IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Garrido, E.P.; Vargas, C.S. | |
| The felidae of Colombia | |
| 2012 Full Book | |
Six species of wildcats occur in Colombia out of the 36 recognized felid species worldwide. This document, Los Felinos de Colombia, is designed to promote the conservation of colombian wildcats in their natural habitats. A common threat to all species is habitat loss and transformation caused by agriculture and livestock ranching, fragmentation from roads and towns and retaliatory hunting from depredation on domestic stock. Depredation occurs at different scales and this in turn is reflected in the persecution and hunting intensity of each species. Jaguar and pumas usually do more damage killing cows, horses and goats earning them strong persecution. More so, than the remaining smaller four species, which attack mainly poultry, and on occasion, small sheep and goats. Depredation is the main ingredient in human-felid conflict, but there is also a fear factor from humans. Thus, some of the incidental hunting of wildcats is fuelled by fear. There is not one record of wildcats attacking humans without provocation, i.e. being shot at first. All species populations are decreasing and all are in at least one category of threat from the International Union for the Conservation of Natureïs (IUCN) red list (See footnote on Table 1). The ranking system for these categories is based on four factors: the number of habitat types with which each species is associated, total species range size, body size and active threats, i.e. hunting. For example, the oncilla emerges as the most vulnerable wildcat and is ranked ahead of the jaguar, although the jaguar is seriously threatened. However, it will take much more conservation effort to save the jaguar than the oncilla, notwithstanding there are less oncilla than jaguars. The fact that oncilla is restricted to paramos and cloud forest makes the conservation action potentially easier to apply along these smaller areas, when compared to extant jaguar ranges. Thus, the categories are a guide but require practical considerations. Table 1 also summarizes the key habitats that need to be protected for each species and states urgent conservation actions. All species share the need for the application of sustainable and best practices in agriculture and ranching in particular in areas of important ecosystems or close to protected areas. It is also evident the need to have a clear and functional national human-felid conflict strategy. The evolutionary and phylogenetic origin together with the main felid form characteristics are detailed prior to the species accounts. The species accounts provide the latest information on each species on commonly used names, natural history, distribution, behaviour, ecology, diet, reproduction conservation and cultural importance. Each contains at least one photograph of the species and maps provide the latest range. Lastly, the biological and tourism values derived from wild Colombian felids are presented. |
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