African golden cat Caracal aurata photos were captured on camera traps in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. These photos were obtained between 2014 and 2017. Previous studies have documented golden cats in neighbouring Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo, and although they were assumed to occur in western Rwanda, there has been no evidence until now.

Information on the distribution and geographic variation of colour morphs of the African golden cat Caracal aurata remains limited. Here, we document the African golden cat in Mpem et Djim National Park MDNP in Cameroon through a camera trap survey.

Cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus and African wild dogs Lycaon pictus are vulnerable to interspecific competition with larger competitors, however, less is known about their interactions with smaller or similar sized species. Despite substantial overlap in diet and diel activity pattern, competitive interactions between cheetahs and African wild dogs are seldom witnessed. Here we describe a rare observation of cheetahs being kleptoparasitized by African wild dogs. 

This study presents the first photographic evidences of snow leopard Panthera uncia in the Great Himalayan National Park GHNP, Himachal Pradesh, India. This is also the lowest elevation record of snow leopard (2,495 m) in the Greater Himalayan landscape, indicating spatial interaction with common leopard; a phenomenon less studied in the Indian Himalayan Region IHR. The systematic intensive camera trapping strategy marked remarkable development, also establishing a baseline for the conservation of this flagship species and management of the National Park.

Supporting Online Material

Table 1

There have been a few sightings of rusty-spotted cat Prionailurus rubiginosus from different parts of India over the last few decades. However, information on the species is scant from Kerala in the southern Western Ghats. Here we report evidence of the species from Periyar Tiger Reserve, Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala from camera traps, road kills or direct observations. The past and present records of the species are collated and a species presence map in Kerala state, India, is presented.  

This note reports a direct sighting, with a photographic record, of caracal Caracal caracal from the district of Kutch in the state of Gujarat, northwest India, in April 2019. The caracal is considered endangered in India where it is believed to be disappearing from much of its former range. There have only been a handful of reliable direct sightings of the caracal from India’s Central and Western regions over the last few decades. Given the rarity of this direct sighting and ever-increasing anthropogenic pressures on caracal habitat throughout its range in India, records such as this one provide vital information for future surveys and conservation efforts for the caracal in Kutch and other parts of its range within India.

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Table T1

The east coastal plains of South India hold some of the last remaining inland freshwater bodies inhabited by the fishing cat Prionailurus viverrinus. A species-targeted survey was initiated to identify any demographically significant populations surviv-ing in a relatively dry and human-dominated landscape. We report the first inland camera trap records of the species from the Eastern Ghats region; it comes from a freshwater habitat in the northern part of these hills, in Andhra Pradesh.

Most of the wild cats tend towards temporal and spatial partitioning among each other to avoid encounters or competition for resources. However, little information is available on the fine-scale spatial and temporal interactions among fishing cats Prionailurus viverrinus in the wild. Herewith, we describe the spatial distribution pattern of fishing cat individuals within a population in order to understand their intra-specific interactions based on our 4 years of camera trap observations in mangrove forests of Godavari delta, India. Further, we used kernel density estimation method to look for temporal overlap in diurnal activity patterns of individual fishing cats which indicated a potential temporal partitioning between closely occurring male individuals.

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Table T1 and Figure F1

We report here a new record of the Asiatic wildcat Felis lybica ornata from moist-deciduous forests of Central India. The subspecies was captured in a camera trap survey undertaken to study the dispersal patterns of tiger Panhera tigris in a corridor between the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve BTR and Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve SDTR in eastern Madhya Pradesh. To our knowledge, this is the first record of the Asiatic wildcat from the study area.

An individual of cat species having phenotypic appearance of an Asiatic wildcat Felis lybica ornata was photographed in Tanahun district during a bird survey on 3 March 2019 at 14:30 h. The typical features of the Asiatic wildcat were clearly visible, i.e. a spotted coat, horizontal bands on upper part of the leg, medium tail with rings towards the tip and relatively large head. The nearest known population of this felid was reported from Madhya Pradesh in central India, nearly 500 km away. Other records of the suspected species, including photographs, were also obtained in 2013 and 2015 near Kathmandu and in the north-western part of the country, close to the Ngari region of Western Tibet. Our records provide important evidence for the possible occurrence of the Asiatic wildcat in Nepal, and form the basis for a more detailed survey to assess its national status and distribution.

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Figures F1 and F2

We report the presence of six wildcat species in Sarpang Territorial Forest Division in south-central Bhutan from a camera trap survey conducted in 2014. The species reported are tiger Panthera tigris, common leopard Panthera pardus, clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa, Asiatic golden cat Catopuma temminckii, marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata, and leopard cat Priornailurus bengalensis. The finding reiterates that landscapes outside protected areas in Bhutan are very crucial for the long-term conservation of wild felid species and must be sustainably managed and protected.

