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Expediency of photographs to study the distribution of wildcats in South-west Asia
Abstract and Figures
By compiling a wildcat catalogue of georeferenced digital photographs from Southwest
Asia, we investigated the plausibility of phenotypically identifying Felis silvestris
caucasica (Caucasian wildcat), Felis lybica ornata (Asiatic wildcat) and Felis
lybica lybica (African wildcat) through external phenotypic traits, in order to verify
their known distribution, and identify any inconsistencies or gaps of knowledge.
With this approach, we expect to move away from depending on wildcat distribution
information being based primarily on expert opinion, and establish a more systematic
approach to determine areas in need of further investigation, survey and monitoring
with robust methods. We identified the Lesser Caucasus as an area containing
possible hybrid individuals between these taxa. Further “ground truthing” may also
be required to understand the distribution ranges of the Caucasian and Asiatic wildcats
in the Caucasus and western Kazakhstan/southern Russia. We suspect their actual
distributions may differ from the information currently published, with a possible
range expansion in the north, as well as an overlap area in the Lesser Caucasus.
The African wildcat was underrepresented in our image collection and therefore
no firm conclusions could be formulated, emphasizing the need for further data.
The wildcat catalogue is available as an online resource, and we emphasize the
importance of such resource compilations, given the ever-increasing flood of digital
imagery. We recommend the use of such tools for identifying areas in need of further
“ground truthing” by means of robust genetic analyses. This plays an important role
in addressing potential conservation concerns, such as the extent of hybridization
between wildcat species, as well as with the domestic cat, the influence and extent
of habitat loss, climate change, and species range shifts.
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In mid-September 2018, during a field survey in Chiat’ung, Sanjiangyuan (Three-River-Source) Region, Tibetan Plateau, China, we discovered the first active breeding den of the Chinese mountain cat (Felis bieti), inhabited by one adult female and two kittens. Based on fieldwork over the following months, five breeding dens were discovered, and 33 sightings were recorded. In addition, at least five individuals were confirmed to inhabit this overlooked region, and much previously unknown information concerning this cat species and its ecology was revealed for the first time.
Abstract European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) populations are fragmented throughout most of the whole range of the subspecies and may be threatened by hybridization with the domestic cat F.s. catus. The underlying ecological processes promoting hybridization remain largely unknown. In France, wildcats are mainly present in the northeast and signs of their presence in the Pyrenees have been recently provided. However, no studies have been carried out in the French Pyrenees to assess their exposure to hybridization. We compared two local populations of wildcats, one living in a continuous forest habitat in the French Pyrenees, the other living in a highly fragmented forest‐agricultural landscape in northeastern France to get insights into the variability of hybridization rates. Strong evidence of hybridization was detected in northeastern France and not in the Pyrenees. Close kin in the Pyrenees were not found in the same geographic location contrary to what was previously reported for females in the northeastern wildcat population. The two wildcat populations were significantly differentiated (FST = 0.072) to an extent close to what has been reported (FST = 0.103) between the Iberian population, from which the Pyrenean population may originate, and the German population, which is connected to the northeastern population. The genetic diversity of the Pyrenean wildcats was lower than that of northeastern wildcat populations in France and in other parts of Europe. The lower hybridization in the Pyrenees may result from the continuity of natural forest habitats. Further investigations should focus on linking landscape features to hybridization rates working on local populations.
Conservation and management of snow leopards (Uncia uncia) has largely relied on anecdotal evidence and presence-absence data due to their cryptic nature and the difficult terrain they inhabit. These methods generally lack the scientific rigor necessary to accurately estimate population size and monitor trends. We evaluated the use of photography in capture-mark-recapture (CMR) techniques for estimating snow leopard population abundance and density within Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India. We placed infrared camera traps along actively used travel paths, scent-sprayed rocks, and scrape sites within 16- to 30-km² sampling grids in successive winters during January and March 2003–2004. We used head-on, oblique, and side-view camera configurations to obtain snow leopard photographs at varying body orientations. We calculated snow leopard abundance estimates using the program CAPTURE. We obtained a total of 66 and 49 snow leopard captures resulting in 8.91 and 5.63 individuals per 100 trap-nights during 2003 and 2004, respectively. We identified snow leopards based on the distinct pelage patterns located primarily on the forelimbs, flanks, and dorsal surface of the tail. Capture probabilities ranged from 0.33 to 0.67. Density estimates ranged from 8.49 (SE = 0.22) individuals per 100 km² in 2003 to 4.45 (SE = 0.16) in 2004. We believe the density disparity between years is attributable to different trap density and placement rather than to an actual decline in population size. Our results suggest that photographic capture-mark-recapture sampling may be a useful tool for monitoring demographic patterns. However, we believe a larger sample size would be necessary for generating a statistically robust estimate of population density and abundance based on CMR models.
Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that the ecological niche of species tends to be conservative over evolutionary time in many taxonomic groups, thus representing long-term stable constraints on species geographic distributions. Using an ecological niche modeling approach, we assessed the impact of climatic change on wild felid species potential range shifts over the last 130 K years in the Americas and the potential of such shifts as an extinction driver. We found a significant range shift for most species (both living and extinct) across their distributions driven by large-scale environmental changes. Proportionally, the most drastic range increase for all species occurred in the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM: 18 K years)–Current transition, while for the Last Inter-Glacial (LIG: 130 K years)–LGM transition an important range reduction occurred, which was larger for extinct North American species. In conclusion, the reduction of climatically suitable areas for many species in the transition LIG–LGM may have produced population reductions, which, in turn, may have played an important role in species’ extinction throughout the continent.
We report here photographic evidence for the Asiatic Wildcat Felis silvestris ornata Gray, 1830 from Shahgarh Landscape, Jaisalmer, western Rajasthan and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, central Madhya Pradesh. This is also the first photographic record of the species in the wild from Madhya Pradesh.
The aim of this study is to determine new distribution records of Asiatic wildcat in Northeastern Turkey. Latest distribution and status of this elusive cat was uncertain due to limited wildlife research in Turkey. This study was conducted in 2015 and 2016. Field studies were carried out based on direct and indirect observations. Besides obtaining camera trap photos, direct observations were conducted by one or two teams, each of which consisting of two wildlife experts. In indirect observations, all tracks, feces, spaw, scrape, urine and food remains were benefited from. As a result of the study, 6 camera trap video records belonging to Asiatic wildcat were obtained. Asiatic wildcat, once regarded as least concern species, is declining rapidly in its natural habitat because of habitat fragmentation followed by the pressure of large predators and excessive use of agricultural pesticides. This present study is an update on current distribution of Asiatic wildcat in Northeastern Anatolia of Turkey.
Phenotypic variation in hybridizing species or subspecies is a prerequisite for allowing conservation ecologists and wildlife managers to identify parental populations and their hybrids in the field. We assessed the reliability of a set of eight morphological (body size and pelage characters) and four anatomical criteria (skull and intestine morphometric measurements) to distinguish between 302 French specimens classified as wildcat, domestic cat or hybrid on the basis of a Bayesian analysis (STRUCTURE) of their multilocus microsatellite genotypes. This aim was achieved by performing a set of multivariate analyses on morphological, anatomical and genetic data sets (Hill and Smith's analysis, co-inertia analysis and discriminant analysis of principal components). Wildcats and domestic cats were very satisfactorily distinguished, even when using simple non-invasive morphological criteria easily usable in the field like the morphology of the tail, dorsal line or flank stripes. Using anatomical instead of morphological characters slightly increased the discriminating power. Many more difficulties arose when we tried to distinguish hybrid specimens from both wildcat and domestic ones. Anatomical characters performed better than morphological ones in recognizing hybrids, but the assignment success rate remained very low, about 31.6% and 1.5%, respectively. Overall, the most discriminating characters were two continuous, derived anatomical characters: the cranial index followed by the intestinal index. Classification of specimens in three classes based on their microsatellite genotypes appeared to be inadequate for identifying hybrid specimens, as hybrid specimens seemed to be distributed along an anatomical continuum. With this observation in mind, we assessed the linear relationships between a proxy of the individual level of hybridization (qik) and the cranial and intestinal indices, respectively. Both relationships were highly significant. The greatest correlation was found with the cranial index (R² = 60.4%). Altogether, our results suggest that future work should be geared towards enhancing the measure of hybridization using more discriminating molecular markers and improving morphometric skull measurements through the use of modern geometric morphometric methods, using landmarks rather than skull dimension.