IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Mukherjee, S.; Athreya, R.; Karunakaran, P.V.; Choudhary, P. | |
| Ecological species sorting in relation to habitat structure in the small cat guild of Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh | |
| 2016 Full Book | |
The remarkable richness in felid diversity seen in India can be attributed to colonisation events facilitated by India's geographical location at the confluence of major biogeographic realms and the vast array of ecosystems and habitats to support these species. Within India the North Eastern region is among the richest in felids with nine species. Owing to their extreme similarity in morphology, physiology and behaviour, interspecies competition can be expected to be very high among felids. Most forests of North-East India harbour an assemblage of a least four species (clouded leopard: _Neofelis nebulosa_, Golden cat: _Catopuma temminckii_, Marbled cat: _Pardofelis marmorata _and leopard cat: _Prionailurus bengalensis_). The Ecological Species Sorting hypothesis suggests that habitats and species morphologies are tightly associated, allowing segregation over a gradient. Studies on felids elsewhere have demonstrated that segregation over space and in morphology enables species to coexist. |
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