborz and Zagros mountain ranges, as well as smaller ranges within the Iranian plateau. Leopard population is very sparse, due to loss of habitat, loss of natural prey, and population fragmentation. The leopard's diet includes bezoar ibex, wild sheep, boar, deer and domestic animals.