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Kornegay FA. Feline Panorama: the Afro-Malagasy Region 5 P

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Kornegay FA. Feline Panorama: the Afro-Malagasy Region 5 P Kornegay FA. Feline panorama: The Afro-Malagasy Region 5 p. Keywords: 1Afr/4MY/Acinonyx jubatus/cheetah/conservation/endangered species/extinction/king cheetah/lion/Panthera leo/predator/research/status/subspecies/survival Abstract: The recent sensation over the possible existence of descendants of the extinct Cape lion in Ethiopia highlights how little is known about the status of Africa's endangered cats and related predators. With the De Wildt Cheetah Research Centre and other outposts such as the Cheetah Conservation Fund, southern Africa has firmly established its leadership in efforts to save the cheetah from extinction. It is the Asiatic cheetah that is problematic. Comparative research on this close to extinct Asiatic subspecies with African Cheetah might further benefit the survival of this unique cat. Nou...11 '96 14:52 EXOTIC FELINES TEL 8052566867 P. 3 FELmE lANO~1A: THE AFRO-}t.lALAGASY REGION by FrancisA. Kornegay,Jr. The recent sensation over the possibl~,existenC'.e of dE'.~r.enrlR.nt.Rnfthe e).,1inctCape lion in Ethiopia highlights how little is known about tl1e status of Africa's endangered cats and related predators Comparatively speaking, f'elid biodiversity is not as great in Aflica as it is in Asia ..tile apparent evolutiol"iary homeland of modern cats -where some of the most exotic, least knO\\'11and most truoeatenedcats exist. However, the Afro.Malagasy region, wluch has the distinction of being the home of the fun complement of cat-branch predators (civets, mongooses and hyenas as well as cats), has its $hare of endangered l"aritiesas well. Although there is a popular impressionof the African liol1, leopard and cheetahas relatively COInlnonand well-accountedtor in ~Ii}dlife/conservationliterature, not to mentionweU-represented in zoo collections,there are a few subspecies"- especi~y of the leopard --of indeterminatestatus which could vel)' well becomeextinct before the wildlife conseIvationcon1munity focuses attention on them. What li1tle infonnation there is that is availableon them appearsto be limited mostlyto supelflcialtreatment in travel guides. Turning first to the lion, the BarbalYand Capesubspecies which existed at opposite ends of the continent, were the most impressiveexamples of the Afro-Asiatic lion (panthera leo leo/persica).Both have long beene>..1inct in the wild. A few desl;cndantsof the Barbary (or Atlas) lion continueto exist in captivity atld there are breedingprogranunes aimed at its reconstruction. Rt!I,:UIl:it(\.1~LU~8Lhe Cape lion is a taller order. Its e~tinction occurcd bcforc tho mid-19th century. There apparently are no records of captive specimen that might be reflected in a living Cape lineage as is tile ca$e with the Barbal")' lion. Tl1e Etl1iopian prospect of their presence in the Addis zoo may establish the existence of such a captive lineage. Trus would indeed be a sensation. But then, this is contingent on comparative DNA testing of the captive population in Addis ,vith the preserved skins fronllong de~d animals Another dimension to this quest is the debate over the subspecific status of different African lion populatiol1s..According to some authorities, all African lions are es~entiaUyvariations of the Barbw'Y lion at1d classificd as P. 100100. Another intriguing lion mysteryis that ofan al1egedlysmal1 di~tinct subspeciesof spotted forest lion from the Aberdar~sQfKenya, the "MSI'ozi" TIlls mystery t'I'\aynever be definitively resolvedthough chancesare if they ever existed,they would be extinct by now The Aberdareshave ceasedto be as remote.as it was yearsago with the consequence that such flJ'lisolotcd lio!1 popul~tionwould havebecome absorbed by gurroundingKenyan lion populationsin proximity to the Aberdares. Once upon a time, the King cheetah(Acinonyx jubatus rex) wa&every bit as mysteriousas the Marozi. However, the De Wildt CheetahResearch Centre hasdistinguished itself in / '-'--'""'--_~_I No.v.11 '96 14:54 EXOTIC FELINES TEL 8052566867 4 the captive breeding and col1servattonof this striking colour ph~e of the cheetah as well as the more corruTlonspotted variety. With De Wildt and other outposts such as the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia (and California), Southern Africa has firmly established its leadership in effon$ to save fi'om extinction this genetically challenaed feline. It is the Asiatic subspecies(A.j. venaticus) that is more problematic. Comparative research on this close.to.e.'<tinctAsiatic. subspe.c.ie,swith African Ch~eT.Rh~ might further benefit the survival of this unique cat. The leopard is the least end~n¥~rcd uf lhc Big Tlu'~~ AR101lgAfriCA /5 great ~ats and the most widespread. And wildlife media are so prolific in coverage of the leopard among Africa's "Big Fiv~" (J .10n,T ,l",opard, Elephant, Rhino. Bufi'alo) that ~he notion that there are unique subspeciesworthy of special attention and protection as in Asia does not register, Thus, the appat-entthriving of the Aflican leopard compared to lion and cheetah obscures the tru-catcncd cxistence of a few unique populations \lJhich m~y be headed for oblivion without their having been adequately sttldied or attempts made to preserve them. Of the twenty-ieven retorded subspeciesof leop"rd .