The presence of Bornean wild cats after 20 years of well-managed forest rehabilitation in the INIKEA project area was investigated using camera trapping. A total of 74 camera traps were set up at INIKEA Forest Rehabilitation Area leading to a total of 7,266 trap nights. Five species of Bornean Felidae were confirmed in the area: Sunda clouded leopard Neofelis diardi, marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata, Borneo bay cat Catopuma badia, leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis and flat-headed cat Prionailurus planiceps. Leopard cat was the most detected species accounted with 17 independent photographs, followed by Borneo bay cat (13 independent photographs), marbled cat (7 independent photographs), Sunda clouded leopard (6 independent photographs) and flat-headed cat (2 independent photographs). We also captured images of territorial dispute between marble cat and Borneo bay cat at one study location. Our results suggest that rehabilitated forest in INIKEA provides valuable habitat for wild felids.

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Table T1 and T2

Little is known about the spatial ecology of the Bornean clouded leopard Neofelis diardi borneensis in peat-swamp forests, which account for 32% of the island of Borneo. This study uses data from 10 years of camera trapping to provide preliminary estimates of minimum home range size and overlap in a tropical peat swamp forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Home ranges were estimated using minimum convex polygons MCPs and fixed kernel utilisation densities KUDs. Since May 2008, we identified a minimum of 12 individual Bornean clouded leopards (male n = 9, female n = 1, unknown n = 2) from a total of 157 independent photo-captures. Estimates of minimum home range could only be calculated for six males that had been recaptured at a minimum of five different camera trap stations. For these males, we obtained an average of MCP 50% = 0.7 km², MCP 95% = 2.2 km², MCP 100% = 6.2 km², KUD 50% = 7.7 km² and KUD 95% = 35.3 km². All home ranges overlapped significantly with each other. Spatial organisation provides valuable information on the species’ behavioural ecology, and to inform extrapolations of viable Bornean clouded leopard population size. The use of camera trap data to estimate home range size merits further investigation.

Supporting Online Material

Table T1, T2 and Figure F1

The lifespan of wild jaguars Panthera onca is poorly known but is assumed to be 15–16 years. Traditionally, field researchers use dentition and tooth wear to estimate the age of large felids. For jaguars, long-term monitoring using camera traps can allow researchers to estimate the minimum-years-alive (i.e., number of years between the first and last detection) of an individual based on their capture-recapture history. To evaluate the lifespan for jaguars in the wild we implemented a meta-analysis using wild jaguar ages reported in the literature. We used a combination of survival analysis and linear regression of age cohorts from different locations and different time periods. Our meta-analysis resulted in 156 individual wild jaguars (n = 62 female, n = 91 male, n = 3 unknown) with estimated ages or minimum-years-alive from eleven studies. The oldest living wild male jaguars were estimated to be 16, 19, and 20 years, and the oldest wild female jaguar was 13 years old. The mean lifespan (mean age of 10% most long-lived individuals) for jaguars was 13.6 years (±1.4; 95% CI). Males (14.8 ± 1.9 years) exhibited a significantly longer mean lifespan than females (11.3 ± 1.0 years). Linear regression of 3-year age cohorts corroborated these results, indicating that it is uncommon for jaguars to achieve more than 14 years-of-age. Survival analysis indicated that lifespan may be longer for males than for females and that once jaguars achieve 2 years-of-age they have a relatively high age-specific survival probability until they approach the expected lifespan (i.e., Type I survival curve). Our research suggests that fewer than 10% of wild jaguars live longer than 13 years, add-ing further insight into the life history of this elusive large carnivore.

It has been postulated that in some jaguar Panthera onca populations, selective and geographical factors may influence the expression of melanism. Here, we report records of melanistic jaguars derived from a long-term camera trap study in the cloud forest of eastern Panamá. Our findings highlight the importance of Panamá in the distribution of melanistic jaguars and adds weight to the hypothesis of prevalence of this variant in areas of high humidity.

The jaguar Panthera onca overlaps parts of its South American range with anacondas Eunectes spp. Despite the potential for spatial and dietary overlap between these species, very little is reported about behavioural interactions between jaguars and these snake species. Here, we present a review of consumption events between jaguars and anacondas, and report on two novel observations of said behaviours. The first was a green anaconda that was consumed by a jaguar in Madre de Dios, Peru. The second was a yellow anaconda being disputed by a mother jaguar and its cub.

Supporting Online Material

Figure F1, F2 and Table T1