Autumn 2019 02
ISSN 1027-2992
CATnewsN° 70 | Autumn 2019 02
CATnews is the newsletter of the Cat Specialist Group, Editors: Christine & Urs Breitenmoser a component of the Species Survival Commission SSC of the Co-chairs IUCN/SSC International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It�������� is pub��� Cat Specialist Group lished twice a year, and is available to members and the Friends of KORA, Thunstrasse 31, 3074 Muri, the Cat Group. Switzerland Tel ++41(31) 951 90 20 For joining the Friends of the Cat Group please contact Fax ++41(31) 951 90 40 Christine Breitenmoser at [email protected]
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CATnews 70 Autumn 2019 short communication
data. Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Sleeper B. 1995. Wild cats of the World. 1st ed. Supporting Online Material SOM Table T1 and Fi� Environmental Statistics 14, 322–337. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York. USA. 216 pp. gure F1 are available at www.catsg.org. Sandell M. 1989. The Mating Tactics and Spacing Sunarto S., Kelly M. J., Parakkasi K. & Hutajulu M. Patterns of Solitary Carnivores. In Carnivore B. 2015. Cat coexistence in central Sumatra: 1 Wildlife Institute of India, Post Box: 18, Chandra- Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution. Gittleman ecological characteristics, spatial and tempo� bani, Dehradun, India J. L. (Ed.). Springer, Boston, MA, USA, pp. ral overlap, and implications for management. 2 Department of Environmental Sciences, Andhra 164–182. Journal of Zoology 296, 104–115. University, Waltair, Visakhapatnam, India Sanderson J. & Watson P. 2011. Small Wild Cats: Sunquist M. E. & Sunquist F. C. 2002. Wild Cats 3 Wildlife Conservation Society – India, Ben- The Animal Answer Guide. The Johns Hopkins of the World. University Chicago Press, Chi� galuru, Karnataka, India University Press, Baltimore, USA. 144 pp. cago and London. 452 pp. *
TAHIR ALI RATHER1,2*, SHARAD KUMAR1, AJINKYA KAMAT1 AND KEDAR GORE1 ween the two reserves through the corridor by large scale camera trapping carried out for New record of Asiatic wildcat over a year. The Asiatic wildcat was first cap� tured in Godawal range of North Shahdol For- from Central Indian landscape est Division on 9 March 2018 at a site located at 23°58’1.776’’ N / 81°20’39.156’’ E (Fig. 2). We report here a new record of the Asiatic wildcat Felis lybica ornata from moist- The subsequent camera trapping showed the deciduous forests of Central India. The subspecies was captured in a camera trap presence of the species throughout the cor� survey undertaken to study the dispersal patterns of tiger Panhera tigris in a corridor ridor from BTR to the SDTR. The species oc- between the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve BTR and Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve SDTR curred in all major habitat types including in eastern Madhya Pradesh. To our knowledge, this is the first record of the Asiatic dense sal forests, sal mix forests, scrublands wildcat from the study area. and near human habitations. This record provides crucial information re- The Asiatic wildcat or Indian Desert cat was the North and South Shahdol Forest Divisions. garding the distribution of the Asiatic wildcat 21 previously recognised as one of the five sub- Sal Shorea robusta is the dominant form of in India. The species seems not to be restricted species of the globally widespread wildcat vegetation and occurs in association with ten� to the arid and semi-arid parts of the country, Felis silvestris (Yamaguchi at al. 2015). The re� du Diospyros melanoxylon, char Buchanania but to also occur more often than previously vised taxonomy of the felidae now recognises cochinchinensis, seji Lagerstromia parviflora thought, in moist deciduous forest. The do� the steppe and bush cats of Africa and Asia as and Palash Butea monosperma. The corridor mestic cat Felis catus occurs throughout the a separate species Felis lybica and the Asiatic is fragmented by agricultural fields and faces range of the Asiatic wildcat in India and looks wildcat Felis lybica ornata as a subspecies high anthropogenic pressure. The study was very similar in appearance to it. This record (Kitchener et al. 2017). aimed to monitor the dispersal of tiger bet� thus needs to be supported by further genetic The Asiatic wildcat is distributed in Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Af� ghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the western plains of India and throughout north-western China and possibly Kyrgyzstan and Georgia (Yamaguchi et al. 2015, Ghoddousi et al. in prep.). In India, the wildcat is distributed in Ra� jasthan, Gujarat, and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (Menon 2014, Yamaguchi et al. 2015). Mukherjee (1998) mentions reports of Asiatic wildcat from Central India in Pench Tiger Reserve, Pande et al. (2013) reported the subspecies in Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary and Ramesh et al. (2013) in Panna Tiger Re� serve. More recently, the Asiatic wildcat was reported from eastern Madhya Pradesh in BTR (Rather et al. 2017). In this study, we report the occurrence of Asi� atic wildcat in the corridor joining BTR and SDTR (Fig.1). The corridor spreads over an area Fig. 1. Location of the study area and camera trap captures of Asiatic wildcat, The of more than 2,000 km2 and is administered as Corbett Foundation, Bandhavgarh.