-l1,nn the1'ei~ ~erinu~debate over the validity of several subspecies(which have beetl consolidated into as few as eight) .. seventeenare in Afiica though the most endangeredare unique races inhabiting a range from the Arabian peninsula and Asia lninor tl\tough to Central and Northeast Asia. But Africa does contain at least t\VO seriously endangereduniq\.le leopard subsp~cies. Somali leopard (Panthera pardus nanopardug) is re,pol1e.dlythe: small~s1'.of 1!111f"onpRrcl~ and one of the most brightly coloured subspeciesin the world, It is also a.lllong the moSt endangered. Nothing is kJ1own of it and it exists in one of the most unstable regions of the continent wluch further endangers its prospects. EquaUy endange1'edis Africa's onlyoff- shore island race, the ultra-fine/compact spotted Zanzibar Jeopard(P .p, adersi) wruch, accordil'lg to one published tourist guide, continues to exjst in the tl1!eatened wildlife setting of Zanzibar's Jozani forest off the coast with Tanzania. The actual subspecific status of the Zanzibar leopard, also a smallishfonn, is open to debate as muck as its actual BurvivnJ9tatl.19 in tho ~11d,Furth01') nccording to one tourist guide, there may even be two colour phasesofthi$leopard Outside of tourist material, there is virtually nothing in any contemporafY literature about this intrigtlins leopard, The same goes tOr the ~oma.llleopard, perhaps even more so. Little or notnmg is Known of their captive status and there are 110known breeding prograt1\111efor either the ZanDbar or the Somali subspecies, Beyond lion. leopard and cheetah, the 'second strulg' of mediuffiwsizedlesser cats includes the Caracal, Selva! and the AfJican Golden cat. The Caracal arid $eNal are relatively well IOlown.The Goldin cat lese so although apparently 3.11three are closely related. For example, some specimen of the West African subspeciesof the Gold~ll cat (Profelis aurata celidogaster), especiatlywhen young, bear a very close physical resemblanceto the Caracal. Outside of this cluster, the other lessercats are a wellw represented group of the domestic cat lineage comprising the rela:tively conunoll Jungle -z- P.Th. Nov. 11 '96 14:55 EXOTIC FELINES TEL 8052566867 P. 5 cat, the African wild cat. the Sa11dcat and one of the smallest of all cats, the Black-footed cat which is endemic to the Svuthw~~l Afril,;01llKa.la.h~ri embracing Botswana, South A11"icaand Namibia. These latter two are particularly rare. The Black-tooted cat is currently the subject of research in South Africa. Except for the Golden cat, all of Afl'ica' s lesser felines are grassland, savannah and desert forms The arboreal and rainforest luches that, in Latin An1erica is taken up by the Ocelot (Leopardus) group and in Asia by the predOmJnantlyLeopard cat (Prionailurus) gt.oup, in Africa is the turf of the closely related cat.branch family of civets, specificaJlythe genets.The rarest African carnivore is the Congolese Water civet or Fishing Genet (Osbom1Ctlspiscivul'li) wlri~ll Wi1~UIU)' ~~t:JIIUI lilt; ru'~\.1;jfi)t, ~I) 6 Gepten'lbcre,4itiOl' of the "Sl!rvivaP' program, providing the first filmed footage oftl1is genet which is found OlUYin the remote l1ortl~~tern rainforest of Zaire, In appeara.l1ce-~ and possibly in habits --it looks to be analogous to the rare Asian Flat-Headed cat. Shaling the sameregion and habitat but filling an arboreal niche is the domestic cat-sized Giant Genet (Genetta victoriae) which is equally unknown. Last but not least is Madagascar. Just as lemurs are to more advanced primates on the cominet1tal n1ainlandso are the island's civets U1relation to Africa's true cats. Here, the feline niche is filled to the fullest by the Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox). The Fossa is analagous to a small.to.medium sized panther. Originally considered a member of the cat family, it is an excellent civet prototype of what the extinct paleofelids and early neofelid a\~cestor~of modern cats may have been like. Long overshadowed by the ultemBtlonal wildlife community's fixation 011Madagascar's lemurs, the European Endangered Species consel"Vationprogram and the Zo01ogy Departlnent of the University of Aberdeen in the U.K. J1aveundertaken a three-year joint study project on the Fossa. The O/-Jyknown Fossa in captivity in the U.S. apparently was' Ajax,' who used to reside in the old smwl marrunal house of the National Zoo in Washingtun, D.C. (Tnl: ~p~l,;i~~v'4li~~'y orlod~y's new-style zoos is nothing like it once was.) Outside of South and Southern Afiican-based breeding compounds and conservation reserves for the cheetah and a few other subregioJ1allyendemic carnivores (like the Brown Hyena and Cape Hunting Dog) there appears to be no major African camjyore col1servationprogram for endangered species that i~ continent-wjde in scope and that could address the need for n10redata on the very rarest of cat aJ1dcivet species and subspecies.There is a potential for tIlls to change as South Africa's: transition increasingly reCOMectsits wildlife and conservation constituenci,eswith the rest of Africa and the international COUtmunity.
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