CATS AND CAMERAS !

ESTIMATING LEOPARD CAT POPULATIONS IN INDIA USING SPATIAL CAPTURE-RECAPTURE MODELS!

ARJUN SRIVATHSA  arjuns.cws@gmail.com!

Wildlife Conservation Society-India   IN

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Four wildlife reserves in Western Ghats!Bhadra | Nagarahole | Bandipur | BRT!

India Karnataka!

Camera Surveys!

562  Bhadra!Nagarahole!Bandipur!BRT!

Number of Traps!

RESULTS  SPATIAL !

CAPTURE-RECAPTURE!

0.003 1.132!

BHADRA   BRT  

0.003 0.719!

8.99 cats / 100 km2 4.54 cats / 100 km2

NAGARAHOLE* & BANDIPUR*: <1 cat / 100 km2 ; 10 cats (5 in each)  

IMPLICATIONS  

INFE

REN

CE

INSI

GH

TS  

Bhadra: 2500 mm!BRT: 1800 mm!!Nagarahole: 1500 mm!Bandipur: 1200 mm!

ANNUAL RAINFALL! LARGE CATS! SMALL CATS!

Bhadra BRT Nagarahole Bandipur!

20!

10!

0!Den

sity

(per

100

km

2 )!

Leopard cat Tiger+Leopard!

LEOPARD CATS PREFER WET AREAS! MESO-PREDATOR RELEASE! INTRA-GUILD SEGREGATION!

Jungle Cat!

Leopard Cat!

Rusty-spotted Cat!

LAR

GE

SCA

LE  

FIN

E SC

ALE

 

SETTLEMENTS COFFEE PLANTATIONS SECONDARY FORESTS!

APPEAR TO FAVOUR HIGHER LOCAL DENSITIES OF LEOPARD CATS!

Range-wide distribution of two leopard cat sub-populations !Map adapted from Mukherjee et al. (2010)!

INDIA!

Estimate populations of leopard cats in India!

Examine variation across a habitat gradient!

Gauge long-term potential of wildlife reserves and human-modified landscapes to support!

viable populations of the leopard cat !

RESULTS  

IMPLICATIONS  IMPLICATIONS  

Large-scale mining in the Western Ghats!

Road-kill of a leopard cat in the Western Ghats!

70 cats 22 cats*Sample size too low for analyses!

Western Ghats seem to support a healthy population!!

Habitat mosaics important for leopard cats to thrive!

Long-term monitoring crucial for conserving leopard cats!

Status re-assessment may be required for this sub-population!

Large-scale infrastructure/development a major threat!

Abundance of leopard cats in four reserves is ~100!

Wildlife Reserve!

Non-protected Forests!

Coffee Plantations!

Old Village Locations!Human Settlements!

Jungle cats & Rusty-spotted cats prefer dry areas!

Camera Traps!

Bhadra and BRT have higher annual rainfall! High Tiger+Leopard densities in Nagarahole & Bandipur!

Most studies of carnivores largely focus on big cats!

61%   61% of 36 species in Felidae are actually small cats!

Limited knowledge exists on Asian small cat populations!

The leopard cat is one such species; purportedly common,! currently listed as ‘Least Concern’ in the IUCN Red List!

Co-authors: Ravishankar Parameshwaran | Sushma Sharma | K. Ullas Karanth!Acknowledgements: State Forest Departments of Karnataka and Kerala | Department of Biotechnology (DBT) | Department of Science & Technology (DST) | Government of India! Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, USA | Wildlife Conservation Society, India Program (Bangalore) | Centre for Wildlife Studies (Bangalore), India ! Devcharan Jathanna, N Samba Kumar, Krithi K Karanth, James D Nichols, Rahel Sollmann and Andy J Royle | Photograph credits: Kalyan Varma !

492 km2! 722 km2! 1201 km2! 540 km2!

Unique pelage patterns!