CATnews 70 Autumn 2019 original contribution
hya Pradesh, Forest Department for providing ne� Ramesh K., Johnson A. J., Sen S., Murthy R. S. et al. cessary permissions to carry out the study. 2013. Status of tiger and prey species in Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India. Technical References Report, Wildlife Institute of India, Panna Tiger Kitchener A. C., Breitenmoser-Wursten Ch., Eizirik Reserve and National Tiger Conservation Autho� E., Gentry A. et al. 2017. A revised taxonomy of rity. 39 pp. the Felidae. The final report of the Cat Classifica� Rather T. A., Sharad Kumar., Shaizah Tajdar., Raman tion Task Force of the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist K. S. & Jamal A. K. 2017. First photographic re� Group. Cat News Special Issue 11, 80 pp. cord of Asiatic wildcat in Bandhavgarh TR, India. Menon V. 2014. Indian Mammals: A Field Guide. Ha� Cat News 65, 35. Fig. 2. Camera trap image of the Asiatic chette Book Publishing India Pvt. Ltd, Gurgaon, Yamaguchi N., Kitchener A., Driscoll C. & Nuss� wildcat in the study area, 3 March 2018 India. 248 pp. berger B. 2015. Felis silvestris. The IUCN Red (Photo The Corbett Foundation). Mukherjee S. 1998. Cats some large, many small. In List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T603547 ENVIS (Wildlife and Protected Areas), Mukherjee 12A50652361. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/ and behavioural studies on co-occurring popu� S. (Ed.). Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, In� IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T60354712A50652361. lations of domestic cats and wildcats. dia, pp. 5–13. en Pande A., Vasava A., Solanki R., Bipin C. M. & Jhala Acknowledgements Y. V. 2013. Photographic recrods of the Asiatic 1 The Corbett Foundation We are thankful to the Jet Privilege Pvt. Ltd. (JPPL) Wildcat from two states of India. Journal of 2 Department of Wildlife Sciences, Aligarh Muslim for funding the study. Our due thanks to the Mad� Threatened Taxa 5, 5283–5287. University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, 202002
YADAV GHIMIREY1*, JYOTENDRA JYU THAKURI2, RAJU ACHARYA1, BIDHAN ADHIKARY1, RIN- trade market survey in Kathmandu. The mar� ZIN PHUNJOK LAMA3, TASHI RAPTE GHALE3, MADHU NEPAL4, CHUNGBA SHERPA5 AND KA- ket survey reported a total of 30 long coats and RAN BAHADUR SHAH6 44 short jackets made from different cat pelts, 22 including Asiatic wild cat, but no mention was Possible records of the Asiatic made about the origin of the products. There is a possibility that the tanned pelts made their wildcat in Nepal way to Nepal via India where the species is known to occur (Prater 1971), but there is also An individual of cat species having phenotypic appearance of an Asiatic wildcat a faint possibility that some raw pelts might Felis lybica ornata was photographed in Tanahun district during a bird survey on 3 be from Nepal, which unfortunately cannot March 2019 at 14:30 h. The typical features of the Asiatic wildcat were clearly visi- be confirmed now. Further investigation could ble, i.e. a spotted coat, horizontal bands on upper part of the leg, medium tail with have provided more information on the origin rings towards the tip and relatively large head. The nearest known population of of those pelts and perhaps provided a clearer this felid was reported from Madhya Pradesh in central India, nearly 500 km away. picture of the species' existence in Nepal. Other records of the suspected species, including photographs, were also obtained There were no follow-up studies to record the in 2013 and 2015 near Kathmandu and in the north-western part of the country, close presence of Asiatic wildcat pelts in the illegal to the Ngari region of Western Tibet. Our records provide important evidence for the wildlife market in Kathmandu. Also there have possible occurrence of the Asiatic wildcat in Nepal, and form the basis for a more been no reports of the species from anywhere detailed survey to assess its national status and distribution. inside the country from that time. Here we present photographic and observation records The Asiatic wildcat was previously thought to ty of discovering medium-sized mammals in of possible Asiatic wildcats from five different be a subspecies of Felis silvestris. However areas that have been less frequently visited localities in Nepal. a recent taxonomic study has revealed that by biologists. wildcats in Africa and Asia are now recog- Nepal has no historical records of Asiatic Possible Asiatic wildcat records in Nepal nised as Felis lybica (Kitchener et al. 2017), wildcat. However there have been some long With no confirmed records of the species in with Asiatic wildcats classified as a subspe� unconfirmed reports of the species existing in the country many sightings of the species cies, Felis lybica ornata. Twelve species of cat the country. Also, pelts of this species were may have been ignored previously. However, occur in Nepal based on current knowledge. commonly seen in the illegal market of wild� a recent photograph of a living cat can be Two species, i.e. Pallas' cat Otocolobus ma- life furs in Kathmandu during the 1980s and identified morphologically as an Asiatic wild nul and rusty-spotted cat Prionailurus rubigi- 1990s. A fur market survey in 1988 revealed cat, therefore we present here together with nosus are the latest additions to the list of fe� the presence of the Asiatic wildcat without this observation additionally some records lid species occurring in the country (Shrestha providing any details on the number of items of similar looking specimens till date. Fig. 1 et al. 2014, Lamichhane et al. 2016). These (Barnes 1989). WWF India (1992) also reported provides all known sighting locations of these records suggest that there is still a possibili� availability of the species' pelt during a fur observations in Nepal.
CATnews 70 Autumn 2019