Camera Traps and Cat Conservation

There’s a great article in The Guardian this week about camera traps, and their increasingly important role in wildlife conservation.

Researchers the world over have embraced camera trap technology. It provides a unique view of watching wildlife in their natural habitat, and the technology has become invaluable for learning what animals live in a given area. By placing a camera on a high mountain trail, or along a game trail in a dense rainforest, scientists are learning a whole new set of data.

In recent years, the use of camera traps has led to major discoveries, including documenting an Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) in China for the first time in 62 years; proving that the world’s rarest rhino, the Javan (Rhinoceros sondaicus), is breeding, by photographing a female with her calf; rediscovering the hairy-nosed otter (Lutra sumatrana) in the Malaysian state of Sabah; recording the first wolverine (Gulo gulo) in California since 1922; taking the first video of the rare Bornean bay cat (Pardofelis badia); documenting the elusive short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis) preying on an amphibian in the Amazon; proving the extremely rare Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) still inhabits Cambodia; and snapping the first-ever photographs of a number of species in the wild, including the Saharan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) and the giant muntjac deer (Muntiacus vuquangensis) in Southeast Asia.

Elusive creatures that they are, the wild cats have benefited tremendously from camera trap technology. One of the projects ISEC Canada sent funding to last year, the African Golden Cat study in Gabon, produced extraordinary results with the first-ever video of one of the least known wild cats in the world.

Camera traps recently set up in Gabon took the first publicly released video of the African golden cat, the least-known feline on the continent. Unlike the other cats of Africa, the golden cat only inhabits rainforest, making it extremely difficult to spot, let alone study. University of KwaZulu-Natal graduate student Laila Bahaa-el-din captured footage of an African golden cat sitting directly in front of the camera and chasing a butterfly. On watching the videos for the first time, Bahaa-el-din says, “I felt, at last, like I was getting to know this elusive cat… The African golden cat has dominated my thoughts and energy for over a year-and-a-half now.”

Bahaa-el-din’s research is focused on understanding how the wild cat fares in pristine areas versus sustainably managed logging concessions and poorly managed logging tracts. Camera trap video footage taken in a logging concession in central Gabon that employs sound logging practices and aggressively pursues illegal hunters, indicates, says Bahaa-al-din, that “logging alone should not mean the depletion of wildlife.” The evidence from these camera traps will eventually be used to develop a conservation plan for the African golden cat, now getting its first global publicity thanks to the remote cameras.

Conservation of wild cats is accomplished using a variety of methods, often depending on the species being studied. The increasing popularity of camera traps however, has resulted in an enormous leap of knowledge on their location and status in the wild. We congratulate Laila on her tremendous success, and look forward to purchasing more camera traps for her when she returns to Gabon next year!

See also

How Wildlife Camera Traps Are Revolutionizing Conservation in The Guardian

Member Photos: Arabian Sand Cat

Many of our ISEC Canada members are keen photographers, and include both amateur and professional photogs. We are always happy to showcase wild cat photos on this blog, so if you have any pictures you would like to brag about, please email them to our office at smallwildcats@gmail.com.

Ben Williams in the United Kingdom has sent us more wild cat photos. This week we’re featuring the adorable Sand Cat, photographed at Marwell Wildlife Park in Hampshire, UK.

The endearing little sand cats are a clear favorite with our members! The only wild cat to be found in true desert habitat, sand cats are found in North Africa, the Middle East and possibly Central Asia. Living in the hot desert sands, their feet are densely covered with fur for traction and insulation on loose, hot sand. True desert specialists, sand cats are not found in vegetated valleys but prefer sandy and stony desert and arid shrub-covered steppes.

Their habitat is so remote that they are somewhat insulated from human activities (at least in Africa) and their population size is unknown. Threats include the expansion of cultivation, and feral domestic cats and dogs which result in predation, competition for food and diseases.

Guest Photos: Cats In The Wild

These gorgeous photos were sent to us by wildlife photographer Phil Perry, who is located in Swaziland, South Africa. His travels have also taken him to Brazil and India so we present a variety of wild cat photos, all taken in the cats’ natural habitats. Thank you Phil, for sharing!

Serval with rodent prey – South Africa

Jungle Cat out hunting at Dusk in Kanha National Park, India

Tiger walking through jungle – Kanha National Park, India

Male Puma at night (attracted to call of female) – Pantanal, Brazil

Jaguars Mating at night on a sand bank on River Cuiaba, Pantanal, Brazil

Female Jaguar at forest edge – Pantanal, Brazil

More of Phil’s Pantanal jaguar photos on Wildlife Extra News

Member Photos: Caracal

Many of our ISEC Canada members are keen photographers, and include both amateur and professional photogs. We are always happy to showcase wild cat photos on this blog, so if you have any pictures you would like to brag about, please email them to our office at isec@wildcatconservation.org. Click to enlarge photos.

