By the early twentieth century, Iraq had lost all of its mega fauna except for the Syrian brown bear. Prior to the introduction of gunpowder, Iraq was inhabited by many iconic animals such as the Asiatic lion, Asiatic cheetah and Caspian tiger.[1][2] Iraq has multiple biomes which include the mountainous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to the wet marshlands along the Euphrates river and the west part of the country comprises desert and some semi-arid regions. As of 2001, seven of Iraq's mammal species and 12 of its bird species are endangered.