Population density and habitat use of two sympatric small cats in a central Indian reserve

Abstract

Despite appreciable advances in carnivore ecology, studies on small cats remain limited with carnivore research in India being skewed towards large cats. Small cats are more specialized than their larger cousins in terms of resource selection. Studies on small cat population and habitat preference are critical to evaluate their status to ensure better management and conservation. We estimated abundance of two widespread small cats, the jungle cat, and the rusty-spotted cat, and investigated their habitat associations based on camera trap captures from a central Indian tiger reserve. We predicted fine-scale habitat segregation between these sympatric species as a driver of coexistence. We used an extension of the spatial count model in a Bayesian framework approach to estimate the population density of jungle cat and rusty-spotted cat and used generalized linear models to explore their habitat associations. Densities of rusty-spotted cat and jungle cat were estimated as 6.67 (95% CI 4.07-10.74) and 4.01 (95% CI 2.65-6.12) individuals/100 km 2 respectively. Forest cover and evapotranspiration were positively associated with rusty-spotted cat occurrence whereas both factors had a significant negative relation with jungle cat occurrence. The results directed habitat segregation between these small cats with affinities of rusty-spotted cat and jungle cat towards well-forested and open scrubland areas respectively. Our estimates highlight the widespread applicability of this model for density estimation of species with no individual identification. Moreover, the study outcomes can aid in targeted management decisions and serve as the baseline for species conservation as these models allow robust population estimation of elusive species along with predicting their habitat preferences.

The Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hillaire, 1831) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in Rajasthan, India – a compilation of two decades

“…Despite the presence of spines on stem and branches, the cat was observed comfortably perched on a branch. These observations were in concurrence with the cat's semiarboreal behaviour (Nowell & Jackson 1996;Kumara & Singh 2007;Vasava et al 2012;Mukherjee & Koparde 2014), and preference for dense forest cover (Bora et al 2020;Chatterjee et al 2020).…”

“…The Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus is native to India, Sri Lanka, and southern Nepal (Pocock 1939;Nowell & Jackson 1996;Prater 1998;Kittle & Watson 2004;Appel 2016;Lamichhane et al 2016). Across its range, it is closely associated with forest habitats (Nowell & Jackson 1996;Mukherjee 1998;Patel 2006;Appel 2016;Lamichhane et al 2016;Nimalrathna et al 2019;Bora et al 2020;Chatterjee et al 2020). Since 2016, it is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Mukherjee et al 2016).…”

Photographic record of the Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1831) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in southern Western Ghats, India

“…Our record of the Rusty-spotted Cat is consistent with its habitat use documented in eastern Gujarat (Patel 2006) (Basak et al 2018), Anaikatty Reserve Forest in Tamil Nadu (Mukherjee & Koparde 2014), and in the Aravalli Hills in Rajasthan (Sharma & Dhakad 2020;Singh & Kariyappa 2020). Elsewhere in India, it was also recorded in dry thorn forest, scrub forest, moist deciduous forest, semi-evergreen hill forest and sugarcane fields (Anwar et al 2012;Kalle et al 2013;Aditya & Ganesh 2016;Ghaskadbi et al 2016;Bora et al 2020;Chatterjee et al 2020;Deshmukh et al 2020;Sharma & Dhakad 2020;Silva et al 2020).…”

Wildlife‐vehicle collisions in Moroccan Atlantic Sahara: Impact on resident species and Afro‐Palearctic birds for conservation purposes

“…Generally, animal species with low population sizes, low local abundances, nominal range sizes, and particular habitat preferences have a critical conservation status (Chatterjee et al, 2020; Yan et al, 2021), such as the case of the globally threatened European Turtle dove ( Streptopelia turtur ) characterised by lower population size in Northern slope of the Mediterranean (Moreno‐Zarate et al, 2020). Consequently, vulnerable populations of birds (Maceda‐Veiga et al, 2017; Mansouri et al, 2020) and mammals (Jeschke & Genovesi, 2011) are more susceptible to human impacts than other species (Johnson et al, 2020; Le Page et al, 2017).…”