Ben Williams in the United Kingdom has sent us more wild cat photos. This week we’re featuring the Caracal, photographed at Port Lympne Wildlife Park in Kent. 

Caracals are one of the few wild cat species that are not listed as endangered. There is concern however, at the severe loss of habitat throughout their African range, and their Asian status is critical.

These cats are known for flushing birds from the grass, jumping up and knocking them down with their front paws. They can reach heights of  10 feet doing this. In ancient times, Caracal were tamed and used for hunting birds, much the same way as Cheetahs were trained to hunt gazelles. This unusual cat behaviour is the origin of the phrase ‘to put the cat amongst the pigeons.’

Read more about the Caracal on our website.

Cheetah is Alien to Rajasthan, says expert

Concern among a section of conservationists over a move to “re-introduce” cheetahs in Rajasthan, India has been echoed by the former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, V.D. Sharma. “The cheetah is alien to Rajasthan, so why introduce it here? They are using the word ‘re-introduction’ but I would insist that this is going to be an introduction of cheetah in Rajasthan as it never existed here in the wild,” said Mr. Sharma, author and specialist on lesser cats, talking to The Hindu newspaper.

“Is there any ecological gap or void which needs to be filled through the introduction of the cheetah here?” he asked. “We are planning to introduce an alien animal spending several hundreds of crores of rupees. The major concern is that introduction of the cheetah is contemplated in basically tiger land. If there is money to spare, it should be for conserving the tiger habitats,” said Mr. Sharma who has had a long association with Rajasthan’s tiger habitats as Chief Wildlife Warden in the past.

Mr. Sharma said Rajasthan has a long documented record of hunting expeditions by the rulers of Jaipur, Bikaner, Dungarpur and others but there is no reference to cheetahs. “There is no record of shooting a cheetah anywhere in Rajasthan. The museums have no stuffed cheetah or preserved skin of this animal kept as trophies,” he added. Former Rajasthan States had cheetahs as captive animals procured from abroad. “It was introduced as a hunting animal. Some of the captive cheetahs might have escaped to the wild and got killed. We don’t hear about any cheetah population,” Mr. Sharma said.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Rajasthan had vast stretches of grass-shrubland with black bucks and chinkaras, ideal for the presence of cheetah. Yet there were none. “It never went extinct here as it never existed,” Mr. Sharma said.

Project will now go to Madhya Pradesh

Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said he felt Rajasthan was the best site suited for re-introduction but the government there was not agreeing because of protests by the local people. He said he tried to explain that oil and gas exploration could be done even if the cheetah was introduced there and the area would not be declared a national park or sanctuary. Now Madhya Pradesh is going to be the first option, as the Chief Minister there has given a committment and was very keen on the project, he said.

Source: IUCN/SSC Cat News, Spring 2011

Jump or Swim

One of the things I find most fascinating about cats is that, while all members of the family have the same basic platform, you can see adaptations and variations among the individual species. To illustrate this, let’s compare the serval and the fishing cat.

Both are roughly the same size–the serval weighs between 7 and 18 Kg; the fishing cat, 5 to 16 Kg. They’re both around 60 cm long. They can easily be described as “medium sized cats,” but they clearly have different body types. They are also both nocturnal hunters.

The serval is a slender cat, with long legs and big ears. The ears allow them to hear their prey in the grasslands of Africa. The ears can rotate independent of each other.

Relative to body size, they have the longest legs of any species of cat. These legs allow them to reach down in burrows after rodents (as cat ambassador Cleo demonstrates). However, what servals most put their legs to use for is jumping. They can leap up to three-and-a-half meters in the air. Some have even pulled birds out of the sky.

To look at a fishing cat next to a serval, you’d see a stockier cat, with darker fur. The inner layer of their fur is dense, forming a waterproof layer.

Fishing cats are not jumpers, so they do not have the long legs. Unlike the serval (and, well, most any other cat), they are swimmers. Where the serval has a fairly short tail, the fishing cat has a long one, acting as a rudder. They have webbed feet to help move through the water. Fishing cats have semi-retractable claws (like a cheetah) that are curved like fishhooks to help, well, cat fish.

These are just a few examples of how different cats adapt to their environment. You can see many others, from the fur on the bottom of a sand cat’s foot to the mane of a lion.

Flying Cheetah

Cheetahs are the fastest land mammal. However, at top speed, part of their stride has all four feet are in the air. This is called the “floating phase” of their run.

Cincinnati Zoo cat ambassadors Chance (top) and Sarah (bottom) demonstrate their flight capability.

Movie Monday: Black-footed Rodent Hunter

Movie Monday: Cheetah Purring

Movie Monday: Wildcat, Serval & Caracal Hunt Birds